!s;;;i;t.:  ■  r 


f' 


r 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


of  bS-ViK^ii  '^^^^ 

Withdrawn 


BOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII 

^  HEARINGS 

BEFORE 

THE  COMMITTEE  ON 
IMMIGRATION  AND  NATURALIZATION 

?/,6.   ^^         HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

si:js:ty-seventh  congress 

FIRST   SESSION 
ON 

H.  J.  RES.  158 

A  JOINT  RESOLUTION  PROVIDING  AN  EMERGENCY 

REMEDY  FOR   THE  ACUTE   LABOR 

SHORTAGE  IN  HAWAII 

AND  ON 

H.  J.  RES.  171 

A.  JOINT  RESOLUTION  PROVIDING  FOR  IMMIGRATION  TO  MEET  THE 

EMERGENCY  CAUSED  BY  AN  ACUTE  LABOR  SHORTAGE 

IN  THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII 


Serial  7— Part  1 


/oXo     -    ' 


JUNE  21  TO  JUNE  30  AND  JULY  7,  1921 


STATEMENTS   OF 

Walter  F.  Dillingham,  Paul  Scharrenberg, 

Wallace  R.  Farrington,  John  Wise, 

Royal  D.  Mead,  Albert  Horner, 

Charles  F.  Weeber,  Charles  F.  Chillingworth, 

Edgar  Wallace,  J.  K.  Kalanianaole, 

John  I.  Nolan,  Harry  Irwin. 

WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT   PRINTING   OFFICE 
56754  1921 


COMMITTEE  ON  IMMIGRATION  AND  NATURALIZATION. 

House  op  Representatives. 

sixty-seventh  congress. 

ALBERT  JOHNSON,  Washington,  Chairman. 

..    ,  ADOLPH  J.  SABATH,  Illinois. 

ISAAC  SIEGEL,  New  York.  A                    ^^^^^  caUfornia. 

J.  WILL  TAYLOR,  Tennessee.  ^^^             WILSON,  Louisiana.. 

JOHN  C.  KLECZKA,  Wisconsin.  tow^  r    BOX   Texas 

WILLIAM  N.  VAILE,  Colorado.  l^^R^NEY, Irbama. 

HAYS  B.  WHITE,  Kansas.  ^-  ^• 
GUY  L.  SHAW,  Illinois. 
ROBERT  S.  MALONEY,  Massachusetts. 
ARTHUR  M.  FREE,  California. 

JOHN  L.  CABLE,  Ohio.                           ^  p    Snyder,  Cleric. 

II 


i 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/laborproblemsinhOOunse 


INDEX. 


Page. 
Alexander's  Brief  History  of  the  Hawaiian  People  quoted  by  Witness  Irwin . . .  446,  467 

AJ.iens  admitted  to  and  departed  from  Hawaii.  1910  to  1920 : . .  344 

/<Mnerican  Legion,  resolution  adopted  by , 332 

><^arter,  George  R. ,  quoted  by  Witness  Irwin 469 

i^^ntral  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu,  communication  from 278 

I            Quoted  by  Chairman  Johnson 328 

'  hestertown,  Md . ,  farm  labor  wage  scale  at 275 

^  hillingworth,  Charles  F. ,  statement  of 430 

'  offee  production  in  Hawaii,  1910  to  1920 295 

Cuba,  number  of  Chinese  employed  in ' 398 

Dillingham,  Walter  F.,  statement  of 214,  325,  438 

Emergency  Labor  Commission  of  Hawaii,  act  creating 225 

I'arrington,  Wallace  R.,  statement  of 233 

t    Governor  of  Hawaii,  reports  of,  quoted  by  Witness  Irwin 470 

Hawaiian  citizens  favoring  admission  of  Chinese,  communications  from 404.  ^39 

(See  also  Appendix  1.  pp.  471-507;  Appendix  2.  pp.  508-532.) 

Hoffman.  Franklin  L. ,  quoted  by  Witness  Mead. 272* 

Korner,  Albert,  statement  of 401 

House  joint  resolution  158,  text  of 213 

Amendment  to,  suggested  by  Mr.  Mead 288 

House  joint  resolution  171.  quoted  by  Chairman  Johnson 458 

Hughes,  John  A. ,  communication  from 327 

Iron  Molders'  Union  of  Honolulu,  communication  from 278 

Irwin.  Harry,  statem.ent  of 467 

Japanese  in  Hawaii.   Report  No.   1355,  Fifty-fifth  Congress,  second  session, 

quoted  by  Mr.  Raker 459 

Quoted  by  Witness  Irwin : .  467 

Japan,  expatriation  law  of 430 

Kalanianaole,  J.  Kuhio,  statement  of 147 

Labor  Conditions  in  Hawaii,  Senate  Document  No.  432,  Sixty-fourth  Congress, 

first  session,  quoted  by  Witness  Mead 341,  346,  347 

I    Labor  Department  Bulletin  No.  94.  quoted  by  Witness  Mead 340 

'    Laborers  employed  in  Hawaiian  sugar  industry,  number  of,  1900  to  1920... 296 

Labor  Review  of  Hawaii,  quoted  by  Witness  Dillingham 443 

liaws  of  Hawaii : 

R  elating  to  immigration 416 

«    Relating  to  electoral  qualifications 419 

R  elating  to  publications 445 

Legislature  of  Hawaii,  concurrent  resolution  by 224 

j    Lowrie,  W.  J. ,  communication  from 366 

,^-L^decker,  R .  C. .  report  on  immigration  of  laborers  to  Hawaii 533 

^^cCarthv,  C.  J.,  governor  of  Hawaii,  letter  from 223 

McClatchy,  V.  S.,  letter  to  Hon.  Miles  Poindexter 400 

Mann,  Hon.  James  R. ,  quoted  by  Witness  Mead 292 

Mead,  Royal  D.,  statements  of 263,  279,  297,  339,  340,  370 

Nolan,  John  I.,  statement  of - 31 1 

Orientals  employed  in  United  States  Army,  correspondence  concerning 398* 

Pacific  Commercial  Advertiser,  article  from - .  _. 379 

Philippine  Labor  Bureau,  director  of,  quoted  by  Witness  Dillingham 442 

Pineapples,  production  of  in  Hawaii,  1910  to  1920 295 

Pinkham,  Lucius  E.,  report  of  commission  appointed  by,  quoted  by  Witness 

Ir^\in - 469 

j  Population  of  Hawaii '. 219' 

'  Products  of  Hawaii,  amount  of,  1920 22L 

^JR:^nton,  George  F. ,  communication  from 367 

"Scharrenberg,  Paul,  statement  of 361 


Ill 


.^ 


\  ^^ 


^^  631998 


IV  INDEX. 

Statistical  tables.     (See  Appendix  IV,  pp.  545-547.)  Page. 

Stevedores  Association  of  Hawaii,  communication  from 326 

Taxes  paid  by  Hawaii,  1920 221 

Teamsters'  Union  of  Hawaii,  communication  from 327 

Trade-unions  of  Hawaii,  directory  of 407 

Tyson,  H.  N.,  communications  from 372,  375,  379 

Quoted  by  Witness  Wallace 383 

Wallace,  Edgar,  statements  of 297,  303,  372 

Weeber,  Charles  F.,  statement  of 295 

Wise,  John,  statement  of 387 

Wootten,  H.  G. ,  communication  from 328 

Wright,  George  W.,  communication  from 381 


(         ^ 

»  * 

f  *. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IK  ffAWAII. 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Kepresentatives, 

Tuesday,  June  21,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

There  were  present  before  the  committee  Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham, 
Mr.  Charles  F.  Chillingworth,  and  Mr.  Albert  Horner,  of  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  will  be  in  order.  The  meeting  was 
called  this  morning,  gentlemen,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  the  Dele- 
gate from  Hawaii,  Mr.  Kalanianaole,  and  a  delegation  from  Hawaii, 
sent,  I  believe,  at  the  request  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii,  with  petitions,  etc.,  for  the  admission  of  certain  oriental  labor 
into  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  don't  think  that  is  just  right,  Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  for  the  admission  of  certain  labor  into  the 
Territory.  The  hearing  is  to  be  held  on  House  joint  resolution  158, 
which  properly  belongs  before  this  committee  but  which  has  been 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories.  Without  objection  and 
with  the  consent  of  the  Committee  on  Territories,  I  have  undertaken 
to  have  it  referred  to  this  committee. 

Now,  Mr.  Kalanianaole,  have  you  a  statement  to  make? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  No,  excepting  that  we  have  here  a  commis- 
sion sent  by  the  legislature  to  appear  on  this  matter,  a  commission 
consisting  of  Mr.  Dillingham,  Senator  Chillingworth,  and  Mr.  Horner, 
who  have  been  sent  over  here  to  present  this  matter  before  Congress. 

The  Chairman.  Does  Mr.  Dillingham  desire  to  be  heard  first  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Very  well,  Mr.  Dillingham,  we  will  hear  you  first. 
The  resolution  under  consideration  reads  as  follows: 

[H.  J.  Res.  158,  Sixty-seventh  Congress,  First  session.] 

JOINT  RESOLUTION  Providing  an  emergency  remedy  for  the  acute  labor  shortage  in  the  Territory 
^  of  Hawaii. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America 
in  Congress  assembled,  That  for  a  period  of  five  years  from  the  passage  of  this  joint 
resolution  the  Secretary  of  Labor  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  empowered,  under  such  con- 
ditions and  regulations  as  he  shall  prescribe,  to  admit  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  such 
aliens  otherwise  inadmissible  as  he  may  deem  necessary  to  meet  the  emergency 
existing  in  the  shortage  of  agricultural  labor:  Provided,  That  such  aliens  shall  be 
admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of  time,  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  only  in  agri- 
cultural labor  or  domestic  service;  that  such  admission  of  aliens  shall  not  operate  to 
increase  the  number  of  persons  of  any  one  alien  nationality  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
so  that  their  total  numbers  at  any  one  time  shall  exceed  20  per  centum  of  the  total 
population  of  the  Territory  as  determined  b}^  the  last  census;  and  that  the  regulations 
shall  provide  for  and  secure  the  return  of  such  laborers  to  their  respective  countries 

213 


214  LABOR   PEOElLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

upon  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited:  Provided  further,  That  nothing  herein  con- 
tained shall  be  construed  to  allow  anv  alien  admitted  under  the  terms  hereof  to  remove 
to  any  other  place  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 

Now,  Mr.  Dillingham,  we  will  be  glad  to  hear  you. 

STATEl^EKT    OF    MR^    WALTER    F.    DILimGHAM,    CHAIRMAN 
OF  T?HE  HAWAII  SMEROENCY  LABOR  COMMISSION. 

Mr.  DiXiiiN^aiiAML  Qxt  April'20,  1921,  the  governor  of  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii  presented  a  special  message  to  the  Territorial  legislature 
calling  attention  to  the  grave  labor  shortage  existing  throughout  the 
islands  of  the  Territory  and  pointing  out  that  a  serious  loss  to  the  Ter- 
ritory would  result  from  that  shortage  unless  it  be  relieved  through 
governmental  agencies. 

Acting  upon  this  message,  the  house  of  representatives,  the 
senate  concurring,  passed  a  resolution  on  April  26,  1921  request- 
ing that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America  provide,  by 
appropriate  legislation,  for  the  introduction  or  immigration  into 
the 'Territory  of  Hawaii  of  such  a  number  of  persons,  including 
orientals,  as  may  be  required  to  meet  the  situation;  limiting  such 
immigration,  however,  to  such  numbers  as  will  not  operate  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  persons  of  any  alien  nationalty  in  the  Territory 
at  any  one  time  beyond  25  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of  the 
Territory;  and  providing  further  that  such  persons  be  admitted  for 
limited  periods  of  time,  be  obliged  to  confine  their  efforts  to  agricultural 
labor  and  domestic  service,  and  be  guaranteed  and  secured  their 
return  to  their  respective  countries  upon  the  expiration  of  such  limited 
periods  of  time. 

The    resolution    and    an    accompanying    act    further    authorized 
the    governor    to    appoint    a    special    commission    to    act    in    the 
matter  at  the  National  Capital,  to  urge  upon  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment the  necessity  for  immediate  action  in  the  premises.     On  April 
29,  1921,  the  governor  appointed  the  Hawaiian  Emergency  Labor 
y  Commission,  consisting  of  Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham  as  chairman, 
Senator  Charles  F.  Chilling  worth,  and  Mr.  Albert  Horner,  and  directed 
that  this  commission  proceed  forthwith  to  Washington,  D.  C. 
,      The  industries  of  the  Territory  are  agricultural.     Of  a  total  popula- 
I  tion  of  255,912  in  1920,  approximately  45,000  are  now  engaged  in 
/  agriculture,  as  against  urgent  requirements  for  60,000.     An  actual 
I   shortage  of  field  labor  is  now  reported  by  the  several  industries  to 
'    exist  as  follows: 

Sugar  plantations 6,  000 

Pineapple  plantations , 3,  000  . 

.    Coffee  plantations 1,  500 

\  Rice  fields 3,  000 

Contracting  interests 1 ,  000 

Total 14,  500 

In  addition  to  this  numerical  shortage,  however,  there  is  a  further 
decline  in  production  due  to  the  inefficiency  of  field  labor  in  general, 
attributed  to  lack  of  interest  and  intermittent  service. 

Continuous  efforts  have  been  made  to  provide  for  the  bringing 

into  the  Territory  of  labor,  within  the  law,  to  meet  our  increasing 

requirements.     Not  being  able  to  hold  this  labor,  it  has  migrated  to 

y  California  practically  as  rapidly  as  it  has  been  brought  to  Hawaii. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  215 

Even  now  efforts  are  being  made  to  bring  Porto  Ricans  and  Fili- 
pinos into  the  Territory.  There  is  no  possibility^,  however,  of  over- 
coming the  shortage,  as  those  who  enter  the  Territory  at  the  present 
time  can  be  expected  only  to  take  care  of  a  part  of  the  continuing 
shrinkage. 

The  general  shortage,  but  particularly  the  acute  shortage  existing 
in  the  sugar  industry,  is  caused  in  part  by  the  large  bonus  which  was 
paid  to  laborers  in  the  sugar  industry  during  the  year  1920.  This 
bonus  to  field  laborers  amounted  in  all  to  $25,878,996  and  was  paid 
to  them  over  and  above  regular  wages,  twenty-five  per  cent  of  this 
amount  being  paid  in  lump  sums  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Finding 
themselves  provided  with  money  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  laborers 
have  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  leave  the  less-attrac- 
tive field  occupations.  Numbers  of  them  have  left  the  Territory  for 
their  homes,  permanently  or  for  visits;  and  much  greater  numbers 
of  them  have  begun  business  ventures  for  themselves  as  small  mer- 
chants, coffee  and  pineapple  farmers,  contractors  and  builders,  truck 
gardeners,  etc.  The  initiation  and  development  of  these  independ- 
ent ventures  on  the  part  of  former  field  laborers  have  resulted  in  a 
twofold  loss  to  the  established  industries,  for  they  have  lost  the 
services  not  only  of  the  new  farmers,  merchants,  contractors  and 
gardeners  themselves  but  of  large  numbers  of  other  field  laborers 
who  evidently  prefer  to  be  employed  by  those  of  their  own  race  and 
have  therefore  left  the  plantations  to  seek  employment  in  these  new 
oriental  owned  and  controlled  industries. 

A  general  cause  of  the  situation  and  shortage,  which  has  recently 
become  acute,  is  the  fact  that  the  Japanese,  who  constitute  more 
than  60  per  cent  of  the  labor,  have  ceased  to  appreciate  the  oppor- ^^ 
tunities  given  them  as  individuals  and  now  aim  collectively  to  revo-        i 
lutionize  the  control  of  agricultural  industries  to  the  end  that  Japa-   '^- 
nese  capital  acquire  substantial  planting  interests  for  itself,  instead  v 
of  merely  contributing  the  labor  for  those  interests  under  American 
control     The  Japanese  now  has  money  he  never  had  before  and  has 
determined  to  use  that  money  and  the  strength  of  his  numbers  to 
leave  the  established  industries  without  necessary  labor  and  enter 
into  competition  on  his  own  account  with  these  established  industries 
or  actually  acquire  them. 

As  a  result  of  this  shortage  and  the  restless  independent  attitude 
of  the  field  laborer,  a  lack  of  business  control  has  developed,  and  a 
shifting  of  laborers  from  place  to  place  has  directly  followed  efforts 
on  the  part  of  the  planters  to  urge  the  laborers  to  greater  efficiency. 
Industries  organized  and  balanced  in  mill,  cannery,  transportation, 
irrigation,  and  area  are  now  faced  with  but  two  alternatives:  Shall 
they  attempt  to  maintain  existing  areas  which  can  be  cultivated  only 
indifferently  until  such  time  as  further  labor  can  be  secured,  or  shall  • 
they  abandon  land  now  under  cultivation  and  thus  conserve  their 
present  supply  of  labor  for  the  proper  cultivation  of  smaller  areas  ? 
It  is  evident  that  the  possibility  of  conducting  the  business  efficiently 
is  destroyed  in  either  case. 

The  positive  financial  loss  of  the  present  labor  shortage  to  the 
basic  agricultural  industries  of  the  Territory  runs  far  into  the  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  If  the  shortage  continues  unrelieved,  or  becomes 
greater  through  additional  losses  of  laborers,  financial  ruin  faces  the 
planters  of  the  Territory. 


216  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

During  the  past  10  years  the  normal  acreage  of  cane  harvested 
annually  has  averaged  115,568  acres;  and,  from  this  acreage  there 
has  been  produced  an  average  sug'ar  crop  totaling  590,793  tons  an- 
nually. The  greatest  tonnage  of  sugar  produced  during  the  past  20 
years  was  in  1915,  when  646,445  tons  were  harvested,  with  45,654 
laborers  in  the  fields  during  the  year.  The  greatest  number  of  labor- 
ers employed  during  the  past  20  years  was  in  the  year  1912,  when 
47,345  laborers  were  on  the  pay  rolls  of  the  sugar  plantations.  On 
account  of  a  strike  of  plantation  laborers  on  the  Island  of  Oahu  during 
the  first  six  months  of  1920,  an^  on  account  of  a  general  labor  short- 
age during  that  year,  the  sugar  production  reached  only  556,871 
tons,  the  lowest  figure  since  1913;  there  being  only  38,348  laborers 
employed  by  the  plantations  in  December,  the  lowest  number  since 
1900.  ; 

There  has  always  been  soitie  labor  shortage  in  the  sugar  fields  of 
the  Territory,  and  production  of  sugar  at  the  high  rate  of  the  past 
decade  has  been  made  possible  only  by  the  most  advanced  scien- 
tific methods  of  agriculture.  The  sugar  planters  of  the  Territory 
have  for  26  years  maintaind  an  experimental  laboratory,  at  an 
annual  cost  of  nearly  $200,000  during  the  past  10  years,  for  the  de- 
velopment of  correct  methods  of  cultivation  and  adequate  elimina- 
tion of  bug  and  other  pests.  With  10,000  acres  more  under  culti- 
vation than  in  1910,  but  with  6,000  less  laborers  than  during  that 
year,  approximately  maximum  production  has  been  made  possible 
only  by  the  strictest  attention  to  accurate  scientific  methods  of 
farming.  As  a  result  of  those  methods,  the  number  of  acres  culti- 
vated per  laborer  has  increased  from  5.07  in  1910  to  6.04  in  1920. 

It  requires  from  18  months  to  2  years  for  sugar  cane  to  mature. 
Each  summer  a  2-year-old  mature  crop  is  harvested,  a  1-year-old 
crop  is  under  cultivation,  and  a  new  crop  is  planted.  In  order  to 
secure  the  best  results,  planting  of  new  seed  cane  must  begin  not 
later  than  May  1  and  must  be  completed  not  later  than  August  1, 
while  the  care  of  stools  in  fields  which  are  to  produce  a  ratoon  crop 
must  begin  immediately  after  the  mature  crop  is  harvested.  When 
caretaking  is  delayed  for  an}^  reason,  fields  become  overrun  with 
weeds  and  grass  and  the  stools  die,  while  the  volunteer  crop  is  choked 
out. 

Further  development  of  scientific  methods  is  being  carried  on,  but 
nothing  can  solve  the  present  man-power  problem  of  the  sugar  planter 
except  an  additional  labor  supply  to  relieve  the  actual  shortage  of 
6,000  men  existing  at  this  time.  As  a  result  of  that  shortage,  ap- 
proximately 50,000  tons  of  sugar  now  ready  for  harvesting,  with  a 
present  market  value  of  approximately  $5,000,000,  will  be  lost  this 
year. 

In  order  to  keep  the  current  loss  to  the  lowest  possible  figure,  the 
planters  are  bending  every  effort  and  using  every  available  man  to 
complete  the  harvesting  and  grinding  of  this  year's  crop.  As  a 
result,  the  crop  of  1922,  planted  last  year  and  now  about  1  year  old, 
can  not  be  cultivated  and  17  per  cent  of  the  acreage  of  the  1922  crop 
has  been  abandoned,  leaving  only  about  96,000  acres  to  produce 
approximately  490,000  tons  of  sugar,  a  loss  of  a  little  over  100,000 
tons.  This  estimate,  however,  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the 
reduced  area  will  yield  the  average  tonnage  of  cane  per  acre.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  fields  of  the  1922  crop  have  not  received  and  can 


LABOR    PROBLEMS    HI    HAWAII.  217 

not  receive  the  usual  and  required  care  with  the  present  inadequate 
labor  supply,  and  a  further  reduction  of  at  least  30  per  cent,  or 
147,000  tons  of  sugar,  will  occur  in  the  yield  of  next  year.  Consider- 
ing these  two  losses  from  reduced  acreage  and  inadequate  cultiva- 
tion, 247,000  tons  of  sugar,  having  a  market  value  of  $24,000,000  on 
a  basis  of  5-cent  sugar,  will  be  lost  to  the  producer  in  1922. 

Every  available  laborer  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  the  Territory 
is  now  engaged  in  harvesting  the  ripe  crop  of  1921,  and  the  planting 
of  the  1923  crop  has  not  begun  and  can  not  be  begun  until  the  present, 
havest  is  completed  by  the  end  of  this  year.  Fields  planted  in 
October,  November,  or  December,  as  must  be  the  case  this  year,  if 
any  planting  is  done,  yield  less  than  half  a  crop,  and  the  1923  tonnage 
of  sugar  will  therefore  be  so  greatly  reduced  that  the  loss  will  approxi- 
mate $50,000,000  at  a  conservative  estimate. 

The  pineapple  crop  is  an  annual  one,  the  large  harvest  occurring 
in  midsummer,  although  a  smaller  crop  is  harvested  in  midwinter. 
The  principal  harvest  season  of  midsummer  extends  over  a  period 
of  only  eight  weeks,  and  the  large  tonnage  of  fruit,  totaling  5,978,000 
cases  in  1920,  must  be  gathered,  hauled,  and  packed  within  this 
short  period.  If  the  harvest  is  prevented  or  delayed,  some  or  all  of 
the  crop  is  lost  and  rots  on  the  ground,  the  amount  of  the  loss 
depending  upon  the  extent  of  the  delay. 

Labor  to  make  possible  the  harvest  of  1920  was  secured  not  only 
by  raising  and  offering  wages  so  high  that  they  attracted  field  laborers 
from  other  established  and  essential  industries,  but  it  was  drawn 
from  the  cities  and  home  centers,  which  were  deserted  by  domestic 
servants,  clerks,  and  other  nonagricultural  employees  attracted  by 
the  high  wages.  Even  under  these  conditions,  sufficient  labor  could 
not  be  secured,  and  hundreds  of  school  children  were  induced  to  come 
into  the  fields  and  assist  in  the  harvest  of  1920.  This  same  procedure 
must  be  followed  this  year  to  an  even  greater  extent  on  account  of 
the  still  greater  shortage  in  the  normal  labor  supply.  With  the 
present  labor  situation  throughout  the  Territory,  a  delayed  harvest 
is  inevitable.  The  financial  loss  occasioned  by  this  delayed  harvest 
and  the  resulting  loss  of  crop  is  difficult  to  estimate  on  account  of  the 
varying  extent  of  the  labor  shortage.  That  shortage  is  almost  cer- 
tain to  be  so  serious,  however,  as  to  cause  a  financial  loss,  of  between 
$6,000,000  and  $7,000,000  to  the  pineapple  planters. 

The  coffee  industry,  which  is  largely  confined  to  one  district  on  the 
Island  of  Hawaii,  has  been  encouraged  in  the  belief  that  it  would 
furnish  an  incentive  to  the  homesteader  to  settle  and  develop  Ameri- 
can communities;  and  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  coffee  produced 
in  the  Territory  is  grown  on  the  small  farms  of  these  homesteaders. 
These  small  independent  farmers  are  facing  absolute  ruin  at  the 
present  time.  Their  crop  is  ripe  and  ready  for  harvesting  at  the 
time  of  the  large  pineapple  harvest,  in  midsummer,  when  labor  is 
always  short  and  will  be  scarcer  than  ever  this  year. 

Naturally  these  small  independent  coffee  farmers  have  similarly 
small  means;  and  a  total  loss  of  their  crop  inevitably  entails  ruin. 
In  1920,  on  account  of  the  shortage  of  labor  then  existing,  many  of 
these  small  farmers,  whose  plantings  total  approximately  1,000 
acres,  lost  nearly  their  whole  crop  and  are  therefore  in  critical  finan- 
cial condition,   although  far  greater  financial  losses  are  certain  to 

I 


218  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

result  from  failure  to  harvest  the  crop  of  1921  on  account  of  the  in- 
creased shortage  of  labor. 

In  the  organized  coffee  companies,  one-third  of  the  crop  of  1920 
could  not  be  harvested;  and  at  least  one-half  of  the  crop  of  1921,  with 
a  probable  market  value  of  nearly  $500,000,  will  be  lost. 

The  rice  industry,  recognized  as  being  of  great  importance  in  fur- 
nishing a  valuable  food  product  for  the  self-support  of  the  islands, 
has  dwindled  in  area  from  9,000  acres  to  2,800  acres,  and  we  have 
already  lost  two-thirds  of  this  important  industry  through  shortage 
of  labor.  Except  for  the  Chinese,  practically  no  labor  has  been 
induced  to  handle  the  cultivation  of  the  rice  crop ;  and  with  the  decline 
in  the  number  of  rice  growers,  over  6,000  acres  of  very  productive 
fields  have  been  abandoned  and  the  rice  industry  is  now  practically 
dead.  Continued  efforts  have  been  made  during  the  past  10  years 
to  save  this  industry,  but  without  avail;  and,  to-day,  instead  of 
supplying  her  own  needs  and  exporting  rice  to  other  countries, 
Hawaii  must  import  rice  for  herself. 

The  history  of  the  rice  industry  is  a  terrifying  warning  of  what  may 
result  in  our  other  industries  if  adecjuate  relief  from  our  present  situ- 
tion  is  not  secured.  The  further  development  and  maintenance  of 
prosperity  in  Hawaii  depend  solely  upon  our  ability  to  continue  the 
basic  industries  of  the  country.  These  basic  industries  can  not  be 
continued,  however,  without  adequate  labor  to  compete  in  markets 
created  for  our  commodities  by  those  who  produce  the  same  com- 
modities elsewhere,  in  greater  bulk  and  under  entirely  different  labor 
conditions. 

Failure  to  provide  early  relief,  as  well  as  failure  to  provide  relief  of 
any  nature,  must  inevitably  have  two  far-reaching  effects  and  can  re- 
sult only  in  placing  both  the  industrial  and  political  control  of  the 
Territory  in  the  hands  of  its  preponderating  Japanese  population. 
Furnishing  normally  at  least  60  per  cent  of  the  required  labor  supply 
of  the  Territory,  the  Japanese  are  in  a  position  where,  by  failing  or 
refusing  further  to  provide  that  labor  supply,  they  can  dictate  to,  if 
not  actually  secure  control  of,  the  established  industries.  Since 
political  control  of  the  Territory  can  not  be  divorced  from  the  con- 
trol of  its  essential  industries,  Japanese  acquisition  of  the  latter  must 
surely  be  followed  by  their  possession  of  the  former. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  Could  you  give  us  the  nationalities  of  the  population 
of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir.  The  population  of  Hawaii,  according 
to  reports  from  the  census  of  1920,  was  255,912  people  of  all  nationali- 
ties. Hawaiians— that  means  the  pure-blooded  Hawaiians^23,723. 
Asiatic  Hawaiian,  6,955 — those  are  the  crosses  with  the  Asiatics. 
Caucasian-Hawaiian,  11,072.  Portuguese,  27,002.  Porto  Ricans, 
5,602.  Spanish,  2,430.  Other  Caucasians,  19,708 — those  are  the 
white  Americans,  and  are  represented  by  15,323  American-born 
Americans  and  2,219  naturalized  citizens,  leaving  only  2,166  Anglo- 
Saxon  aliens  who  have  not  been  Americanized.  Out  of  the  19,708 
there  are  only  2,166  who  are  eligible  to  become  American  citizens  who 
have  not  become  American  citizens.  Chinese,  23,507.  Now,  of 
that  23,000  there  are  only  10,000  foreign-born  Chinese,  alien  Chinese; 
the  other  13,000  are  Hawaiian-born  Chinese  or  American  citizens. 
Japanese,  109,274;  Filipinos,  21,031;  Korean,  4,950;  negroes,  348; 
all  others,  310. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


219 


The  Chairman.  Now  you  did  not  specify  when  you  touched  on 
the  Japanese  proposition  the  ones  that  were  ahen  and  the  ones 
native  horn. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  are  60,000  of  the  109,000  that  are  ahens; 
49,000  of  the  109,000  are  American  born. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  In  other  words,  49,274  are  American  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Forty-nine  thousand  are  American  citizens  by 
birth. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  About  20  per  cent  of  the  whole  population  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  Of  this  109,274,  how  many  are  employed  as*  laborers 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Will  you  state  the  question  again,  please? 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  I  wanted  to  learn  how  many  of  these  laborers  that 
are  employed  in  the  fields  are  Japanese,  either  by  descent  or  by  birth. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Of  the  total  Japanese,  only  17,906  were  working 
in  the  sugar  cane  fields  in  December  of  last  year.  We  have  about 
6,000  laborers  in  the  pineapple  fields,  and  quite  a  large  proportion 
of  those  are  Japanese — about  80  per  cent  of  that  6,000 — -maybe  4,800. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  Well,  go  ahead  in  your  own  way,  Mr.  Dillingham. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Out  of  the  109,000  it  would  appear  that  about 
25,000  only  are  in  field  occupations  to-day.  To  quote  exactly,  the 
figures  are  alien  Japanese,  60,258;  other  Japanese,  49,016;  total, 
109,274. 

I  have  here  a  table  showing  the  total  population  of  the  Territory, 
by  sex  and  naticnalit}- which  I  desire  to  have  inserted  in  the  record. 
The  table  is  as  follows: 


The  population  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 


Census  of  1920. 

Total  in 
1910. 

Race. 

Sex. 

Citizenship. 

Total  in 
1920. 

Increase 
during 
decade. 

Male. 

Female. 

Citizen. 

Ahen. 

Hawaiian 

11,990 

5, 528 

3,524 

13, 737 

3, 133 

1,326 

12, 309 

16, 197 

02, 644 

3,498 

16,  851 

409 

11, 733 
5,544 
3, 431 

13,  265 
2,469 
1, 104 
7,399 
7,310 

46,630 

1,452 

4,180 

249 

23, 723 
11,072 

6,955 
22,  346 

5,602 

1, 145 
17, 542 
12, 728 
49, 016 

1,518 

21,031 

559 

23. 723 

26, 041 
8,772 
3, 734 

22,301 
4,890 
1,990 

14,  867 
•       21,674 

70   R7i^ 

1  2  318 

Caucasian  Hawaiian 

11,072 
6,955 

27,002 
5,602 
2,430 

19,708 

23,  507 
lO^J  274 

2  300 

Asiatic  Hawaiian . . . 

3  221 

Portuguese . . . 

4,656 

4' 701 

Porto  Rican 

712 

Spanish 

1,285 

2,166 

10, 779 

60, 258 

3,432 

440 

other  Caucasian 

Chinese 

4.841 
1'  833 

Japanese 

29'  599 

Korean ...  . 

4  950  1             4  533 

'  J.17 

Filipino 

21  031  !            2  361  1        18  fi7n 

Negro  and  all  other. 

99 

'658               l'071 

1413 

Total 

151, 146 

104,766           173  9,37 

82, 675 

255  912           1Q1  QfiQ           '^■i  f^f^^ 

1  Decrease. 


With  funds  in  amounts  never  before  possessed  by  them,  the 
Japanese,  who  think  and  act  collectively,  are  provided  with  capital 
for  their  collective  use  in  acquiring  control  of  industries  at  present 
owned  and  controlled  by  Americans.  That  'they  intend  to  secure 
such  control  is  demonstrated  not  only  by  their  disinclination  or 
actual  refusal  to  be  employed  by  American-controlled  industries  but 


220  LABOR   PEOBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

also  by  their  several  specific  attempts  to  purchase  the  control  of  some 
of  these  industries. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  understand  that  Mr.  Dillingham  will 
complete  his  statement  before  being  interrupted  ? 

Mr.  SiEGEL  (in  the  chair).  Yes;  that  is  the  method  we  have 
decided  to  adopt. 

Mr.  DiLLENGHAM.  American  and  other  non-Japanese  owners  and 
operators  of  small  farms  throughout  the  islands  report  a  uniform 
inability  to  secure  necessary  field  labor,  although  the  bulk  of  the 
existing  shortage  of  labor  is  in  the  supply  of  field  laborers  for  the 
larger  organized  plantations,  where  the  shortage  is  aggravated  by 
the  restless  and  indifferent  attitude  of  the  field  laborer  in  general. 
Efforts  on  the  part  of  the  planters  to  urge  their  laborers  to  greater 
efficiency  have  been  directly  followed  by  a  shifting  of  laborers  from 
place  to  place,  resulting  only  in  further  reducing  efficiency. 

Within  the  past  several  months,  Japanese  or  persons  representing 
them  have  made  two  actual  offers  to  purchase  outright,  or  to  purchase 
the  control  of  one  of  the  largest  sugar  companies  in  the  Territory. 
An  effort  by  the  Japanese  to  purchase  the  control  of  a  smaller  sugar 
company  was  abandoned  only  because  of  the  refusal  of  certain 
Portuguese  owners  to  sell  their  controlling  interest  in  the  company. 
The  Japanese  purpose  to  secure  control  of  established  industries,  or 
to  make  continued  American  control  difficult  and  expensive,  can 
also  be  recognized  in  such  an  incident  as  the  one  in  which  Japanese 
interests  recently  bid,  at  a  public  auction,  for  a  site  and  right  of  way 
adjacent  to  a  sugar  plantation.  Excepting  only  the  plantation  to 
which  it  was  essential,  this  right  of  way  was  practically  useless  to 
anyone  who  might  acquire  it;  but,  despite  this  fact,  the  Japanese 
interests  present  at  the  auction,  by  bidding,  raised  the  final  sale  price 
to  $36,500,  although  the  appraised  valuation  of  the  property  was  only 
$14,000. 

Under  the  present  conditions  efficient  or  profitable  operation  of 
existing  American  organizations  is  impossible.  Such  a  condition 
must  inevitably  bring  the  planter  to  the  point  where  he  must  sell 
his  organization  to  any  available  buyer.  Sale  either  before  or  after 
failure  must  be  made  to  the  people  who  control  the  majority  of 
available  field  labor;  and,  considering  this  fact,  it  is  at  once  apparent 
that  there  could  be  no  purchasers  except  Japanese.  When  this  point 
has  been  reached  and  such  a  sale  of  American-controlled  industries  is 
forced  by  the  shortage  of  field  labor,  further  American  control  ceases 
and  Japanese  control  of  the  Territory's  industries  begins. 

Failure  or  sale  of  the  basic  agricultural  activities  of  the  Territory 
must  be  followed  by  a  similar  failure  or  sale  of  the  dependent  non- 
agricultural  activities,  for  the  latter  can  not  stand  without  the 
former.  Considering  the  fact  that  the  prosperity  of  the  entire  Ter- 
ritory as  a  Commonwealth  and  also  the  prosperity  of  the  nonagri- 
cultural  interests  of  the  Territory  are  based  entirely  on  the  sugar  and 
pineapple  industries,  it  soon  becomes  evident  that  political  control 
must  be  vested  in  those  who  control  these  two  large  and  essential 
agricultural  industries. 

If  the  present  labor,  shortage  continues  unrelieved,  both  the  Ter- 
ritory and  the  Nation  must  lose  foodstuffs  and  tax  revenues;  the 
former  because  of  reduced  crops,  and  the  latter  because  of  the  smaller 
taxable  values  of  such  reduced  crops.     In  addition  to  these  two  losses, 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  221 

however,  the  Territory  will  be  o;reatly  hampered  and  delayed  in  public 
works  and  improvements  of  all  kinds,  as  will  also  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment to  a  smaller  extent. 

The  exports  from  the  Territory  during  the  Government  fiscal  year 
of  1910  amounted  to  $98,859,311,  increasing  to  $145,831,074  during 
the  fiscal  year  of  1920.  During  the  calendar  year  1920,  however, 
on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  bulk  of  the  sugar  and  pineapple  crops 
is  shipped  during  the  last  six  months  of  each  year,  the  exports 
amounted  to  $192,383,000,  this  latter  figure  being  divided  between 
the  principal  commodities  as  follows: 

Sugar $158,  712,  000 

Pineapples 29, 176,  000 

Coffee 470,  000 

Canned  fish  and  sundries 4,  025,  000 

192,  383,  000 

To  determine  the  value  of  produce  raised  in  the  Territory,  the  value 
of  home-grown  products  consumed  in  the  Territory  must  be  added  to 
the  foregoing  total,  as  follows: 

Su2:ar $4,  300,  000 

Coffee 174,  000 

Rice 1,  280.  000 

Garden  vegetables  and  sundries 1,  200,  000 

6,  954,  000 

I  w^ould  like  to  say  here  that  $1,200,000  is  far  less  than  the  value 
of  all  the  garden  truck  produced.  Practically  all  of  the  farmers  have 
their  ow^n  little  garden  patches  and  raise  the  garden  requirements  of 
the  majority  of  our  population  directly,  and  it  is  impossible  to  see  the 
value  of  this  produce  as  coming  through  a  market. 

On  account  of  labor  shortage  and  the  consequent  delayed  harvests, 
interrupted  cultivation,  and  failure  to  plant  new  crops,  the  tw^o  prin- 
cipal export  items,  sugar  and  pineapples,  will  be  reduced  approxi- 
mately one-fourth  in  tonnage  during  the  calendar  year  1921,  while  the 
coffee  industry  will  suffer  an  even  greater  percentage  of  loss.  It  is 
extremely  difficult  to  arrive  at  any  definite  figure  in  estimating  the 
effect  of  these  losses  on  the  food  supplies  of  the  Territory  and  Nation, 
l)ut  anything  occasioning  the  destruction  or  nonproduction  of  food 
staples  is  an  economic  condition  demanding  immediate  correction. 

It  is  similarly  difficult  to  estimate  the  loss  in  tax  revenues  occa- 
sioned by  reduced  production,  but  the  taxes  to  be  paid  to  the  Ter- 
ritory and  Nation  in  1921  will  be  much  less  than  the  amounts  paid 
in  1920,  which  were  as  follows: 

To  the  Federal  Government: 

Internal  revenue $11,  929,  872.  72> 

Customs 1, 172,  906.  24 

13, 102,  778.  96 
To  the  Territorial  Government 4,  954,  484.  43 

With  reduced  production  and  income  and  correspondingly  reduced 
profits,  the  amounts  of  taxes  to  be  paid  in  the  year  1921  will  be  reduced 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  loss  in  production,  for  the  reason  that  the 
excess-profits  item  w^ill  be  so  greatly  reduced  that  the  tax  will  be 
negligible  in  comparison  wdth  the  1920  tax. 


222  LABOE  PROBLEMS  IIT   HAWAII. 

Public  works  and  improvements  by  the  Territory  valued  at  nearly 
$3,000,000  are  proposed  and  have  been  authorized.  The  Territorial 
superintendent  of  public  works  has  informed  the  commission,  how- 
ever, that  he  '^does  not  know  where  the  men  are  coming  from  to  fill 
the  quota  necessary  to  complete  the  above  projects  on  anything  near 
time."  Nearly  500  laborers  are  required  to  carry  on  the  projects  in 
question,  the  completion  of  which  will  require  from  four  to  six  months 
for  the  smaller  ones  to  a  year  and  a  half  for  a  number  of  the  larger 
ones.  No  such  supply  of  labor  is  conceivably  available;  and  the  only 
possible  effect  is  a  great  delay  in  instituting  and 'carrying  through  these 
improvements,  all  of  which  are  necessary  and  some  of  which  are  essen- 
tial to  the  public  health. 

The  form  of  relief  from  the  labor  shortage  proposed  in  the  joint 
resolution  herewith  has  been  determined  upon  after  careful  consider- 
ation of  conditions  attending  such  relief.  The  industries  of  the  coun- 
try do  not  desire,  and  this  commission  does  not  propose  or  intend  to 
request  any  greater  supply  of  labor  than  is  an  absolute  necessity  for 
the  relief  of  the  present  grave  situation.  This  being  so,  in  considera- 
tion of  the  fact  that  the  shortage  is  variable,  it  is  believed  to  be  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  industries  themselves  and  of  the  country  to  place 
in  the  hands  of  responsible  Government  officials  the  duty  of  deter- 
mining the  measure  of  relief.  To  enact  legislation  fixing  the  exact 
number  of  laborers  that  my  be  imported  to  relieve  the  shortage  would 
result  in  leaving  the  actual  shortage  unrelieved  in  the  event  that  it 
increases  subsequent  to  such  legislative  action,  while  a  similar  repre- 
hensible condition  might  result  from  an  overabundance  of  field  labor 
were  the  shortage  to  decrease. 

The  situation  in  the  Territory  is  now  so  serious  and  threatening 
that  it  requires  instant  relief  without  the  delay  incident  to  careful 
and  thorough  investigation  of  the  circumstances  by  legislative  com- 
mittees. It  is  therefore  proposed  that  the  Department  of  Labor  be 
charged  with  the  duty  of  furnishing  relief  in  such  measure  as  is 
necessary,  leaving  to  the  department  the  determination  of  the  extent 
of  the  shortage  from  time  to  time,  with  a  corresponding  initiative  to 
limit  and  restrict  immigration.  In  this  manner  laborers  may  be  im- 
ported in  such  numbers  only  as  will  best  subserve  the  interests  of  all 
concerned  while  presenting,  at  the  same  time,  the  immediate  relief 
that  is  so  essential. 

In  proposing  administrative  latitude  in  the  provision  of  relief,  no 
small  consideration  has  been  the  desire  to  avoid  international  com- 
plications of  any  kind  through  cooperation  between  the  Department 
of  Labor  and  other  departments  and  bureaus.  To  draft  legislation 
at  this  time,  imposing  all  the  restrictions  and  conditions  that  would 
be  necessary  for  the  strict  observance  of  international  courtesy  and 
other  considerations,  would  probably  so  delay  the  final  enactment  of 
that  legislation  as  to  make  the  relief  therein  provided  of  little  or  no 
value  m  the  present  acute  emergency,  whereas  such  restrictions  can 
be  imposed  by  administrative  action  as  occasion  therefor  arises  from 
time  to  time  without  harmful  delay. 

The  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  insular  and  isolated,  2,100  miles  from 
the  mainland  of  the  United  States.  Its  agricultural  problems  are 
tropical  and  strongly  differentiated  from  the  farm  problems  of  the 
mainland.     The  white  farmer  who  can  prosper  everywhere  through- 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  223 

out  the  continental  United  States  is  inherently  unable  to  work  in  the 
cane  fields  and  on  the  pineapple  and  other  plantations  of  the  Ter-  ^^ 
ritory.  This  statement  is  no  idle  expression  of  theory,  but  is  prem- 
ised on  the  unquestionable  results  of  many  experiments  during  the 
past  50  years  of  tropical  agriculture  in  Hawaii.  That  agriculture, 
during  those  years,  has  progressed  to  the  point  where  it  is  now  the 
most  scientific  in  the  world,  but  its  further  continuance,  despite  all 
scientific  methods,  demands  a  supply  of  labor  adequate  to  its  needs 
and  fundamentally  able  to  meet  the  peculiar  conditions  imposed  by 
the  tropical  nature  of  the  country. 

The  shortage  and  all  its  accompanying  conditions  are  local.  They 
are  not  related  in  any  way  to  similar  problems  confronting  farmers. 
of  the  mainland;  they  can  not  be  solved  in  the  same  manner  as  can 
the  problems  of  continental  agriculture;  and  the  relief  provided,  no 
matter  what  its  peculiar  form  may  be,  can  in  no  way  complicate  or 
involve  mainland  conditions.  The  emergency  is  such,  however,  as. 
to  demand  immediate  relief  sufficiently  flexible  in  nature  to  meet 
the  const antlv  changing  conditions.  It  is  manifest  that  no  such 
flexibility  would  be  possible  under  detailed  statutory  restrictions, 
and  for  that  reason  alone,  if  for  no  other,  administrative  latitude  in 
determining  both  the  measure  and  nature  of  relief  is  an  essential. 

I  have  a  copy  of  the  message  of  the  governor  to  the  legislature- 
which  opened  the  whole  question  two  months  ago. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  You  may  file  that  with  your  statement,  if  you  desire. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Could  we  have  that  message  read  ?     How  long  is  it  % 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  is  only  three  pages  long. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  We  can  have  it  read,  if  you  desire  it. 

^Ir.  Dillingham.  It  was  on  this  message  that  the  legislature  took 
action.     I  will  read  it,  with  your  permission  [reading] : 

The  honorable  the  President  of  the  Senate:  the  honorable  the  Speaker  of  the 
Hottse;  and  Members  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii: 

Gentlemen:  My  attention  has  recently  been  called  to  th^act  that  the  agricultural 
industries  of  this  Territory  are  suffering  from  an  acute  labor, shortage.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  unless  some  remedy  be  speedily  found  whereby  this  condition  may  be 
alleviated,  the  agricultural  and  other  dependent  industries  of  this  Territory  and 
the  Territory  as  a  whole  will  suffer  great  and  irreparable  loss.  If  this  condition  shall 
continue  it  will  mean  that  the  areas  of  sugar  cane  and  pineapples  now  under  cultiva- 
tion will  have  to  be  reduced.  It  is  now  true  that  thousands  of  acres  of  productive 
rice  lands  in  this  Territory  have  been  abandoned  because  of  the  lack  of  labor  to  cul- 
tivate them,  and  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  for  that  reason  just  so  much  less  able  to 
support  its  inhabitants  and  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States  in  this  Territory. 
It  is  also  true  that  a  large  portion  of  the  1920  coffee  crop  of  this  Territory  was  not 
harvested  because  of  the  great  lack  of  labor,  and  the  same  condition  will  exist  during 
this  present  year.  This  resulted  and  will  result  in  severe  loss  to  the  coffee  planters, 
the  greater  proportion  of  whom  are  citizens  of  moderate  means  and  unable  to  withstand 
such  a  loss  for  even  one  year.  The  continued  shortage  of  labor  will  result  in  a  similar- 
loss  and  in  the  reduction  in  cultivated  areas  in  other  agricultural  lines  with  a  corre- 
sponding inability  to  support  ourselves  and  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States 
either  in  normal  times  or  during  periods  of  emergency. 

You  are  all  aware  that  the  enth-e  industrial  life  of  this  Territory  is  based  upon 
agriculture.  Xo  other  industry  would  exist  here  except  for  the  support  contributed, 
dhectly  or  indirectly,  by  the  l^asic  agricultural  industries  of  the  Territory,  and  all 
our  citizens  and  residents  are  dependent  directly  or  indirectly  upon  the  successful 
prosecution  of  those  industries.  You  are  all  aware  of  the  fact  that  no  agiiculttiral 
labor,  other  than  PHipino,  has  been  brought  into  this  Territory  for  at  least  14  years. 
During  that  period  of  time  there  has  been  a  large  increase  in  the  acreage  planted  in 
sugar  cane,  pineapples  and  other  food  staples,  and  as  no  adequate  additional  labor  was 
brought  into  the  Territory  to  cultivate  the  increased  area  and  as  during  that  same^ 
period  a  large  number  of  laborers  have  returned  to  their  homes  in  other  parts  of  the. 


.224  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

world,  the  result  has  been  that  we  have  had  to  spread  our  available  labor  supply  over 
such  a  large  area  that  production  has  had  to  slow  down  and  within  a  short  time  will 
be  very  materially  decreased. 

As  our  agricultural  operations  are  devoted  entirely  to  the  production  of  food  sup- 
plies and  as  the  continuance  of  that  production  is  essential  to  the  support  of  the  in- 
habitants of  this  Territory,  ci\'ll  and  military,  both  in  normal  times  and  particularly 
in  times  of  emergency,  it  is  vitally  necessary  that  we  have  an  adequate  supply  of 
agricultural  laborers  to  carry  on  those  industries.  Since  this  Territory  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  Nation  as  a  militar/  outpost,  it  is  above  all  things  necessary  that 
we  should  be  put  in  a  self-sustaining  position  so  that  in  a  time  of  national  emergency 
we  AVould  not  only  be  no  burden  on  the  rest  of  the  Natioij.  but  would  be  in  a  position 
where  we  could  supply  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States  with  certain  essential 
foods. 

The  question  is  one  of  such  great  importance  to  the  Territory  and  to  the  Nation  that 
I  believe  it  should  be  presented  to  you  and  to  Congress  as  an  administrative  measure, 
;and  I,  therefore,  as  governor  of  this  Territory  and  as  representing  the  entire  citizenship 
of  the  Territory,  submit  herewith  the  draft  of  a  concurrent  resolution  which  contains 
my  ideas  of  what  should  be  done  in  the  premises  and  of  the  recommendations  which 
should  De  made  to  Congress  in  this  regard.  A  resolution  has  been  introduced  in  the 
house  of  representatives  by  Hon.  Norman  K.  Lyman  somewhat  along  the  same  lines 
as  the  one  submitted  herewith  but  based  upon  different  reasons.  I  recommend  that 
the  concurrent  resolution  which  is  submitted  herewith  be  referred  to  the  same  com- 
mittee which  now  has  the  pending  resolution  under  consideration  and  that  that 
committee  report  out  one  of  the  two  resolutions.  I  believe,  however,  that  this  is  a 
matter  of  such  great  importance  to  the  Territory,  as  a  whole,  that  a  resolution  sponsored 
and  approved  by  the  administration  would  have  the  greater  weight  and  infiucene. 

In  order  that  this  matter  may  be  properly,  forcibly,  and  speedily  presented  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  I  recommend  the  enactment  of  the  bill  which  is  sub- 
mitted herewith,  which  provides  for  the  creation  and  appointment  of  the  Hawaii 
Emergency  Labor  Commission,  whose  duty  it  will  be  to  proceed  to  Washington, 
D.  C,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  our  Delegate  to  Congress  in  obtaining  immediate 
relief  in  the  premises,  and  which  provides  an  appropriation  for  the  payment  of  expenses 
incurred  by  said  commission  in  the  performance  of  its  duties. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  April  20,  A.  D.  1921. 

C.  J.  McCarthy,  Governor. 

(The  concurrent  resolution  follows :) 

^        CONCURRENT    RESOLUTION. 

( 

Whereas,  owing  largely  to  conditions  resulting  from  the  war,  the  agricultural  industries 
of  the  Territory  are  now  experiencing  an  acute  shortage  of  labor,  which  shortage 
according  to  present  indications  will  not  only  continue  but  will  increase  in  intensity 
for  some  years  to  come  unless  special  and  adequate  provisions  be  speedily  made  to 
replenish  the  supply;  and 
Whereas  the  remedying  of  such  shortage  is  of  immediate  and  vital  importance  to  this 
Territory  as  a  whole  in  order  that  its  basic  industries  may  be  preserved,  thereby 
avoiding  a  diminution  of  the  citizen  population  of  Hawaii  which  is  dependent 
directly  and  indirectly  upon  such  basic  industries  and  in  order  that  a  material 
reduction  in  territorial  revenues  derived  from  taxes  may  be  avoided,  which  reduc- 
tion in  territorial  revenues  would  entail  a  corresponding  reduction  in  the  construc- 
tion of  roads,  harbor  improvements,  and  other  public  works,  and  of  educational, 
health,  scientific,  and  other  activities  of  local  and  national  importance"  and 
Whereas  no  remedy  for  this  serious  condition  can  be  provided  except  by  Federal 
action  in  permitting  the  immigration  of  available  laborers  under  appropriate  condi- 
tions and  limitations:  Now,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved  hy  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii,  the  Senate  con- 
curring, That  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America  be,  audit  is  hereby,  urgently 
and  respectfully  requested  to  provide  by  appropriate  legislation  for  the  introduction 
of  immigration  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  of  such  a  sufficient  number  of  persons, 
including  Orientals,  as  may  be  required  to  meet  the  situation  above  outlined  and  to 
overcome  the  said  acute  labor  shortage  in  the  said  agricultural  industries,  but  in  such 
numbers  only  as  will  not  operate  to  increase  the  number  of  persons  of  any  alien  nation- 
ality in  the  Territory  at  any  one  time  beyond  25  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of 
the  Territory,  amd  upon  such  conditions  as  will  provide  for  the  admission  of  such 
i  persons  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  only,  for  limited  periods  of  time  and  as  will  limit 
their  employment  to  agricultural  labor  and  domestic  service  and  provide  for  and  secure 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  225 

their  return  to  their  respective  countries  upon  the  expiration  of  such  limited  periods 
of  time  or  upon  such  other  conditions  and  limitations  as  the  Congress  may  deem 
advisable /and  be  it  further 

Resolvei,  That  the  Governor  of  Hawaii  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  and  requested 
to  forthwith  take  all  necessary  and  proper  steps,  including  the  authorization  or  appoint- 
ment of  individuals  or  commissions  to  act  in  the  matter,  both  at  home  and  in  the 
National  Capital,  to  urg>e  upon  the  Federal  Government  the  necessity  of  immediate 
action  in  the  premises;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  certified  copies  of  this  resolution  be  forthwith  forwarded  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States;  to  the  President  of  the  Senate,  and  to  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  respectively,  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States;  to  the 
chairmen  of  the  Committees  on  the  Territories  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Congress;  to  the  chairmen  of  the  Committees  on  Immigration  of  the 
Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Congress;  and  to  the  Delegate  to 
Congress  from  Hawaii. 

AN  ACT  Creating  the  Hawaii  Emergency  Labor  Commission,  prescribing  its  duties,  and  providing  an 

appropriation  therefor. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii: 

Section  1.  A  commission  to  be  known  as  the  Hawaii  Emergency  Labor  Commission, 
consisting  of  three  members,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  governor,  as  provided  by 
the  organic  act,  is  hereby  created.  One  of  said  members  shall  be  appointed  as  chair- 
man of  the  said  commission. 

Sec.  2.  The  said  commission  shall,  as  soon  as  practicable  after  the  passage  of  this 
act,  proceed  to  Washington,  D.  C,  and  shall  there  assist  the  Delegate  to  Congress  from 
Hawaii  in  the  presentation  before  Congress  of  the  matters  which  are  referred  to  in 
concurrent  resolution  No.  —  of  this  session  of  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii  and  of  urging 
upon  Congress  the  necessity  of  speedily  enacting  such  legislation  as  will  remedy  the 
conditions  described  in  said  concurrent  resolution. 

Sec  3.  The  sum  of  815,000,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessary,  is  hereby 
appropriated  from  the  general  revenues  of  the  Territory  for  the  payment  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  said  commission  during  its  absence  from  the  Territory,  which  sum  shall 
be  expended  on  vouchers  approved  by  the  chaii'man  of  the  said  commission.  The 
per  diem  or  other  expenses  of  the  members  of  said  commission  shall  not  be  limited  by 
the  pro\-isions  of  joint  resolution  No.  3  of  the  1917  session  of  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii. 

Sec.  4.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  approval. 

Approved  at  Honolulu,  T.  H.,  April  27,  1921. 

C.  J.  McCarthy,  Governor. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  ask  for  a  little  informa- 
tion. Looking  over  the  population  of  Hawaii  I  find  this  peculiar 
situation,  that  in  1910  you  had  695  Negroes  and  in  1920  you  had  348. 
Apparently  the  Negro  population  is  decreasing.  Has  there  ever  been 
any  attempt  to  take  Negroes  from  the  States  here  to  work  in  the  fields 
of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  were  two  attempts  to  bring  the  Negroes 
to  Hawaii  as  cane  workers,  and,  while  one  swallow  does  not  make  a 
summer,  those  two  experiments  were  a  failure,  and  we  were  not 
encouraged  to  go  further  with  the  proposition  of  bringing  Negroes 
there.  TOiat  the  reasons  were  it  is  hard  to  determine,  but  we  were 
unfortunate,  certainly,  in  getting  an  undesirable  class  of  Negroes. 
A  high  percentage  of  them  were  in  jail  before  they  had  been  there  very 
long,  and  a  very  low  percentage  were  in  the  cane  fields. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  just  wondered  if  there  had  been  any  attempt  made 
along  that  line. 

Mr.  Box.  I  would  like  to  ask  the  witness  a  question.  I  noticed 
that  in  1910  you  had  2,361  Filipinos,  and  in  1920  you  had  21,000. 
Does  that  great  increase  consist  raainly  of  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have  been  making  a  very  desperate  effort 
to  get  labor  to  keep  up  the  requirements  of  the  islands,  and  also  to 
neutralize  the  control  of  any  one  alien  nationality.     The  Filipinos 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 2 


226  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

offered  the  best  opportunity  and  we  have  been  bring  them  in  as  fast 
as  it  was  possible  to  get  them  from  the  Phihppine  Islands.  We  have 
been  very  strict  about  their  health  conditions  before  leaving  the 
Philippines,  which  were  checked  again  on  coming  to  Hawaii,  and  they 
have  made  better  than  indifferent  labor  for  us.  The  difficulty  is  this: 
The  Philippine  Islands  are  short  of  labor  and  have  been  opposed  to 
our  efforts  to  get  labor  from  them.  In  practically  every  meeting  of 
the  legislature  in  the  Philippines,  there  is  a  bill  introduced  to  prevent 
the  takingof  labor  away  from  the  Philippines.  A  good  many  have  come 
to  us,  have  taken  a  course  in  sugar  culture  in  the  islands  and  have 
gone  back  to  the  Philippines,  and  the  reports  from  such  laborers  which 
have  been  educated  in  Hawaii  have  been  very  favorable  to  their 
experience  awa}^  from  home.  They  have  gone  back  to  take  up  better 
positions  and  deliver  more  valuable  services  in  their  own  country. 

Mr.  Box.  There  is  nothing  in  the  law  of  the  United  States  to  pre- 
vent your  taking  those  people  from  the  Philippine  Islands  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir;  and  we  are  working  very  diligently 
now  to  have  the  accommodations  on  all  steamers  that  touch  Hawaii 
and  the  Philippines  increased  so  as  to  bring  them  over. 

Mr.  Box.  You  have  made  some  progress  in  this  line,  as  I  under- 
stand it  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  Filipinos  are  drifting  back  to  the  Philip- 
pines as  well  as  drifting  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  In  other  words,  you  want  us  to  understand  that 
immigration  and  emigration  are  about  equal  so  far  as  the  Fili- 
pinos are  concerned  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  has  been  a  decided  increase  in  the  number 
of  Filipinos  brought  to  the  islands  over  those  who  have  gone  back; 
but,  up  to  date,  we  have  not  done  more  than  take  care  of  the  shrink- 
age with  what  labor  we  could  bring  in  from  Porto  Rico  and  from  the 
Philippines. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  For  how  long  have  you  noticed  this  acute  un- 
skilled labor  shortage  ?     For  how  many  years  past  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  My  earliest  recollection  of  business  is  hearing^ 
the  labor  shortage  discussed.  That  is  not  quite  40  years  ago,  but 
it  was  a  long  time  ago.  We  have  never  had  adequate  labor.  What 
I  mean  is  that  we  have  been  building  the  country  up  from  the  time, 
40  years  or  45  years  ago,  when  we  had  an  output  of  13,500  tons  of 
sugar,  until  the  country  now  produces  over  half  a  million  tons  a 
year.  With  the  development  of  the  country,  there  has  been  a  great 
demand  for  labor,  and  providing  that  labor  has  been  one  of  the  great 
problems.  To-day,  however,  we  have  the  country  developed:  and,, 
due  to  conditions  which  came  up  here  last  year,  we  suddenly  find 
that  we  are  25  per  cent  short  of  enough  labor  to  carry  the  industries 
along  as  now  developed. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  You  mean  to  carry  the  industries  at  maximum 
capacity  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No;  at  efficient  capacity. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Well,  now,  from  your  figures  I  notice  that  your 
exports  for  1920,  in  dollars,  were  tremendously  increased  over  the 
1919  exports. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  accounted  for  by  the  very  abnormal 
price  of  sugar. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  227 

Mr.  Shaw.  Twenty-six  cents  a  pound,  as  against  probably  five 
the  year  before.  The  canners  of  CaUfornia  bought  sugar  last  year 
at  26  cents  a  pound  to  put  up  fruit  with,  and  the  year  before  I  think 
the  contract  ran  about  5  cents,  so  it  was  five  or  six  times  the  price. 
I  don't  know  how  the  figures  on  output  would  compare,  but  prob- 
ably they  were  not  any  greater. 

jVir.  SiEGEL.  The  exports  of  any  country,  expressed  in  dollars  and 
cents  to-day,  do  not  tell  you  the  number  of  articles  produced. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  But  would  the  increase  in  the  price  of  exported 
products  in  1920  be  so  great  as  to  take  care  of  this  great  increase 
in  1920  exports? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Have  you  the  amount  in  pounds  ? 

Mr.  DiLLixGHAM.  I  have  it  in  tons;  yes,  sir.  The  tonnage  in 
1919  was  603,000;  in  1920,  last  year,  it  was  556,000.  So  you  see 
we  received  practically  Rve  times  the  normal  price  of  sugar  last 
year.  The  worst  feature  of  tliis  abnormal  price  was  that,  instead 
of  benefiting  the  industry,  instead  of  benefiting  the  country,  it 
completely  upset  our  economic  conditions  and  balance.  The  bonus 
system  gave  to  the  plantation  laborer  an  abnormal  return  for  his 
work,  while  all  those  connected  with  every  other  industry  in  the 
islands  were  obliged  to  stumble  along  on  the  old  wage,  so  there 
wasn't  anyone  who  was  happy.  Those  who  got  the  money  were 
restless  and  dissatisfied  with  the  thought  of  the  work  they  were 
obliged  to  do,  and  those  who  were  doing  the  more  skilled  jobs  in 
other  lines  of  business  felt  that  they  were  far  underpaid. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  about  this  child  labor  business  ?  Don't  you 
have  any  laws  there  against  employing  children  for  the  cane  fields  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  You  refer  to  my  reference  to  calhng  the  children 
in? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes;  you  stated  about  the  children  being  employed 
there  in  the  cane  fields. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  In  the  pineapple  fields.  Of  course,  this  is 
volunteer  work  which  comes  in  summer  and  is  only  for  the  eight 
weeks  of  the  summer  months,  and  doesn't  do  a  grooving  boy  any 
harm. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  were  the  number  and  ages  of  children? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  can't  answer  that  question  offhand. 

Mr.  Iravtn.  There  are  none  under  14. 

Mr.  Cable.  About  how  many  altogether? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  About  100  was  the  report  of  the  number  that  were 
moved  into  the  island  of  Maui  to  help  out  in  the  shortage  there. 

I  read  in  one  of  the  recent  issues  of  our  paper  that  there  were  300 
boy  scouts  planning  to  go  out  this  summer,  and  practically  every 
able-bodied  bo}^  scout  was  keen  to  go  out  and  work  in  the  pineapple 
fields  and  help  out. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  only  children  then  that  were  employed,  were  the 
ones  that  you  referred  to  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  are  children  empolyed  in  the  canneries 
during  the  summer  months.  From  my  own  observation,  I  couldn't 
say  that  any  very  young  children  were  employed. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  don't  know  about  the  ages,  though? 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  are  none  under  14. 

Mr.  Cable.  Does  your  law  require  that  limit? 


228  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Ikwin.  We  have  a  statute  to  that  effect. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  those  under  14  can  not  work  ? 

Mr.  Maloney.  Have  you  any  labor  troubles  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  You  mean  labor  disturbances  ? 

Mr.  Maloney.  Yes. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  had  a  strike  of  Japanese  on  the  Island  of 
Oahu  which  started  in  January,  1920,  and  lasted  until  the  1st  of 
July  of  that  year. 

Mr.  Maloney.  What  was  the  cause  of  that  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  causes  given  for  the  strike  were  the  base 
pay,  the  number  of  days  required  in  the  month  to  earn  the  bonus, 
and  the  recognition  of  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Maloney.  How  did  it  terminate  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  terminated  without  any  concessions  being 
made  to  the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Maloney.  It  was  exclusively  a  Japanese  proposition  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  was  exclusively  Japanese.  The  national 
lines  were  drawn  as  clean  as  a  razor  cut. 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  DiHingham,  I  notice  your  statement  with  reference 
to  the  fact  that  Japanese  industries  appear  to  be  abundantly  financed. 
Have  you  any  information  as  to  the  source  of  that  financial  support  ? 
Is  it  local  ?  Have  the  people  there  the  money,  or  does  it  come  from 
elsewhere  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  As  a  matter  of  practice,  the  Japanese  have 
banked  with  the  Japanese  banks  for  a  good  many  years,  and  the 
Japanese  banks  have  made  their  investments  in  Japan  and  not  in 
Hawaii.  The  records  show  that  there  was  $17,000,000  sent  home  to 
Japan  in  1920.  The  first  indications  we  had  of  any  disposition  on 
the  part  of  Japanese  capital  to  come  to  Hawaii  in  large  amounts 
was  about  a  year  ago  when  an  effort  was  made  to  purchase  the  control 
of  one  of  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Box.  What  was  involved  in  that,  roughly  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  You  mean  the  amount  of  money  ? 

Mr.  Box.  Yes. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  would  amount  to  two  or  three  million 
dollars. 

Mr.  Box.  And  there  was  no  local  capital  there  able  to  take  care  of 
that  situation  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes;  if  they  pooled  it.  If  the  Japanese  labor 
community  pooled  its  money  through  a  bank  in  some  way,  they 
could  handle  it.  It  is  very  difficult  to  find  out  the  source  of  money, 
particularly  when  it  is  money  in  the  control  of  orientals. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  Do  you  realize,  Mr.  Dillingham,  that  that  would 
mean  $150  sent  out  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  each  person,  each 
Japanese  in  the  year  ?     I  have  just  been  figuring  that  out  here. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  wholly  within  the  range  of  possibilities. 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  For  one  year's  time  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  I  wish  you  would  state  a  little  more  fully  than  you  have 
about  the  racial  compactness,  the  unity,  the  cohesiveness,  with 
which  they  operate  in  your  industrial  life  and  in  the  threatened  ac- 
quisition of  your  business  and  economic  life— the  Japanese,  I  mean. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  experience  they  are  having  in  California  is 
repeated  in  Hawaii.     A  great  many  of  us  have  believed  that,  by 


LABOR    PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  229 

exert inoj  a  different  attitude  toward  4fe  the  Japanese,  the  results 
would  be  favorable  to  the  intermingling  of  the  two  nations,  and 
eventually  the  bringing  of  them  into  the  full  American  spirit.  I  was 
one  of  those  who  believed  that  there  were  so  many  well-educated, 
prominent  Japanese  in  Hawaii  w^ho  had  bettered  their  condition  in 
every  way  after  coming  under  the  control  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment and  influences  and  ideas,  that  if  it  came  to  a  question  such  as 
was  raised  in  1920,  when  the  Japanese  went  on  strike  on  the  planta- 
tions of  Oahu,  we  could  rely  upon  the  prominent  business  men  and 
professional  men  of  the  Japanese  community  to  take  the  matter  up 
with  us  and  work  out  a  proper  solution. 

For  SIX  months  it  was  absolutely  impossible  to  get  any  one  of  them 
to  come  out  and  take  the  stand,  through  the  Japanese  press  or  through 
public  meetings,  that  the  strike  was  wrong;  that  they  would  get 
nothing  in  the  way  of  adjusting  any  differences  until  they  went  back 
to  work;  and  that,  if  they  went  back  to  work,  the  matter  could  be 
adjusted  between  the  laborers  and  the  plantations,  while  they  would 
find  the  plantation  management  deaf  to  treating  with  the  agitators 
who  were  the  leaders  in  that  strike,  until  they  did  go  back.  Several 
of  them  frankly  admitted  to  me  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  planta- 
tions to  give  in.  They  admitted  that  it  was  against  the  interests  of 
the  Japanese  community  to  turn  over  the  control  to  the  agitators  and 
that  they  did  not  believe  the  planters  would  give  in,  and  yet  they  did 
not  have  the  courage,  the  individual  courage,  to  get  out  and  face  the 
Japanese  community  which  was  completely  in  sympathy  with  back- 
ing up  those  of  their  own  nationality. 

The  call  was  made  on  all  Japanese  residents  of  the  Territory  to 
contribute  toward  the  support  of  the  strikers. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  they  do  it  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  did;  to  the  extent  of  a  million  dollars. 

Mr.  Maloney.  How  many  men  were  involved  in  the  strike  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  About  6,000. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  And  the  agitators  were  Japanese? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  were.  They  were  the  most  undesirable 
Japanese  in  the  Territory  and  were  admitted  to  be  so  by  their  own 
people,  who  nevertheless  had  not  the  courage  to  get  up  and  put  them 
where  they  belonged. 

Mr.  Cable.  Wasn't  that  at  a  time  when  they  were  getting  more 
money  than  they  ever  did  before  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  At  that  time  they  were  drawing  a  wage  which 
amounted  practically  to  $3  a  day  if  a  man  would  work  20  days  out 
of  the  month.  At  the  time  the  bonus  system  was  made  no  one  ever 
contemplated  that  they  would  ever  get  any  such  return  as  that — $3 
in  addition  to  a  house,  a  garden,  medical  attendance,  free  water,  and 
free  firewood.     That  accounts  for  the  $150  per  capita. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  much  do  you  pay  them  to-day? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  $1.15  is  the  base  wage  paid  to-day. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  a  chance  for  the  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  A  chance  for  the  bonus  besides. 

Mr.  Cable.  If  sugar  goes  up  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  sugar  goes  up;  yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  think  sugar  will  go  up  ?     [Laughter.] 

Mr.  SiEGEL.  Well,  that  is  a  little  bit  outside  of  the  hearing. 


230  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  I  understand  you  to  say  that  the  racial  spirit,  class 
consciousness,  and  cohesiveness  is  very  strong  among  the  Japanese; 
that  that  spirit  is  very  strong,  to  the  extent  that  it  predominates  in 
that  portion  of  the  population  of  Hawaii  ?     Is  that  correct  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  offer  in  evidence  what  I  have  just  said,  and 
from  that  can  only  conclude  that  the  solidarity  of  the  Japanese 
exceeds  that  of  any  other  nationality  that  has  ever  been  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Cable.  Will  they  work  at  this  price — -the  aliens  that  you  con- 
template bringing  in  there  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  they  will  work  at  the  regular  price  if 
they  had  an  opportunity. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  it  your  idea  to  get  them  in  there  and  cut  the  throats 
of  the  Japanese  on  the  labor  proposition  ?  Will  they  underwork  the 
Japanese — work  cheaper  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  object  of  this  mission  is  not  to  cut  anyone's 
throat;  the  object  of  the  mission,  Mr.  Cable,  is  to  control  the  indus- 
tries for  Hawaii,  for  Americans;  and  if  it  is  possible  to  get  any  peo- 
ple in  there  who  will  have  a  neutralizing  effect  upon  the  great  num- 
ber of  one  nationality  that  we  have  there,  we  believe  it  is  the  thing 
to  do.  If  Chinamen  can  be  permitted  to  come  into  that  country,  we 
believe  the  Chinaman  will  be  a  pacemaker  for  all  others  in  develop- 
ing agriculture. 

Mr.  Cable.  W^ouldn't  you  have  to  pay  him  as  much  as  you  do  the 
Japanese? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  imagine  that  the  price  would  be  the  same. 
If  the  laborer  will  deliver  at  the  wage  which  we  are  paying — ^efficiently 
deliver — we  believe  that  with  our  methods  of  agriculture  and  eco- 
nomic handling  of  our  business  we  can  keep  within  the  market  price 
which  is  established  by  Cuba.  The  sugar  which  we  produce  in 
Hawaii  has  no  control  over  the  market  price  that  is  paid  here. 

Mr.  Cable.  Who  regulates  the  price? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  price  is  regulated  by  the  Cuban  crop. 

Mr.  Cable.  Why  is  that? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Because  they  furnish  the  United  States  about  75 
per  cent  of  the  sugar  consumed  here. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  does  Cuba  pay  its  labor? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  will  have  to  ask  some  one  who  knows  more 
about  Cuban  conditions  than  I  do. 

Mr.  Albert  Horner?  I  was  in  Cuba  a  few  years  ago  and  the  wages 
at  that  time  were  the  same  as  they  were  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  you  have  to  pay  as  much  as  they  do  in 
Cuba  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes;  we  were  paying  the  same  as  Cuba. 

Mr.  Cable.  They  set  the  price  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  don't  think  we  are  following  Cuba  in  the  matter  of 
paying  wages,  but  the  wages  that  Cuba  was  paying  when  I  was  there 
were  the  same  as  we  were  paying  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  don't  know  what  it  is  to-day  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  No;  I  do  not.  I  think  on  the  whole  the  wages  in 
Cuba  are  slightly  higher  than  the  wages  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Cable.  A  few  cents  a  day  higher  ?  | 

Mr.  Horner.  A  few  cents  a  day;  yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Carrying  out  the  thought  of  Judge  Box,  Mr.  Dillingham, 
is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii  are  united,  even  in  building 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  ^  ( 

,9  7  * 

trades,  so  that,  except  on  very  large  jobs  where  it  takes  a  great  amourii. 
of  capital  to  finance  them,  even  the  building  in  Hawaii  is  being  con- 
ducted by  Japanese  who  are  organized  and  financially  backed  by 
Japanese  money  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  true.  The  Japanese  skilled  laborers  and 
artisans  have  combined  with  Japanese  contractors  who  handle  all 
work  that  is  available  for  them.  They  can  not  handle  territorial  or 
county  public  works,  because  the  territorial  laws  require  that  all  work 
done  for  the  county  or  territory  must  be  done  by  a  citizen  laborer  or 
by  laborers  who  are  eligible  to  become  citizens.  The  Federal  Govern- 
ment, however,  has  opened  the  door  to  the  employment  of  orientals 
on  public  works.  Fortifications  and  navy  yards,  in  time  of  peace,  and 
Government  public  roads  built  by  the  Federal  Government,  are 
works  on  which  the  oriental  can  compete  with  citizen  labor. 

Mr.  Kleszka.  What  is  this  corporation  that  you  mentioned  a  few 
minutes  ago,  that  wanted  to  buy  one  of  your  industries,  at  a  con- 
sideration, I  think  you  said,  of  13,000,000  ?  Was  that  corporation  IQO 
per  cent  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  don't  know.     The  approach  came  from  the 
Japanese  and  was  represented  as  being  Japanese  capital,  the  idea  being 
that  they  wished  to  show  a  vested  interest  in  the  country,  to  be  one 
with  us  and  so  on,  and  change  the  policy  of  taking  the  money  home  to 
Japan  and  invest  it  in  Hawaii.     That  was  the  attitude  of  approach.         X 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  had  something  to  do  with  the  selling  end  of  the  .  >^ 
proposition  indirectly,  and  we  would  not  entertain  it.     We  did  not^^ 
care  to  go  into  it  further  at  all,  believing  that  if  the  start  was  made,  the 
entering  wedge  driven  home,  it  would  be  only  a  question  of  time  until 
the  control  of  our  industry  would  pass  into  alien  hands,  just  as  surely 
as  the  potato  business  of  California  and  the  strawberry  business  of 
California,  and  perhaps  some  other  interests,  have  passed  over  into  the 
control  of  these  people. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Were  any  other  attempts  made  to  gain  control  of 
industry  by  the  Japanese  % 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes;  there  was  a  plantation  on  the  island  of 
Kauai,  control  of  which  was  held  by  Portuguese  who  had  graduated 
from  the  field  work  years  ago  and  were  in  a  position  to  have  the  con- 
trol of  this  small  plantation;  but  they  refused  to  give  it  over  to  the 
Japanese.  They  are  moving  in  on  pineapple  lands,  taking  up  lands 
-which  are  known  to  be  valuable  as  pineapple  lands,  and  farming  them 
with  their  own  countrymen.  There  is  no  land  law  in  our  country 
which  prevents  their  buying  land.  They  are  prevented  from  drawing 
for  public  lands,  but  their  children  are  permitted  to  do  so. 

The  Chairman.  The  children  are  permitted  to  draw  for  public  lands  % 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  children  of  aliens  are  permitted  to  draw  for 
public  lands  that  are  put  up  for  homesteads. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  That  is,  children  born  there  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes;  American-born  Japanese  have  the  right 
and  do  draw. 

The  Chairman.  But  they  have  to  be  of  age,  I  take  it. 

Mr.  Irwin.  They  have  to  be  18  years  old. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Are  they  not  represented  by  trustees.  Judge,  in 
the  drawings  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No;  they  can't  draw  before  they  are  18  years  of  age. 
That  is  the  minimum  age,  but  this  situation  developed  from  time  to 


230  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAIL 

.^me,  that  the  aUen  oriental  will  buy  a  piece  of  land — Government 
land  or  homestead  land — but  buy  it  in  the  name  of  his  minor  child 
and  take  the  title  in  the  name  of  his  minor  child  who  was  born  in 
the  Territory. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  they  will  buy  it  from  some  one  who  has 
secured  the  homestead  rights  by  lottery  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Your  statement  is  that  there  are  109,000  Japanese 
in  the  islands,  60,000  aliens  and  49,000  American-born. 

Mr.  D[LLiNGHAM.  Ycs,  sir. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Now,  of  those  that  were  on  strike,  were  they 
American-born  or  foreign-born,  or  mixed  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  don't  keep  our  statistics  in  that  way  on  the 
plantations. 

Mr.  Maloney.  They  all  work  together,  do  they  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  all  work  together,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact 
there  are  very,  very  few  Hawaiian-born  Japanese  who  will  do  work 
in  the  cane  fields.  Out  of  the  6,000  that  went  on  strike,  probably 
very  few  were  American  citizens,  or  American-born,  but  with  them 
would  go  their  children.  Whole  families  left  the  plantations,  taking 
their  children.  Do  you  remember,  Mr.  Mead,  how  many  there  were 
on  that  strike  ?     You  were  connected  with  that. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  were  about  6,000  out  on  strike. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  includes  the  children  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  yes;  some  of  the  very  worst  agitators  among  the 
Japanese  strikers  were  American-born  Japanese  young  men.  In 
very  many  instances,  they  were  the  heads  of  the  unions  on  the  planta-- 
tions  which  created  a  great  deal  of  trouble;  and,  while  we  had  no 
direct  evidence,  we  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  they  were  the 
ones  that  were  firing  cane  fields. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  want  to  ask  one  more  question.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that 
the  Japanese  are  organizing  and  endeavoring  to  get  control  of  nearly 
every  line  of  business  in  the  islands,  building  trades  and  everything 
else  where  they  can — stores  and  all  that  sort  of  thing  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  correct.  Whether  they  are  organizing 
to  do  it  or  not,  we  do  not  know;  that  they  are  doing  it,  we  do  know. 

Mr.  Shaw.  And  from  some  source  or  other,  where  they  undertake 
these  things,  they  have  sufficient  capital  to  carry  out  any  venture 
that  they  desire  to  undertake  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  do. 

Mr.  Box.  You  spoke  of  the  rice  industry.  You  said  there  was  an 
acreage  of  about  9,000  maximum,  and  2,800  now? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes-,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  How  much  of  that  land  is  suited  to  the  growing  of  rice^ 
if  you  had  plenty  of  labor  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  would  go  back  to  9,000  acres  from  2,800,  if 
we  had  labor.     There  is  no  question  about  that,  in  my  mind. 

Mr.  Box.  Would  you  greatly  exceed  that  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No;  we  would  not;  because  to  grow  rice  you 
must  have  a  deep  flow  of  water  and  are  therefore  obliged  to  use  the 
lands  at  a  low  level,  where  flowing  wells  will  take  care  of  the  terraces 
and  so  on.  It  would  not  pay  to  pump  the  water  up  to  any  great 
elevation  and  it  would  be  impossibe  to  raise  rice  on  high  levels  and 
sell  it  at  the  average  price  prevailing  over  a  period  of  years. 


LABOTJ    PROBLF.MS    IN    HAWAII.  233 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  give,  for  the  record,  the  names  of  those 
who  appear  as  members  of  your  commission  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  would  like  to  have  Governor-elect  Farrington 
make  a  statement  as  to  his  attitude  toward  the  situation  there. 

There  is  also  present  Mr.  Royal  D.  Mead,  who  has  been  handling 
labor  matters  in  connection  with  the  sugar  interests  in  the  islands  for 
20  years.     Mr.  Mead  will  deal  with  the  efi'orts  to  secure  labor. 

The  other  members  of  the  commission  are  Senator  Charles  F. 
Chillingworth  and  Mr.  Albert  Horner,  and  our  attorney  general,  Judge 
Harry  Irwin. 

(Whereupon,  at  12  o'clock  noon,  the  committee  adjurned  until 
10  a.  m.,  Wednesday,  June  22,  1921.) 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Washington,   Wednesday,  June  22,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  Is  it  your  desire,  Mr.  Dillingham,  to  proceed  with 
your  statement  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Judge  Raker  asked  some  questions  which  we 
would  be  glad  to  answer  if  it  is  possible  for  us  to  do  so. 

The  Chairman.  The  questions  asked  by  Judge  Raker  were  asked 
in  a  tentative  way,  as  I  remember  them,  after  we  had  concluded  the 
hearing  and  were  not  placed  in  the  record  of  yesterday's  hearing.. 
We  will  hear  Gov.  Farrington  this  morning. 

STATEMENT  OF  HON.  WALLACE  K.  FAERINOTON,  GOVERNOR 
OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Mr.  Dillingham  has  gone  into  this  matter  in 
detail,  so  that  really  the  matter  for  me  to  present  is  my  idea  of  whether 
a  crisis  exists  in  the  industry  of  the  Territory  and  whether  this  is  a 
matter  that  deserves  the  attention  of  the  Federal  Government  along 
the  lines  of  the  resolution  that  is  presented  to  you  by  the  Territorial 
Legislature. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  there,  what  is  before  the  committee  ? 

The  Chairman.  H.  J.  Res.  158.  This  resolution  was  referred  on  June 
20  to  the  Committee  on  the  Territories,  and  yesterday,  in  the  House, 
it  was  reref erred  to  this  committee.  Now  let  us  make  this  clear,  fol- 
lowing Judge  Raker's  inquiry:  This  joint  resolution  was  introduced 
by  the  Delegate  from  Hawaii.  Is  it  exactly  the  same  wording  of  the 
resolution  of  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  1 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir;  it  is  not  identical,  Mr.  Chairman.  It  is 
based  on  the  concurrent  resolution  passed  by  the  Territorial  Legis- 
lature and  is  a  suggested  method  of  working  out  the  solution  asked 
for  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory. 

Gov.  Farrington.  My  understanding  of  it  is  that  this  is,  in  effect, 
the  expression  of  the  legislature  and  that  the  changes  are  immaterial. 

A  crisis  is  sometimes  a  long  period  in  developing.  The  remark 
has  been  made  that  some  years  ago  a  gentleman  who  afterwards 
served  the  Territory  as  governor,  went  through  the  islands  and  told 


234  LABOK   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

US  if  we  did  not  secure  additional  sources  for  labor  that  we  should 
meet  a  very  serious  crisis  in  years  to  come.  The  comment  is  made 
that  we  got  along  pretty  well;  that  we  seemed  to  have  weathered 
that  crisis  and  that  possibly  we  are  frightened  before  we  are  really 
hurt.  On  the  other  hand,  the  conditions  are  just  exactly  as  he  pre- 
dicted. The  acuteness  of  the  crisis  has  really  developed  since  I  left 
home  last  March.  When  I  left  the  islands,  there  was  comment  about 
the  spirit  of  the  labor;  that  the  labor  of  the  plantations  was  not  as 
efficient  as  it  might  be  and  that  there  was  prospect  of  the  crop  being 
materially  reduced  by  a  shortage  of  labor.  As  the  harvesting  of  the 
crop  proceeded,  the  truth  of  that  situation  developed  and  is  now 
demonstrated  in  the  delay  of  the  harvesting  of  the  crop,  the  market- 
ing of  the  crop,  and  the  delayed  financial  return,  so  that,  I  understand, 
there  is  a  general  financial  stringency  in  the  Territory. 

Now  my  interest  is  largely  that  of  seeing  that  the  Territory  shall 
continue  in  a  prosperous  condition  and  maintain  its  position  as  the 
American  outpost  of  the  Pacific  Naturally,  it  is  very  important  for 
us  to  be  self-sustaining  and,  in  order  that  we  may  be,  for  us  to  have  a 
reasonably  prosperous  condition  in  our  main  industry,  which  is  sugar. 

The  strike  of  last  year  opened  the  eyes  of  a  good  many  of  us  to  a 
condition  which  has  become  more  acute  as  time  has  gone  on.  It 
stands  to  reason,  and  I  think  that  it  appeals  to  all  of  us,  that  the 
main  industry  in  any  part  of  our  country  should  not  be  in  the  hands 
of,  or  subject  to  the  dictates  of,  an  alien  element,  regardless  of  the 
origin  of  that  people. 

That  is  a  condition  which  we  of  Hawaii  face  at  the  present  time, 
and  we  have  found  ourselves  called  upon  to  appeal  to  representatives  of 
foreign  Governments  to  help  in  the  settlement  of  our  labor  difficulties. 
The  attitude  of  the  dominant  labor  element,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  absolute  man  power  shortage,  creates  a  situation  which,  to 
my  mind,  is  an  emergency  of  sufficient  importance  to  call  for  the 
attention  of  the  Federal  Government  in  giving  us  legislation  which 
will  open  the  way  for  securing  labor  from  sources  other  than  those 
which  are  now  available.  j 

Mr.  Box.  You  said  something  about  having  to  appeal  to  the  rep-  I 
resentatives  of  foreign  Governments  to  help  them  settle  their  labor 
troubles.     Did  I  get  that  right  ? 

Mr.  Farrington.  That  is  what  it  amounts  to.  Of  course,  we  are 
in  hearty  cooperation  with  the  representatives  of  foreign  Govern- 
ments; but,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  a  situation  where  they  are  called 
into  cooperation  with  us  under  circumstances  which  are  rather 
unusual. 

Mr.  Box.  That  was  done  last  year  through  the  representatives  of 
that  Government  ?  I  want  to  get  the  exact  meaning  the  governor 
had  in  mind,  Mr.  Chairman. 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  were  in  cooperation  to  quite  an  extent, 
were  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  there  was  no  cooperation  on  his  part.  There  was 
an  attempt  to  get  him  interested  and  he  did  become  somew^hat  inter- 
ested and  he  tried  to  get  the  Japanese  business  men  together,  but 
without  success. 

The  Chairman.  That  has  reference  to  the  time  of  the  strike  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  To  the  time  of  the  strike;  yes. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWATL  285 

The  Chairman.  On  the  sugar  plantations  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Box.  You  did,  then,  undertake  to  reach  the  Japanese  element 
through  representatives  of  the  Japanese  Government,  the  consul,  and 
others  ? 

Gov.  Farrtngton.  That  is  my  understanding. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  got  the  idea  of  cooperation  in  my  head.  I  could  not 
see  where  there  was  any  cooperation. 

Mr.  Box.  He  said  they  were  dependent  on  the  representatives  of 
the  foreign  Government  for  cooperation. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  observed  the  situation  from  the  standpoint 
of  a  newspaper  man  at  that  time  and  not  from  an  official  standpoint, 
and  that  is  the  impression  I  gained. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  have  always  had  to  go  to  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Japanese  Government,  anyhow. 

Mr.  Box.  For  what? 

The  Chairman.  With  regard  to  labor  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  In  our  trouble  with  the  Japanese  situation, 
as  I  understand  it,  and  I  think  Mr.  Mead  ought  to  know  it,  the 
people  of  that  Territory  have  always  consulted  the  Japanese  consul 
and  have  had  to  take  the  consul  out  in  the  fields  to  help  them  in 
handling  the  Japanese  labor. 

Mr.  Mead.  In  this  last  strike,  in  1920,  there  was  onh^  one  occasion 
when  representatives  of  the  plantations  called  upon  the  Japanese 
consul.  They  did  that  because  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation 
and  we  got  very  little  satisfaction  from  him;  but  he  did  attempt  and 
did  accomplish  a  calling  together  of  the  Japanese  business  men  with 
the  idea  of  settling  the  difficulties.  Nothing  ever  came  of  it.  But 
in  times  past,  as  the  Delegate  says,  the  Territory  and  employing 
interests  have  always  consulted  with  the  Japanese  consul. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Now,  the  islands  must  either  go  forward  or 
backward,  and  we  have  reached  the  point  where  production  in  our 
principal  industry  has  started  backward  on  account  of  our  shortage 
of  agricultural  labor.  We  have  exhausted  the  ordinary  sources  for 
supplying  labor  in  our  main  industry,  and  it  is  not  until  the  .situation 
has  been  very  thoroughly  canvassed  by  officials  and  leading  business 
men  of  the  islands  that  this  matter  is  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
United  States  Congress.  It  is  a  situation  which  calls  in  my  estima- 
tion, for  action. 

We  must  go  forward  and  we  must  have  a  supply  of  agricultural 
labor  that  can  be  depended  on  to  do  the  work  with  reasonable  efficiency 
Mr.  Dillingham  has  canvassed  the  situation  with  reference  to  the 
various  efforts  made  to  secure  labor. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  let  me  ask  you,  Governor:  Assuming  that 
Congress  should  grant  some  relief  along  the  lines  of  this  resolution 
and  that  aliens  hsoidd  be  admitted  for  a  limited  period  of  time  for 
the  purpose  of  engaging  only  in  agriculture,  and  that  such  aliens 
should  be  debarred  from  removing  to  any  other  place  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States;  if  those  aliens  struck,  who  would 
represent  them?  Would  their  Government's  consul  be  entitled  to 
represent  them  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Be  entitled  to  represent  them  ? 

The  Chair^ian.  Yes.  Suppose  they  were  to  strike  and  riot  and 
make  trouble  for  the  Territorial  Government;  who  would  deal  with 


236  LABCR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

you  with  regard  to  those  ahens  brought  there  for  a  period  of  five  year& 
under  this  resohition  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  have  no  doubt  their  consul  would  have  a 
personal  interest  in  their  affairs. 

The  Chairman.  Suppose  a  few  of  them  were  killed  as  a  result  of 
the  riot  or  strike  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  They  would  then  be  dead.     [Laughter.] 

The  Chairman.  Then  what  would  be  the  next  step  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Naturally,  the  dealings  would  be  through  the 
representatives  of  their  country. 

The  Chairman.  If  any  one  was  killed  under  such  conditions,  the 
United  States  w^ould  be  asked  to  pay  a  sum  of  money  to  the  other 
government  for  each  one  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  imagine  that  our  Government  would  have 
more  interest  than  that  of  an  ordinary  spectator. 

The  Chairman.  These  Japanese  who  are  now  there  and  who  were 
not  born  in  the  United  States  are  barred  from  citizenship  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  And  naturally  they  look  to  their  governmental 
officials  for  protection;  and,  in  dealing  with  them,  I  assume  that  not 
only  the  business  men  and  planters,  but  the  Territorial  officials, 
would  deal  with  them  through  the  representatives  of  the  Japanese 
Government  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  true.  We  have  a  solidarity  among  the 
people  who  constitute  the  majority  of  the  laboring  element  on  the 
plantations,  a  solidarity  which  has  never  existed  before,  so  far  as  I 
know,  among  the  people  of  any  other  race  or  nationality  that  has 
come  to  the  Islands. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  really  a  race  solidarity  and  not  a  class  solidarity, 
is  it? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  think  it  is;  there  is  no  question  about  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Governor,  how  long  have  you  been  living  in  Hawaii  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Twenty-five  years. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  what  is  your  business  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  am  a  newspaper  publisher. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  fairly  well  informed  with  regard  to  the 
general  conditions  of  the  Islands  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  should  say  so,  generally  speaking. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  read  this  resolution  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  number  of  shortage  in  laborers  that  you 
are  figuring  on  bringing  in  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  shortage  is  given  in  this  statement  of 
yesterday. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  care  for  that  statement.  I  am  asking  you 
for  your  opinion,  now. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Well,  I  should  have  to  refer  to  this  statement, 
because  I  am  not  intimately  informed  as  to  all  the  details  of  the 
situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  not  know,  then,  the  amount  of  the  short- 
age in  labor,  so  far  as  the  sugar  interests  is  concerned  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  would  not  attempt  to  state  off  hand. 

Mr.  Raker.  Nor  the  pineapple  industry  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Nor  the  pineapple  industry. 


LABOR  riu)r.iJ*:MS  in   jiawail  237 

Mr.  Raker.  Nor  the  coffee  industry  '^ 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  would  refer  to  these  gentlemen  who  have 
canvassed  the  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  just  getting  to  your  personal  knowledge. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  have  not  been  in  a  position  to  go  into  details 
as  these  gentlemen  have. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  has  been  a  considerable  increase  in  your  popu- 
lation in  the  last  10  years — about  42  per  cent? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Thirty- three  per  cent,  I  think  it  is,  in  the 
general  population. 

Mr.  Weeber.  Thirty- three  and  one- third  per  cent. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  number  of  laborers  less  in  1920  than 
in  1921 ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  number  of  laborers  less  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Laborers  for  all  business  in  Hawaii? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  would  have  to  refer  to  Mr.  Dillingham  for 
those  figures.     He  has  been  actively  engaged  in  compiling  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  During  the  last  two  years  how  many  laborers,  of  all 
kinds,  skilled  and  unskilled,  have  left  the  island  ? 

Gov.  :Farrington.  I  would  again  have  to  refer  you  to  Mr.  Dilling- 
ham for  the  figures. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  I  see  on  this  matter  you  are  really  not  familiar 
with  it  ? 

Gov,  Farrington.  I  can  not  answer  your  questions  as  an  expert 
who  has  gone  into  the  details,  as  these  gentlemen  have. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  reason  I  thought  we  ought  to  find  out  from 
Mr.  Dillingham  first,  but  I  will  get  down  to  the  question  of  this 
resolution.  You  do  not  know,  then,  the  number  of  aliens,  otherwise 
inadmissible  under  our  immigration  law,  that  you  desire  to  have  come 
to  Hawaii  for  the  next  five  years  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Not  the  exact  number;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Could  you  give  approximately  the  number  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  would  not  attempt  to  give  that  at  the  present 
time.  I  think  that  is  something  that,  under  this  resolution,  would 
naturally  be  canvassed  by  the  executive  officer  of  the  Government. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  might  be  canvassed  by  him,  but  what  I  was 
trying  to  find  out,  before  we  yielded  all  power  of  Congress  to  the 
Secretary  of  Labor,  was  what  is  the  shortage  in  labor,  if  any,  and 
I  understand  that  you  have  not  canvassed  that  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  could  not  give  you  the  exact  figures  on  that; 
no,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  class  of  labor  do  you  want  to  bring  in?  I  see 
you  have  there  all  classes,  all  kinds.  Now,  what  kind  do  you  want 
to  bring  in  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  to  bring  in  any  class 
of  labor  that  will  do  the  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know;  but  what  is  your  purpose  in  this?  What  are 
you  figuring  on  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  mean  what  is  behind  it  all  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  that  is  what  I  mean;  what  kind  of  laborers— what 
nationalities  ?  You  have  Portuguese,  Porto  Ricans,  Spanish,  Chinese, 
Japanese,  Filipinos,  Koreans,  Negroes.  What  class  or  kind  of  people — 
that  is,  what  nationality — do  you  desire  to  bring  in  to  the  islands 
under  this  resolution  ? 


238  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  think  the  people  that  can  answer  that  ques- 
tion to  you  direct  are  the  members  of  the  commission,  the  delegation 
of  the,  Hawaiian  Legislature,  who  have  come  on  here  to  state  what  is 
desired  under  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  gone  over  this  matter.  I  do  not  want  to 
press  the  matter  too  hard,  but  what  I  wanted  to  know  was  what 
nationality,  if  any  particular  nationality,  are  the  people  you  are 
figuring  on  bringing  in  under  this  resolution  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  nationality  which  has  been  very  generally 
discussed  are  the  Chinese. 

Mr.  Kaker.  Any  others  except  Chinese  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  There  has  been  a  general  discussion  whether  it 
would  be  possible  to  bring  in  Europeans.  ; 

Mr.  Raker.  There  are  no  restrictions  now  against  Europeans 
coming  to  that  country. 

Gov.  Farrington.  It  is  limited;  there  is  the  same  restriction  that 
there  is  to  Europeans  coming  to  the  mainland  of  the  United  States. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  the  bill  limiting  the  immigration  to  3 
per  cent  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Assuming  that  this  resolution  No.  158  should  be 
passed  in  some  form  by  the  House  and  Senate  and  should  go  through 
the  ordinary  delays— say  it  passed  by  the  1st  of  November — how 
long  would  it  be  likely  to  take  to  get  any  considerable  number  of 
laborers  in  the  islands  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  imagine  it  would  take  a  good  part  of  a  year, 
would  it  not,  Mr.  Mead,  from  your  experience  in  handling  such 
matters  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  depends  on  where  you  are  going  to  get  them. 

The  Chairman.  Then  let  us  assume,  as  a  fair  presumption,  if  this 
resolution  passed,  in  the  ordinary  run  of  events  you  could  not  get 
labor  in  in  any  quantity  in  18  months.  Would  that  help  next  year's 
crop  of  sugar  'i 

Mr.  Mead.  Not  next  year's  sugar  crop.  Next  year's  sugar  crop 
has  to  be  planted  this  year. 

The  Chairman.  And  is  now  being  planted  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  the  1922  crop? 

Mr.  Mead.  1922-23.  The  crop  will  be  very  much  injured  unless; 
there  is  a  supply  of  labor  at  the  present  time. 

The  Chairman.  About  when  will  you  have  no  crop  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  When,  without  any  labor,  will  we  have  no  crop  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  should  say  in  1923-24,  if  we  had  no  labor,  the  crop 
would  be  ruined. 

The  Chairman.  If  you  had  no  more  labor  than  you  now  have  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Very  largely  so. 

Mr.  Box.  Right  at  that  point,  just  for  my  information  and  con- 
sideration, I  want  to  ask  if  the  way  were  opened  so  that  you  could  get 
labor  from  Europe,  is  there  a  prospect  of  your  getting  it  from  Europe  ? 
In  other  words,  if  the  3  per  cent  law  was  so  changed  that  they  were 
permitted  to  come,  are  the  conditions  such  that  you  probably  could 
get  them  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  239 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  think  it  would  be  a  rather  (Hfficult  proposition; 
that  is,  it  woiihi  take  a  considerabk>  period  of  canvassing.  That  is  a 
matter  that  the  men  who  have  been  intimately  identified  with 
soliciting  immigration  and  developing  it  could  answer  better  than 
I  can. 

Mr.  Mead.  Under  the  present  law  you  could  not  get  them.  These 
people  have  to  come  a  long,  long  way.  Your  present  law  absolutely 
prohibits  getting  any  laborers  from  Europe,  because  the  people  have 
to  be  assisted.  They  are  poor,  agricultural  people,  without  any  funds, 
and  their  passage  has  to  be  paid  from  Portugal  or  the  Azore  Islands, 
and  it  is  a  very  expensive  proposition. 

Mr.  Kaker.  How  does  it  happen,  then,  they  are  coming  to  the 
United  States  by  the  millions  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Coming  to  the  United  States  from  Europe  is  a  rather 
simple  matter  as  compared  to  going  from  Europe  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  their  friends  pay  their  passage,  it  is  wholly  im- 
material whether  their  passage  is  paid  to  the  United  States  or  to 
Hawaii,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well  sir;  we  have  tried  for  many  years  and  have  never 
been  able  to  get  voluntary  immigration  from  Europe. 

Mr.  White.  I  would  like  to  ask  the  gentleman  a  question  to  bring 
out  further  information  along  the  line  of  Judge  Box's  interroga- 
tories: Are  you  able  to  state  whether  the  European  immigration  of 
European  labor  would  be  adapted  to  the  character  of  the  work  they 
would  have  to  perform  there,  or  desirable — or  do  you  know? 

Gov,  Farrington.  There  are  certain  European  laborers  who  have 
been  very  successful  there  in  the  islands. 

Mr.  White.  From  what  part  of  the  continent  of  Europe? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  Portuguese.     Our  only  complaint  against 

the  Portuguese,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  that  often  they  stay  only  long__ 

enough  to  get  money  to  go  to  California.     California  is  the  Eldorado 

of  the  world,  even  though  the  days  of  '49  have  passed,  and  the  am- 

Jbition  of  every  working  man  to  reach  the  fields  of  California  is  most 

lextraordinary.  ^  ""^ 

Mr.  Raker.  I  find  in  this  resolution  the  following:  ''That  the 
regulations  shall  provide  for  and  secure  the  return  of  such  laborers 
to  their  respective  countries  upon  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited." 
Your  purpose  is  to  bring  them  in  for  five  years  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  then  you  want  the  regulation  to  return  them  at 
the  end  of  the  five  years;  is  that  right  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  if  they  want  to  stay,  if  they  become 
Drosperous  and  like  the  country,  your  idea  is  to  return  them  whether 
they  want  to  return,  or  not — by  force,  if  necessary  ?     Is  that  right  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Well,  I  presume  they  would  come  under  an 
arrangement  with  the  Government  whereby  they  would  return 

Mr.  Raker.  An  arrangement  with  what  government  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Well,  with  our  own  Government. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  you  mean  that  you  want  the  Govern- 
ment to  assume  the  responsibility  of  bringing  them  here;  is  that 
right  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  would  have  to  come  under  the  Govern- 
nent's  supervision;  yes. 


'240  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII: 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  Government  would  have  to  supervise  them 
while  they  are  here  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Well,  I  do  not  know  what  you  would  mean  by 
the  general  term  ^'supervision."  Yes,  the  Government  would  have 
an  interest  in  those  men;  certainly. 

The  Chairman.  Would  this  Government  take  part  in  getting  them  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  should  not  say  so;  no,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Would  any  agents  of  the  sugar  planters  deal  with 
other  Governments  in  securing  them  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Deal  with  the  foreign  Government? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  do  not  know  how  that  would  work  out.  I 
imagine  that  is  a  detail  that  would  have  to  be  worked  out  in  con- 
nection with  the  regulations. 

The  Chairman.  Does  the  Chinese  Government  have  some  such 
scheme  by  which  it  permits  their  men  to  go  out  and  arrange  the 
details  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir;  they  have  such  an  arrangement. 
Before  the  Chinese  Government  will  permit  its  nationals  to  leave  the 
country,  it  must  be  satisfied  as  to  the  conditions  under  which  they 
are  to  be  employed. 

The  Chairman.  Such  a  scheme  was  developed  as  a  part  of  the 
necessities  of  the  European  war  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  was  worked  at  that  time,  but  it  has  been 
worked  in  other  ways  also,  in  taking  labor  from  China  to  other  parts 
of  the  world.  The  Chinese  Government  now  requires  a  definite 
arrangement  and  guaranty  for  the  proper  care,  treatment,  payment, 
and  return  home  of  these  people,  or  they  will  not  permit  the  immi- 
grants to  go.     The  day  of  ^ ' black-birding  "  is  past. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  '^black-birding"  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  When  they  were  forced  out  of  the  countries  of 
Africa  to  come  to  this  country  and  out  of  China  to  go  to  other  coun- 
tries. To-day  the  Chinese  Government  takes  an  interest  in  its 
people  and  sees  to  it  that  people  suitable  for  the  purpose  for  which 
they  are  to  be  employed  leave  China  for  that  purpose. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  then,  if  this  plan  looks  to  negotiations  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States  with  the  Government  of  China,  for  the 
admission  of  aliens  from  that  country  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 
would  not  this  resolution  properly  be  before  the  Committee  on  For- 
eign Relations  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  we  can  handle  it.     [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Box.  With  reference  to  the  matter  that  was  up,  you  know  the 
conditions  under  which  the  first  Chinese  were  brought  to  California 
in  the  sixties — something  of  it  ?  Is  the  system  now  something  like 
that,  or  do  you  know  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  not  familiar  with  the  arrangement  under 
which  they  came  to  California;  but  under  the  Republic  of  China  I 
know  that  a  different  plan  has  been  worked  out,  a  plan  which  is  a 
guaranty  of  the  safety  of  the  laborers  who  leave  there.  I  think  it 
is  more  like  the  arrangement  which  was  made  with  Hawaii  prior  to 
annexation,  when  a  bond  was  put  up  and  arrangements  made  through 
Government  agencies  for  the  care  and  return  of  the  Chinese  to  China! 
after  a  period  of  years. 


LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  241 

Mr.  Rakek.  Then  do  I  understand,  Governor,  that  if  this  reso- 
lution was  enacted,  if  the  Chinese  desired  to  come  to  Hawaii,  they 
could  not  come  voluntarily  from  their  own  Government  to  stay  in 
Hawaii  for  five  years ;  is  that  right  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No  Chinese  would  be  permitted,  as  I  under- 
stand the  laws  of  China  to-day,  to  come  to  Hawaii  except  with  the 
approval  of  the  Chinese  Government. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  seems  to  be  a  long  matter  there  and  I  am  pretty 
familiar  with  it  and  I  will  ask  you  about  it  when  you  get  back  on 
the  stand  and  will  not  bother  the  governor  on  that  particular  feature ; 
but  this  would  provide  and  would  require  a  bonding  provision  to 
the  end  that  these  men  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country — 
to  the  country  from  which  they  came  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  my  understanding  of  it,  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  cease  laboring  in  agricultural  pursuits,  they 
would  be  returned  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  my  understanding  of  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  they  would  come  here  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Government  to  work  in  the  sugar  plantation  fields 
and  in  the  pineapple  fields,  and  in  the  rice  fields ;  and  if  they  worked 
there  a  little  while  and  quit  and  went  into  some  other  business,  the 
automobile  business,  the  peanut  business,  or  other  business,  they 
would  be  returned  to  the  country  from  which  they  came  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  To  their  home  country. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  that  right  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  my  understanding  of  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  other  businesses  are  profitable — the  other  farm- 
ing industries  are  profitable  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  mean  other  than  sugar  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes,  sir.    They  are  profitable,  are  they  not? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  have  been  during  the  past  two  years, 
certainly.  The  sugar  industry  has  been  particularly  profitable,  but 
we  are  facing  a  condition  in  the  present  year  and  in  the  years  to  come 
which  will  not  bear  comparison  with,  for  instance,  1920  or  1919. 

The  Cilairman.  Let  me  interrupt  you.  Assume  that  some  of  these 
people  come  in  under  contract,  to  be  returned,  that  they  come  in 
from  any  country  and,  while  here,  they  marry;  children  are  born  to 
that  union  in  Hawaii  and  those  people  are  due  to  be  returned.  What 
is  the  nationality  of  the  child  that  goes  back  with  them  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  nationality  of  the  child  would  be  that  of 
the  country  in  which  it  was  born. 

The  Chairman.  Would  not  that  be  an  extreme  difficulty  with  the 
whole  plan  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  V^Tiy,  I  do  not  know  that  it  would. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  not  have  anything  in  a  bond  that 
would  forbid  them  to  marry  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Does  your  program  outline  any  scheme  which 
would  cover  that,  Mr.  Dillingham? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know  that  the  contract  would  have 
any  special  clause  in  it  with  reference  to  marriage;  but  the  wife 
generally  follows  the  husband  and  if  he  is  under  obligation  to  move 
from  one  part  of  the  world  to  another  the  assumption  would  be  that 
the  woman  would  follow. 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 3  ' 


242  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IIST   IIAYv^AII. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  under  the  last  amendment  to  the  Constitutioi 
and  the  present  progressive,   forward  movement  of  America,   the 
husband  follows  the  wife.     [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  children  would  be  American  citizens. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  point  there  is  that  the  child  is  an  American 
citizen. 

The  Chairman.  The  contract  recjuires  that  the  foreigner  return  to 
the  country  from  which  he  came,  at  the  end  of  his  term  of  bondage, 
or  whatever  you  call  it. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  would  not  call  it  bondage. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  it  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  It  is  a  scheme  whereby  he  can  engage  in  profit- 
able labor  for  a  period  of  years  and  return  to  his  home  and  live  in 
greater  comfort  than  he  did  when  he  started  out. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  he  takes  back  an  American-born  child  that 
this  United  States  is  bound  to  protect.  That  child,  in  the  course  of 
time,  might  want  to  return  to  Hawaii,  for  instance,  and  get  some  more 
of  the  benefits.  Wouldn't  you  get  into  all  sorts  of  complications 
there  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  do  not  contemplate  we  would  ever  have  a 
very  serious  situation  on  that  score. 

The  Chairman.  Don't  you  know  we  have  trouble  all  the  time  now,, 
in  the  courts  and  elsewhere,  with  the  children  of  Chinese  whom  the 
parents  claim  were  born  here,  and  the  children  claim  the  rights  of 
American  citizens  and  to  come  to  the  United  States  from  China? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  have  no  doubt  that  such  a  situation  might, 
exist.  I  do  not  know  that  we  could  force  them  to  refrain  from  mar- 
riage, but  I  have  in  mind,  for  instance,  a  Chinese  family — I  do  not 
know  that  this  would  follow  out  in  all  particulars,  but  the  Chinese 
families  on  the  islands,  the  fathers  have  sometimes  returned  to  China 
in  their  old  age  and  left  their  families  in  Hawaii  as  American  citizens 
and  a  part  of  our  community  there. 

The  Chaerman.  We  have  enough  Chinese  now  in  the  United  States 
who  have  proved  that  they  were  born  here  to  make  our  statistics 
shov\^  that  every  Chinese  woman  in  the  country  has  been  the  mother 
of  at  least  1,000  Chinese  children — every  one  of  them. 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  could  probably  keep  a  more  exact  record, 
of  these  men  than  those  who  came  in  under  former  arrangements. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  going  right  along  that  line,  supposing  now  that. 
one  of  these  men  who  came  to  work  in  the  agricultural  pursuits, 
instead  of  working  on  the  sugar  plantation  should  go  to  work  in  the 
mill.     He  would  then  be  deportable  and  would  you  send  him  home  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Do  you  mean  would  I  consider  that  he  should 
be  sent  home  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  He  changed  from  work  in  the  field  to  go  in  the  sugar 
factory. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Well,  he  could  not  go  to  work  in  the  sugar 
factory  unless  he  were  asked  to  go  in  there  by  his  employer. 

Mr.  Raker.  Oh,  that  is  not  the  j)oint. 

The  Chairman.  The  law  we  are  discussing  here  says  he  shall  pursue- 
the  line  of  agriculture. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  it  does  not  say  in  the  event  he  fails  to  do  so — it 
does  not  say  what  you  are  going  to  do  with  him,  whether  you  will, 
send  him  back  home  or  punish  him. 


LABOU  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  243 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  provide  a  fine  ?  Let  us  carry  that  out; 
suppose  he  dedined  to  work  at  agriculture  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  contemplated  under 
this  resolution  to  impose  any  penalty  on  a  man  which  would  be  in 
the  nature  of  a  fine  or  imprisonment.  So  far  as  my  understanding 
of  it  is  concerned,  the  worst  thing  that  could  be  done  would  be  ta 
send  him  home. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  am  saying  now  is,  suppose  you  had  a  thousand 
of  them  out  in  the  fields  cultivating  sugar  cane.  They  struck  and 
said  ^^We  won't  work  in  the  field;  but  we  want  to  work  in  the  fac- 
tor}'."    They  demand  to  work  in  the  factory. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  should  say  that  they  would  be  candidates  for 
return  home. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Well,  don't  you  need  men  in  the  factories? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  do  not  need  them  in  the  factories  as  much 
as  we  do  in  the  fields. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know,  but  don't  you  need  them  in  the  factories  now  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  think  we  can  supply  the  factories  from  the 
labor  supply  we  have  there  at  the  present  time,  of  which  I  think  a 
very  large  percentage  are  citizens. 

Mr.  White.  I  would  like  to  ask  the  governor  this  question:  These 
persons  who  come  here,  that  you  desire  to  have  come,  will  they  have 
work  consecutively  throughout  the  year  for  the  period  that  you 
would  like  to  have  them  come,  or  for  the  period  that  may  be  provided 
under  a  power  given  to  the  Secretary  ?  Would  they  have  work  con- 
secutively ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  mean  is  our  employment  seasonal  ? 

Mr.  White.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Oh,  no;  we  work  in  our  fields  all  the  year 
around.  When  we  are  not  planting  we  are  harvesting,  and  when  we 
are  not  harvesting  we  are  planting. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  proportion  of  the  3,000  that  are  now  engaged  in 
the  sugar  industry  are  working  in  the  fields  and  what  proportion  in 
the  43  and  some  odd  mills  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  something  I  will  have  to  refer  to  the 
statistician. 

Mr.  Raker.  Under  your  law,  as  you  contemplate  it  here,  if  they 
ceased  to  work  in  the  agricultural  pursuits  and  went  into  the  mills, 
they  would  then  be  subject  to  deportation? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  my  understanding  of  it;  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  same  way  with  these  2,855,  all  told,  that  work 
in  regard  to  pineapples:  What  proportion  of  this  number  works  in  the 
pineapple  orchards  and  what  proportion  in  the  canning  and  preserving 
factories  for  pineapples  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  something  I  will  also  have  to  refer  to 
the  statistician. 

The  Chairman.  If  we  undertook  to  perfect  this  resolution,  would 
it  be  advisable  to  place  an  age  limit  on  those  who  would  be  brought 
in  ?     Would  you  bring  in  children  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Not  3^oung  children. 

The  Chairman.  Yf hat  would  you  recommend  as  an  age  limit  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  would  not  care  to  make  a  suggestion  offhand. 


244  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  ask  you  also  as  applied  to  women 

Gov.  Farrtngton.  Their  families  ? 

The  Chairman.  As  to  women,  first.  Let  us  assume  you  are  going 
to  bring  in  5,000  Chinese  to  work  for  a  possible  5  years:  Should  the 
resolution  say  that  women  might  come  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  are  now  discussing  a  detail  which,  under 
my  understanding  of  the  spirit  of  this  measure,  it  was  assumed  would 
be  passed  upon  by  the  Department  of  Labor,  the  theory  being  that 
this  resolution  would  put  in  motion  the  machinery  to  cover  an 
emergency.  Whether  these  men  should  be  accompanied  by  their 
families  is  a  matter  which  I  would  not  care  to  answer  offhand. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  endeavoring  to  ask  practical  questions. 
The  United  States  Government  could  not  afford  to  be  in  a  position 
of  inviting — even  if  it  went  as  far  as  this,  it  could  not  be  in  the  position 
of  inviting  a  child  14  years  old  and  12  years  old  to  come  to  work  under 
these  conditions. 

Gov.  Fare^ington.  No. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  is  one  obstacle  if  there  is  no  age  limit. 
Now  I  take  it  that  the  agricultural  people  who  have  to  run  these 
plantations  would  not  want  old  men  to  come  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  should  say  the  natural  limitations  would  be 
between  21  or  22  and  35. 

Mr.  Raker.  Isn't  it  a  fact  that  in  the  rice  fields  and  a  great  part  of 
the  sugar  fields,  the  age  limit  now  of  the  majority  of  them  is  about 
60  per  cent  of  men  over  60  years  of  age  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  can  not  answer  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right.  You  would  permit  women  as  laborers 
to  come  in  under  this  resolution,  would  you? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  should  be  determined  later. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know;  but  they  work.  They  can  work  in  the  pine- 
apple industry.  I  see  almost  a  majority  of  the  labor  employed  in  the 
pineapple  industry  are  women. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Those  women  are  not  in  the  fields;  they  are  in 
the  factories. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  but  you  are  seeking  labor  for  the  pineapple 
industry  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  are  seeking  them  for  the  field  labor;  and 
the  percentage  of  women  in  field  labor  is  relatively  low. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  you  restrict  the  women  coming  in  to  engage 
in  the  agricultural  pursuits — any  of  them  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  am  disposed  now  to  say  that  there  should  be 
some  restriction  on  women. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right.  But  if  a  woman  should  come  in,  unless 
the  resolution  was  amended,  and  married  an  American  citizen,  why, 
at  the  end  of  the  ^ve  years,  if  she  bore  children  during  that  time, 
what  would  you  do  with  her  American  citizenship  and  the  American 
citizenship  of  the  children  ? 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  which  would  be  supreme;  the 
bond  or  citizenship  in  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  There  are  two  situations  I  have  illustrated;  I  will  get 
to  another  one  in  a  moment.  Here  a  woman  is  married  to  an  Amer- 
ican citizen.  She  then  becomes  a  citizen;  she  has  given  birth  to  a 
child,  two  children  or  three  children  during  that  time  that  are  Amer- 
ican citizens.     Under  the  bond  and  under  the  resolution  she  would 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWATL  245 

be  compelled  to  be  returned  at  the  end  of  the  five  years.     What 
would  you  do  with  this  lady? 

Got.  Farrington.  Under  the  bond,  she  would  have  to  be  returned  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farringtox.  You  mean  if  she  married  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  asking  these  people  to  come  in  and  I  am 
showing  what  will  be  their  status.     What  will  you  do  with  them  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  am  not  prepared  to  pass  on  the  legal  inter- 
pretation of  their  status.  You  are  assuming  this  laborer  marries  an 
Hawaiian  woman  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  An  American  citizen. 

Gov.  Farrington.  A  resident  of  Hawaii,  an  American? 

Mr.  Raker.  An  American  citizen. 

Gov.  Farrington.  And  they  have  a  family  there  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes,  sir. 

Gov.  Farrington.  And  the  question  is  whether  that  whole  family 
should  be  sent  back  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Or  whether  they  should  remain  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  would  not  attempt  to  answer  that  from  the 
legal  standpoint. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  make  that  clear.  It  must  have  only  one 
answer.  A  bondswoman  comes  and  marries  an  American  citizen  in 
the  island;  all  the  bond  in  the  world  would  not  be  worth  the  paper 
it  is  written  on.  She  becomes  an  American  citizen  by  marriage  and 
you  could  not  send  her  back. 

Mr.  Sabath.  How  many  Chinese  are  American  citizens  in  the 
island  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Thirteen  thousand,  I  understand. 

Mr.  Weeber.  There  are  12,728  American  citizens  in  the  islands 
of  Chinese  ancestry. 

Mr.  Sabath.  That  includes  the  men,  women,  and  children  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  That  includes  the  men,  vfomen,  and  children. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Have  you  statistics  to  show  how  many  of  those  are 
single  men? 

Mr.  Weeber.  No,  sir.  I  have  no  information  as  to  their  marital 
condition.  There  are  about  8,000  of  that  number  above  the  age 
of  21. 

Mr.  Box.  Men  and  women  both? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Men  and  women  both. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  mean  males;  just  the  men  and  unmarried. 

Mr.  Weeber.  There  are  no  figures  available  from  which  to  deter- 
mine the  number  who  are  married. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  wanted  to  know  whether  there  was  any  danger 
that  these  women  would  marry  American  citizens.  That  is  all  I  shall 
ask. 

Mr.  Raker.  Supposing  out  of  this  12,728  Chinese  there  were  2,000 
Chinese  women  marriageable  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Resident  in  the  Islands  at  the  present  time? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes.  Nov/,  these  Chinese  laborers  that  you  brought 
there  could  each,  if  they  wanted  to,  marry  these  respectable  2,000 
Chinese  American  citizens  ? 


246  LABOE   PEOBLEMS    11^    HAWAII. 

Gov.  Faeeington.  I  think  that  the  prospect  of  their  marrying 
them  is  very  remote. 

Mr.  Rakee.  What  is  that  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  I  think  the  prospects  of  their  intermarrying 
are  very  remote. 

Mr.  Rakee.  The  Chinese  that  come  from  China  do  not  marry  the 
Chinese  that  are  residents  of  Hawaii;  is  that  what  you  mean? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  I  would  be  very  much  surprised  if  there  was 
any  considerable  intermarrying  among  these  people. 

Mr.  Rakee.  Why? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Simply  because  the  general  atmosphere  of  the 
Chinese  women  is  such  that  most  of  them  would  prefer  to  remain 
American  citizens  and  members  of  the  community.  The  different 
environment  would  preclude  the  possibility  that  any  number  of  the 
Chinese  women  now  in  the  Territory  would  marry  laborers.  I  should 
say  there  would  be  an  exceedingly  small  prospect  of  their  inter- 
nnarrying. 

Mr.  Rakee.  Would  they  not  remain  American  citizens  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  No. 

Mr.  Mead.  Not  if  they  married  Chinese. 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Not  if  they  married  Chinese. 

Mr.  Rakee.  They  would  lose  their  citizenship  if  they  married 
Chinamen  who  come  from  China,  would  they  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes. 

Mr.  Rakee.  But  if  they  gave  birth  to  a  child,  that  child  would  be  j 
an  American  citizen.     Now  you  would  send  the  husband  back  home, 
leaving  an  alien  wife  on  the  islands  with  an  American  citizen  as  a 
child.     That  does  not  look  very  good,  does  it,  to  our  country? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  That  is  a  detail  of  the  situation  which  I  really 
think  is  a  very  remote  one. 

Mr.  Rakee.  As  to  the  legal  phases,  that  is  true.  There  is  not  any 
'4fs"  and  '^ands"  about  it. 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Very  well. 

Mr.  Rakee.  If  an  American  citizen,  a  Chinese  woman,  should 
marry  a  Chinese  who  is  an  alien,  she  becomes  an  alien;  and  if  they 
have  born  in  Hawaii  or  the  United  States  a  child  of  that  union,  that 
child  becomes  an  American  citizen. 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes. 

Mr.  Rakee.  Nov/,  we  have  a  bill  here  proposing  to  send  this  man 
back  to  his  country  after  he  has  been  held  for  five  years.  Is  that 
right  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Rakee.  Would  you  permit  these  laborers  who  come  from 
China — and  that  is  where  you  want  to  bring  them  from,  is  it  not  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes;  that  is,  we  are  looking  to  China. 

Mr.  Rakee.  The  real  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  this  resolution, 
while  generally  drawn,  is  somewhat  uniquely  drawn,  with  a  good  deal 
of  ingenuity  and  with  a  good  deal  of  handling  of  the  language — the 
purpose  really  is  to  bring  in  Chinese  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  I  would  not  want  you  to  feel  that  the  people 
of  Hawaii  are  coming  here  and  attempting  collectively,  by  a  manipu- 
lation of  language,  to  put  something  over  on  the  people  of  the  United 
States. 


LABOE  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  247 

Mr.  Kaker.  My  dear  Governor,  this  makes  the  third  time,  now, 
A  {•  have  had  this  question  up.  Four  years  ago  and  two  years  ago 
A  r  had  this  matter  up  before  the  committee  in  long  and  extensive 
rings,  and  then  they  asked  directly  for  20,000  Chinese  to  be  ad- 
;;  i  tted  in  the  Islands  on  account  of  the  shortage  of  labor.  Now,  I  am 
isking  you  if  it  is  not  the  same  desire  now,  that  the  Chinese  are  the 
Dnes  you  desire  to  be  admitted  as  laborers  under  this  proposed 
'esolution? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  are  asking  me  to  say  that  that  is  the  only 
*orm  of  labor  that  we  want.  We  want  labor  that  will  relieve  us  from 
the  critical  situation  we  have  there  and  we  would  be  very  glad  to  have 
IJhinese  if  it  is  allowable  to  obtain  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  your  distinguished  colleague  here  has  said  they 
30uld  not  get  laborers  from  any  other  place;  that  they  had  fallen 
iown  on  that  all  along  the  line.  Now,  I  am  asking  if  it  is  not  the 
Fact  that  your  desire  and  the  purpose  of  the  resolution,  knowing 
those  facts — that  you  have  not  been  able  to  get  labor  otherwise — is 
to  get  Chinese,  and  that  that  is  the  real  purpose  of  this  resolution  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  A  direct  answer  to  that  might  lead  to  a  mis- 
apprehension of  the  spirit  in  which  this  subject  is  brought  before 
Congress.     I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  a  matter  of  subterfuge 

Mr.  Raker.  I  beg  your  pardon;  I  did  not  suggest  subterfuge  and 
[  trust  that  may  not  be  lugged  into  this.  I  am  asking  solely  as  to 
the  facts. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  feel  that  if  the  Chinese  were  the  only  ones 
they  had  in  mind  under  this  resolution,  they  would  have  so  stated  in 
this  resolution.  Chinese  are  always  uppermost  in  our  minds;  I  am 
free  to  say  that;  there  is  no  question  about  that — from  the  very 
nature  of  our  position  and  the  very  high  character  of  the  Chinese 
who  are  in  the  islands.  They  occupy  a  very  commendable  position 
in  the  esteem  of  the  community  there,  and  from  their  reputation  as 
laborers  and  their  reputation  as  people  who  have  to  a  great  extent, 
iin  the  third  generation,  become  Americanized,  they  stand  high  in 
|the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  But  to  say  that  the  only  thing  we  have  in 
mind,  in  bringing  in  this  resolution  before  Congress,  is  to  bring  in 
the  Chinamen  is  not  the  fact. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  other  class  of  nationals  do  you  expect  to  get  or 
are  you  seeking  to  get,  except  Chinese  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  Europeans  we  have  always  in  mind.  For 
instance,  the  Portuguese.  My  understanding  is  there  will  be  a  gen- 
eral canvass  of  the  situation  if  this  resolution  is  passed  and  the  move- 
ment will  be  made  as  directed  by  the  best  judgment  of  the  executive 
department. 

Mr,  Raker.  There  has  been  no  restriction  on  you  for  the  immigra- 
tion of  the  Portuguese,  ha.s  there  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Voluntary  immigration  from  Europe,  as  I 
stated  here,  is  impossible.  We  have  at  times,  while  it  was  permitted 
by  law,  assisted  immigration. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  see  any  objection  to  Florida,  which  is  com- 
ing along  rapidly  in  intensive  gardening,  having  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  Chinese  to  do  that  work  in  the  fields  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  would  be  determined  by  their  agricultural 
conditions,  their  industrial  conditions. 


248  LABOE   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  If  they  should  come  before  this  committee  and 
6Sij  they  are  very  short  of  this  squatting  labor  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  There  is  a  matter  that  should  be  borne  in  mind 
in  connection  with  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  You  see,  we  are  2,000 
miles  on  one  side  and  3,000  miles  on  the  other  side  from  any  source 
of  labor;  we  have  in  our  islands  no  natural  source  of  labor  as  they 
do  in  the  Philippines  or  Porto  Eico.  The  population  of  our  islands 
is  not  sufficient  to  carry  on  the  agricultural  industries  of  the  Territory. 

The  Chairman.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  you  have  developed  some  big  agricultural  industries  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chaerman.  And  you  are  in  a  tropical  country? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  need  tropical  labor  of  a  kind  that  they^ 
have  in  Java,  for  instance,  or  in  any  other  tropical  country  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  not  got  it  there  and  are  not  producing  it. 
and  are  barred  by  law  from  getting  it  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

The  CHAtRMAN.  That  is  the  thing? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  the  problem  in  a  nut  shell. 

The  Chairman.  You  want  to  raise  coffee  and  you  are  in  no  posi- 
tion to  compete  with  Java,  where  I  believe  there  are  30,000,000 
people  on  an  island  which  is  no  larger  than  Cuba. 

Mr.  WfLSON.  Since  you  have  brought  up  the  question  of  Flordia, 
may  I  ask  the  governor  a  question  or  two  in  that  connection?  Were* 
you  at  the  conference  in  New  York,  Governor  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  No. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  have  been  informed  that  when  this  matter  came  up 
relative  to  this  resolution  that  the  sugar  producers  in  the  conti- 
nental United  States,  and  the  rice  producers,  took  the  position  that 
if  such  a  resolution  should  be  passed,  the  provisions  of  it  should 
be  extended  to  the  continental  United  States.  Do  you  know  about 
that  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  do  not  know  about  that. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Because  my  State  is  a  sugar-producing  and  ice- 
producing  State,  and  I  have  been  informed  that  that  was  the  position 
taken  by  those  interests  in  this  country  should  such  a  resolution  be 
passed. 

Mr.  Horner.  That  was  the  position.     I  was  there. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  familiar  with  the  shortage  conditions 
there ;  are  you  familiar  with  the  wages  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Not  intimately  familiar  with  them. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  usual  daily  wage  of  labor  on  the  sugar 
plantation  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  There  is  a  new  schedule  that  has  been  put  in 
force.     Mr.  Mead  can  answer  those  questions  exactly. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  ask  him  later.  I  just  wanted  to  know  if 
you  knew  in  a  general  way. .  Before  you  ask  him,  let  me  ask  you  now 
what  is  your  idea  of  the  pay  of  a  common  laborer  on  the  sugar  plan- 
tation? I  do  not  care  whether  you  get  it  right  within  50  cents  a 
day  or  not 

Gov.  Farrington.  It  is  about  $30  a  month. 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  the  minimum. 


LABOll   PROBLEMS   IN    BAWATT.  249 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  includes  a  great  deal  more  than  is  ordi- 
narily considered  as  wages  on  the  mainland.  For  instance,  our 
laborers  have  free  houses ;  free  medical  attendance,  fuel,  and  water. 

Mr.  White.  Does  it  include  free  food? 

Gov.  Faerington.  No. 

Mr.  White.  But  it  does  include  free  living  quarters? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know,  if  the  United  States  should  go  into 
any  such  bill  as  is  proposed,  whether  the  matter  of  wages  would  be 
included  in  the  negotiations  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  mean  in  connection  with  these  men;  you 
mean,  would  it  have  the  effect  of  reducing  wages  ? 

The  Chairman.  Would  the  United  States  Government  or  any 
agent  of  the  Government  be  a  party  to  the  bargain  fixing  the  daily 
wage  for  the  labor  in  the  fields  ?     Who  would  fix  that  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  assume  they  would  work  at  the  wage  ruling 
at  the  period  they  were  brought  in. 

The  Chairman.  Who  would  have  to  be  satisfied;  would  it  be  the 
Government  of  China  or  the  fellow  to  be  brought  there  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  suppose  the  Government  of  China  on  behalf 
of  the  men  who  would  be  brought  in.  My  understanding  of  the 
arrangement  with  the  Chinese  Government  is  that  they  would  look 
to  the  welfare  of  their  people. 

The  Chairman.  The  Chinese  Government  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  would  have  to  be  satisfied. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  if  the  United  States  Government  had  to  be 
a  party  to  it,  it  clearly  would  result  in  the  United  States  becoming  a 
party  to  fixing  the  wages  of  labor  in  the  field.  And  if  that  happened 
in  Hawaii  with  this  class  of  labor,  why  would  not  the  cotton  pickers 
from  Texas  ask  the  Government  to  fix  their  wage  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  think  that  the  situation  is  hardly  parallel. 

The  Chairman.  But  just  suppose,  now,  that  the  Government  said 
'^This  won't  do;  these  fellov/s  have  to  have  a  better  wage  before 
we  will  enter  into  this  part  of  the  bargain  at  all";  and  suppose  they 
fixed  a  very  nice  wage,  then  would  not  American  citizens  working 
on  plantations,  in  the  fields,  say  '^Here,  if  the  Government  is  so  good 
to  the  imported  bond  Chinese,  must  not  the  Government  see  that  we 
are  done  as  well  by?" 

Gov.  Farrington.  Well  it  seems  to  me  that  is  rather  a  remote 
possibility,  Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  think  you  would  have  any  such  good 
wage  ?     [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Raker.  Governor,  these  men  tliat  come  now  from  China  should 
be  permitted  to  bring  their  wives ;  any  laborers  that  come  under  the 
proposed  legislation  should  be  permitted  to  bring  their  wives  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  say  if  they  should  be  ? 

Mr.  Ranker.  No;  I  say  they  should  be,  under  the  laws  of  humanity 
and  decency  and  fair  play  and  uprighteousness  and  any  other  con- 
dition that  makes  a  man  happy  and  prosperous  should  be  given  the 
right  to  marry  and  to  bring  his  wife  with  him  wherever  he  goes  ? 

Mr.  Sabath.  Do  you  think  your  question  is  justifiable  and  fair? 
You  take  for  granted  all  these  things  in  your  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  the  distinguished  gentleman  thinks  that  question 
is  not  fair,  I  will  ask  to  strike  it  out,  Mr.  Chairman,  and  to  put  another 


250  •  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

question.  It  v/ould  be  your  view,  Governor,  under  this  resolution, 
if  it  becomes  a  law,  that  a  man  who  came  under  its  terms  should  be 
permitted  to  bring  his  wife  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Now  you  are  asking  me  a  question  which  deals 
wdth  a  situation  that  is  entirely  new.  We  are  dealing  with  a  new 
situation;  we  have  never  brought  laborers  in  under  such  conditions, 
The  men  who  have  come  to  the  Islands  from  the  Orient  have  generally 
not  brought  their  families  with  them.  If  these  men  are  to  be  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  the  Chinese  who  were  sent  to  Europe  during 
the  vv^ar  period,  they  would  not  necessarily  be  accompanied  by  their 
families.  On  the  other  hand,  as  I  view  the  situation,  I  can  see  no 
particular  objection,  if  they  were  arixious  to  bring  their  families 
here,  v/hy  they  should  be  refused  that  privilege. 

Mr.  Saker.  Won't  you  please  forget  the  war  period  and  what 
was  done  during  the  war  and  how  we  sent  men  over  there  and  other 
nationalities  sent  them,  and  get  down  to  American  territory? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Now  you  would  be  in  favor,  if  the  men  wanted  to,  to 
let  them  bring  their  wives,  as  a  humanitarian  proposition,  wouldn't 
you? 

Gov.  Farrington.  As  a  humanitarian  proposition,  when  you  say 
^^bring  their  wives,"  if  you  contemplate  an  immigration  which  would 
have  the  atmosphere  of  being  more  or  less  permanent — this  is  not 
intenHed  to  be  permanent. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  take  off  the  atmosphere  of  permanency  and  put  it 
tem.porarily,  for  a  period  of  five  years.  If  the  man  wanted  to  bring 
his  wife  and  come  there  to  Hawaii  as  an  agriculturist  to  work,  he 
ought  to  be  permitted;  I  will  put  it  that  way.  Would  not  that  be 
your  view  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  am  not  prepared  to  answer  that  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  not  deny  it?  I  will  put  it  that  way;  you 
would  not  deny  them  the  privilege  to  bring  their  wives  if  they 
v/anted  to  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  regulations  for  handling  this  labor  and  the 
general  viewpoint  of  it  is  of  such  a  nature  that  I  do  not  know — these 
men  might  be  enlisted  on  the  basis  of  their  being  laborers  for  a  tem- 
porary period  and  they  might  seek  men  without  families. 

Mr.  Raker.  No,  but  I  am  putting  it  down  now  to  the  effect  it 
will  have  upon  our  country,  irrespective  of  Hawaii.  If  a  man  comes 
here  and  is  permitted  to  come  to  this  country  for  any  purpose,  and 
if  he  wants  to  bring  his  wife,  he  should  be  permitted  to  bring  her, 
should  he  not  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  On  general  principles,  I  should  say  it  would  be 
well  to  allow  his  wife  to  come  along  wii'b.  him. 

^ir.  Raker.  Do  you  think  the  American  people  would  submit  to 
a  law  that  would  permit  people  to  be  brought  in  here  to  work  and 
would  deny  them  the  right  to  have  a  family  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  No. 

Mr.  Raker.  Should  not  a  man  who  is  engaged  as  an  agriculturalist 
in  cultivating  pineapples  and  cultivating  rice  and  cultivating  sugar  be 
permitted  to  have  a  wife  and  to  raise  children  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  He  certainly  should  have  that  privilege  if  he 
wants  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 


LABOR   PKOBI.EMS    U<    IIAV/AII.  251 

Gov.  Faeeington.  But  they  do  not  always  marry. 

Mr.  Rakee.  Oh,  that  appHes  to  all  people.  Now^,  to  get  dovvii  to 
the  question:  These  people  would  be  under  bond;  the}^  would  be,  in 
substance,  peons  of  the  Government  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  No;  not  peons. 

Mr.  Rakee.  They  would  be  under  direction  to  labor  and  to  do  one 
particular  kind  of  labor,  would  they  not  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes:  but  there  is 

Mr.  Sabatk.  They  would  be  contract  laborers. 

Mr.  Rakee.  No;  more  than  that. 

The  Chaieman.  Now,  let  us  see  what  they  are.  If  they  are  not 
peons  and  are  not  quite  contract  laborers,  would  it  be  fair  to  call  them 
enlisted  Ipvborers— enlisted  agricultural  laborers  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  I  should  say  that  w^ould  come  more  nearly  to 
a  proper  definition. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  it  conscripted  labor? 

The  Chaieman.  Is  that  the  word  i' 

Gov.  Faeeington.  No;  I  think  enlisted  labor;  they  are  volunteers. 

Mr.  Yvhite.  I  want  to  ask  the  governor  this  question:  As  a  pre- 
liminary to  securing  this  labor,  do  you  not  believe,  or  do  you  believe, 
that  it  is  likely  that  enough  laborers  could  be  secured  who  would  not 
care  to  bring  their  families?  Do  you  think  it  would  be  possible  to 
secure  all  the  laborers  necessary  from  the  ranks  of  those  who  v/ould 
be  glad  to  come  under  the  terms  fixed,  who  would  not  care  to  bring 
their  families  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes,  sir.  I  feel  as  though  these  points  that  are 
being  raised  are  very  extreme. 

Mr.  White.  I  want  to  ask  3^ou  another  question  on  that  point.  _  Of 
course,  you  are  proceeding  here  regularly,  as  you  think,  and  fairly, 
and  you  would  expect  that  those  persons  whom  you  desired  to  bring 
here  or  who  might  desire  to  come  here  would  understand  all  the  terms 
and  conditions  under  which  the}-^  would  come  to  the  islands  to  labor  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  White.  And  that  they  would  Imow,  before  they  left  their 
country,  all  those  conditions  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Yv^hite.  And  circumstances  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  Yes,  sir;  there  is  no  question  about  it. 

Mr.  White.  And  that  the  question  then  as  to  bringing  their  fain- 
ilies  would  not  be  a  question  that  would  arise  subsequent  to  their 
coming  here  or  to  their  marrying  ?  They  would  understand  the  situ- 
ation thoroughly;  that  is  your  purpose,  that  they  should  understand 
it,  is  it  not  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  It  is  my  understanding  they  should  understand 
the  situation;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chaieman.  If  one  of* those  laborers  did  not  like  it  on  the  island 
of  Hawaii,  would  he  be  permitted  to  go  over  to  the  island  of  Maui  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  I  should  imagine  that  among  our  employers 
there  would  he  a  general  readiness  to  respect  the  wishes  of  the  laborers 
as  far  as  possible. 

The  Chaieman.  That  leads  right  up  to  this  question:  Yfe  will 
assume  that  20,000  come.     How  would  they  be  distributed  ? 

Gov.  Faeeington.  I  assume  they  would  be  distributed  according 
to  the  needs  of  the  industry  in  which  they  are  employed.     It  v/ould 


252  LABOR   PROBLEMS   11^    HAWAII. 

be  necessary  to  establish  quite  a  little  machinery  in  connection  with 
it,  so  that  they  might  be  properly  disposed  of. 

The  Chairman.  Would  that  machinery  be  Federal  machinery  or 
Territorial  machinery  ? 

Gov.  E'ARRiNGTON.  I  would  cxpect  that  it  would  possibly  be  Ter- 
ritorial machinery,  supervised  by  the  Federal  Government.  The 
demarcation  between  Federal  and  Territorial  is  hard  to  define.  Of 
course,  as  a  Territory  we  are  immediately  under  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment; it  would  not  be  the  same  as  it  would  be  in  a  State. 

The  Chairman.  Could  it  be  done  under  an  association  of  the  people 
using  the  labor  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  presume  that  might  be  done.  In  the  distri- 
bution of  the  labor  naturally  we  would  have  to  deal  with  an  associa- 
tion employing  the  labor,  so  as  to  know  where  we  would  need  it. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  say  "we/^  what  do  you  mean — the 
sugar  growers  or  the  people  of  the  Territory  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  people  of  the  Territory. 

The  Chairman.  The  sugar  planters  now  could  not  prorate  this 
labor  themselves  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  would  be  able  to  give  the  information  by 
which  it  could  be  properly  prorated;  they  are  the  principal  ones 
with  whom  we  are  dealing. 

The  Chairman.  To  give  that  information,  they  would  have  to  be 
in  a  sort  of  an  association,  would  they  not  ? 

Gov.  Farriitgton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  And  have  an  agreement  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Are  the  growers  in  such  an  association  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  have  a  voluntary  organization  on  the 
basis  of  cooperation  in  connection  with  the  handling  of  labor — ^the 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association. 

The  Chairman.  If  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  as 
an  association  within  the  law  got  into  the  business  of  bringing  in 
these  men,  this  kind  of  labor,  under  authority  of  Congress  and  then 
of  their  own  accord  as  an  association  peddled  it  out,  prorated  it, 
would  not  they  run  against  the  antitrust  law  right  away  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  say  they  are  peddling  it  out  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  My  idea  of  it  is  that  they  would  furnish  the 
information  by  which  it  would  be  distributed  by  the  organization 
having  in  charge  the  admission  of  the  labor. 

The  Chairman.  Are  these  Japanese  working  on  the  plantations 
formed  into  a  labor  union  of  any  kind  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  indeed. 

The  Chairman.  They  have  a  labor  organization '? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir;  a  very  close  and  exacting  labor  or- 
ganization. 

The  Chairman.  Would  they,  in  your  opinion,  be  likely  to  strike 
if  this  sort  of  labor  came  in — Chinese  labor  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Not  necessarily. 

The  Chairman.  Assume  that  they  would — I  won't  ask  you  to 
answer  it — assume  they  would  and  would  not  work  at  all  in  the  agri- 
^3ultural  pursuits,  then  you  would  have  to  get  more  Chinese  labor  ^ 


LABOE  PEOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  25 


Q 


Got.  Farrington.  That  would  mean  that  the  Japanese  would 
eventually  all  have  to  go  home. 

Mr.  Sabath.  That  is  just  what  it  should  be,  too. 

Gov.  Farrington.  But  that  is  not  anything  we  need  fear  at  the 
present  time. 

The  Chairman.  Has  the  Government  of  Australia  gone  into  any 
deal  of  this  kind  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Not  that  I  am  aware  of. 

The  Chairman.  Is  the  Government  of  Australia  requiring  the  Japa- 
nese in  Australia  to  return  to  Japan  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  So  far  as  I  am  informed,  there  is  a  strict  law 
against  Japanese  in  Australia. 

The  Chairman.  Against  their  admission  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Against  any  colored  race  in  Australia. 

Mr.  Mead.  Australia  you  know,  Mr.  Chairman,  went  to  the  extent 
of  deporting  all  blacks,  even  though  they  had  had  property  rights 
there  for  years. 

Mr.  Cable.  If  you  bring  in  20,000  Chinese,  do  3^ou  think  that  would 
lead  to  murdering  Japs  and  Chinamen  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  They  would  get  along  all  right  together  on  the  planta- 
tions ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  have  had  very  few  troubles  of  that  char- 
acter 

Mr.  Cable.  You  have  never  had  a  large  number  of  Chinese  in 
comparison  to  the  Japs  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Not  in  recent  years.  I  do  not  anticipate  any 
trouble  of  that  character. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Now,  Governor,  if  you  brought  these  Chimamen  there 
and  their  wages  were  not  satisfactory  and  2,000  of  them  struck  and 
refused  to  work,  they  would  be  a  perfect  drug  on  the  market — they 
just  absolute!}^  refused  to  work.     What  would  you  do  with  them  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  would  go  home. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  would  send  them  home  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  would  be  sent  home  under  the  regulations 
which  would  be  established  by  the  Department  of  Labor.  Now,  as 
to  who  would  send  them  home,  I  assume  the  Department  of  Labor 
would  make  arrangements  so  that  the  expense  of  sending  those 
people  home  would  not  be  a  charge  on  the  public. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  wanted  to  go  to  another  country  they  would 
be  in  the  same  position;  they  would  be  arrested  and  deported  and 
sent  back  to  China,  would  they  not  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  should  assume  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  won't  let  him  get  out;  you  make  him  go  back  to 
where  he  came. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  say  the  route  of  getting  out  is  defined  for  him. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  think  we  ought  to  establish  that  policy  as  part  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  do  you  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  think  it  is  very  important  that  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii  should  have  relief  in  connection  with  its  labor  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now  let  me  ask  you  a  few  questions  in  regard  to  the 
shortage  of  labor  conditions.  I  fend  that  in  the  last  10  years  corn  has 
increased  60  per  cent;  rice  has  increased  305  per  cent — the  produc- 
tion of  rice;  that  dried  edible  beans  have  increased  47  per  cent;  that 


254  LABOR   PROBLEMS   Il\^    HAWAII. 

soya  beans  have  increased  40  per  cent;  dried  beets  41  per  cent; 
dried  peas  55  per  cent,  and  the  raising  of  peanuts  625  per  cent. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Within  what  time  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Within  10  years.     They  are  prospering,  all  of  them. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Is  that  in  pounds,  or  dollars  and  cents  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  in  value. 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  want  to  understand  that  during  that 
period  we  have  had  war  prices. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  I  know.  We  ahvays  get  back  to  the  war.  Now 
we  find  that  the  sugar  cane  harvested  increased  42.8  per  cent. 

The  Chairman.  In  value  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  In  value;  yes,  sir.  That  is  what  I  said.  That  coffee 
has  increased  247  per  cent;  cotton,  178  per  cent;  and  tobacco  has 
decreasecL 

Mr.  Sabath.  How  about  the  quantities  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  All  except  sugar  there  decreased  in  quantities — every- 
thing except  sugar. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Pardon  me  for  referring  to  the  war  ^gain,  but 
you  mentioned  coffee  as  242  per  cent.  During  the  period  of  the  war 
coffee  was  a  very  profitable  industry;  but,  I  think  it  was  last  year, 
the  last  crop  rotted  on  the  trees  in  the  coffee  district  of  Kona. 

Mr.  Cable.  Why  was  that  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  One  reason  was  because  of  their  inability  to 
harvest  it  as  they  desired;  and  another  was  there  was  a  marked  re- 
duction in  the  price  of  coffee — I  think  they  could  not  sell  it  at  cost. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  ail  of  those  items  and  all  of  those  leading  prod- 
ucts have  increased  in  value  in  the  Territory,  according  to  the  last 
statistics. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  find  that  pineapples  in  1919,  in  value — in  1909  it 
was  1333,000  and  over? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  in  1919  it  was  $3,545,385.  The  industry  has  just 
grown  by  leaps  and  bounds,  has  it  not  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  have  had  a  splendid  growth  in  our  pine- 
apple industry. 

Tiie  Chairman.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  the  people  of  Hawaii  have 
devoted  themselves  to  developing  that  industry  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple as  we  developed  the  cantaloupe  industry  in  California,  or  any 
other  highly  specialized  industry. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  taking  every  item. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  have  figures  for  California  in  exactly 
the  same  proportion,  in  all  probability. 

Mr,  Raker.  I  do  not  know  about  that,  Mr.  Chairman.  I  am  asking 
the  gentleman  if  it  is  not  a  fact  that  these  leading  products  have 
increased  in  value;  namely,  sugar,  coffee,  pineapples,  and  rice.  Is 
not  that  right  ? 

Mr.  Sabath.  Those  are  artificially  created  prices.  If  it  was  vol- 
ume,* I  think  it  v/ould  be  of  some  value  to  the  committee;  but  merely 
the  artificially  created  prices,  they  do  not  give  us  any  information — 
at  least  it  does  not  to  me.  Sugar,  that  usually  sells  for  5  cents,  has 
been  selling  for  2^  and  30  cents. 

The  Chairman.  And  prunes  from  California,  and  from  my  State, 
that  usually  sell  for  5  cents  are  now  selling  for  25  cents. 


LABOR.  PROBLEMS   I>T    HAWAII.  255 

Mr.  Wilson.  How  about  grapes  ? 

The  Chatrman.  And  grapes  in  proportion. 

Gov.  Farringtont.  I  thini^  it  was  called  to  my  attention  yester- 
day by  Mr.  Dillingham  that  there  was  a  decreased  proportion  in  the 
production  of  sugar. 

Mr.  Eaker.  In  regard  to  su^'ar  cane,  it  is  all  owned  and  controlled 
by  43  corporations;  is  that  right? 

Gov.  Farrington.  There  are  about  43  sugar  plantations. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  none  of  it  held  by  individuals  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  sugar  cane  areas  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  this  sa3^s  here;  sugar  cane:  Number  of 
establishments,  owned  by  individuals,  corporations,  and  ail  others. 
It  gives  us  the  percentage,  and  the  total  of  the  corporations  is  100 
per  cent. 

Gov.  Farrington".  The  large  portion  of  the  cane  area  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  is  handled  by  corporations — is  owned  by  corpora- 
tions. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  says  43  concerns. 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  have  no  reason  to  question  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  these  43  concerns  then  control  the  sugar-cane 
production — these  corporations  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  A  large  part  of  the  production. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  they  the  ones  that  will  fix  the  price  "of  this  im- 
ported semi — these  imported  men  under  the  proposed  law  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  mean  fix  the  price  of  the  labor? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  are  the  ones  who  will  employ  these 
people;  they  are  the  ones  who  have  labor  to  offer. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  will  they  fix  the  price  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  naturally  will  have  a  right  to  state  what 
they  can  afford  to  pay  those  laborers. 

Mr.  Raker.  Will  they  fix  the  price  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Will  they  fix  it? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Generally  speaking,  yes,  if  I  understand  your 
question  correctly. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes,  I  think  you  do.  Hovf  many  more  men  were 
employed  in  the  sugar  industry  in  1920  than  there  are  now  in  1921  ? 
How  many  less  men  were  there  in  the  islands,  in  the  sugar  industry  ? 

Supposing  you  had  something  over  3,000  employed 

1^  Mr.  Weeber.  Thirty-eight   thousand  men  last  December. 

Mr.  Raker.  Thirty-eight  thousand  in  December  ? 

Mr.  W^eeber.  In  December,  last  3^ear.     That  is  the  lowest  num- 
ber since  1900.     In  1919  it  is  43,000;  1918,  44,000. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  were  hov/  many  now — 43,000  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  In  May,  of  1920,  there  were  43,000  and  in  December, 
1920,  38,348. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  less  of  these  men  that  were  em.ployed  in 
1920  are  there  now  in  the  islands  in  1921  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Six  thousand  less  now  than  last  year,  if  I  under- 
stand your  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  those  m^en  leave  the  islands  ? 


256  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAW  AIL 

Mr.  Weeber.  I  do  not  know.  Some  of  them  have  gone  in  other 
industries  and  some  have  gone  home;  how  many,  I  do  not  know 

Mr.  Raker.  Does  anyone  else  here  know? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  is  impossible  to  say  just  what  number  have 
left  the  islands  and  what  number  have  gone  into  other  industries. 
The  fact  is  they  have  left  the  fields  which  require  field  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  am  getting  at  now  is,  and  what  I  would  like 
to  get  in  the  record,  is  whether  or  not  those  same  men  that  worked 
in  1920  are  not  on  the  island  to-day — the  greater  per  cent  of  them? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  can  not  answer  that  question  definitely. 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  ask  such  questions  of  the  other  witnesses. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  thought  the  governor  knew.  I  will  be  through  in  a 
moment.  The  trouble  is  you  had  a  strike  in  1920  and  1921;  is  that 
right  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  By  the  Chinese  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  Japanese. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  were  involved  in  that  strike  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Six  thousand.  That  was  on  the  island  of 
Oahu. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  were  working  for  sugar  planters  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  they  left  the  island?  These  6,000  that  did 
strike,  have  they  left  the  island  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  do  not  think  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  are  still  there  and  want  to  work  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  great  proportion  of  them.  Some  of 
them  have  returned  to  their  work;  but,  as  I  understand  it,  they  are 
not  efhcient  laborers. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  are  not  what? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  are  not  efficient  workmen.  They  are 
occupying  their  quarters,  but  I  understi\ad  they  are  not  always 
working  full  time. 

Mr.  Raker.  Part  of  these  are  American  citizens  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  A  proportion  of  those  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  that  were  in  the  strike? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Some  of  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  all  belonged  to  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  No;  not  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  To  a  federation  of  labor,  then  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  To  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor,  known 
as  a  high-wage  association. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  immaterial  whether  a  man  was  a  citizen  or  an 
alien,  he  can  belong  to  the  federation  of  labor  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  To  that  federation  of  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  no  disqualification? 

Gov.  Farrington.  So  far  as  I  know  there  is  no  disqualification. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  the  intention  is  that  since  the  American  citizens, 
although  of  Japanese  birth,  struck  for  higher  wages,  or  struck  for  the 
conditions  in  Hawaii,  you  desire  to  leave  them  alone  and  to  go  with- 
out work,  and  to  bring  in  Chinese  from  China;  is  that  right? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  do  not  think  that  that  is  a  presentation  of  the 
case  that  would  be  exactly  correct.     The  strike  developed  features 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  257 

which  are  of  quite  a  different  nature  than  ordinary  strikes  on  the 
mainland.  It  became  a  nationahstic  movement,  and  it  became  so 
definitely  nationalistic  that  it  was  very  apparent  that  it  was  a  desire 
to  control  the  industry,  Now,  we  may  have  some  differences  of 
opinion  on  whether  an  industry  should  be  nationalized  by  citizens  of 
our  own  country;  but  we  can  have  no  difference  of  opinion,  so  far  as  I 
know,  on  whether  an  industry  should  be  nationalized  by  people  who 
are  alien  and  are  unable  even  to  become  citizens.  So  in  putting  it  as 
you  suggest  it  seems  to  me  that  if  I  were  to  give  a  favorable  reply  it 
would  not  be  a  proper  representation  of  the  attitude  of  the  American 
people  and  American  industry  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know,  but  there  are  about  40,000  of  those  Japanese- 
American  citizens  in  Hawaii.  They  have  the  same  rights  and  same 
responsibility  to  exist  and  work  and  unionize  and  better  their  condi- 
tion as  any  other  nationality;  is  not  that  right? 

Gov.  Farrixgtox.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  is  it  the  purpose  or  would  it  have  the  effect  of 
entirely  eliminating  them  from  the  fields  of  labor  in  the  agricultual 
pursuits  because  they  do  get  together  as  nationals,  although  being 
citizens,  and  bring  in  other  people  to  take  their  places  ? 

Gov.  Farrixgtox.  If  this  strike,  for  instance,  were  a  movement  of 
the  American  citizens,  and  primarily  moved  and  controlled  by 
American  citizens,  the  question  that  you  raise  might  be  a  proper  one; 
but  they  are  not.  They  are  controlled  by  the  Japanese.  The  40,000 
American  citizens  there  of  Japanese  ancestry  are  not  the  men  who 
controlled  that  movement  or  who  are  in  control  of  that  federation; 
it  is  an  alien  element.  And  regardless  of  what  alien  element  that 
may  be,  it  is  a  ver}^  serious  matter  to  have  any  industry  controlled  by 
aliens  in  the  position  we  are — as  an  outpost  of  the  Pacific. 

The  Chairman.  California  found  that  out  for  themselves. 

Gov.  Farrixgton.  Yes,  sir;  I  understand  that  they  have. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  you  want  to  put  yourselves  in  the 
position  or  Hawaii  wants  to  be  in  a  position  that  she  can  have  a 
sufficient  amount  of  laborers  for  the  white  Americans  who  o^ti  these 
industries  to  employ  them  without  emplo^ang  the  Japanese  that 
belong  to  this  labor  organization  ? 

Gov.  Farrixgtox.  Oh,  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  movement  on 
the  part  of  the  industry  there  to  refuse  to  employ  a  man  simply 
because  he  belongs  to  the  organization. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  but  I  understand  these  that  struck  won't  work 
and  are  there  in  the  islands  and,  therefore,  that  you' want  to  get  other 
laborers  from  China,  for  instance,  to  do  the  work  ? 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  understood  you  to  say  many  of  them  have  gone 
back  to  work? 

Gov.  Farrixgtox.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  White.  May  I  ask  a  (question  ?  I  just  want  to  ask  the  governor 
how  you  can  employ  them  if  they  won't  work,  as  has  been  suggested  ? 
[Laughter.] 

The  Chairmax.  I  think  we  have  pursued  that  line  far  enough. 
Are  there  any  other  questions  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  ask  one. 

•  Gov.  Farrixgtox.  I  would  like  to  get  that  last  question.     I  have 
been  interrupted  several  times. 

56754 — 21 — SEE  7,  pt  1 4 


258  LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Kaker.  These  Japanese  that  entered  into  this  organization 
struck  for  higher  wages,  did  they  not  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  sugar  companies,  43  in  number,  constituting 
all  of  the  sugar  interests,  refused  to  pay  the  wage? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  think  they  did  not  pay  the  wages  requested 
by  the  federation.  They  advanced  the  wages,  but  I  do  not  know 
what  the  per  cent  was. 

Mr.  Mead.  Fifty  per  cent. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  the  difference  and  why  did  they  not  go 
back  to  work?  They  struck  for  higher  wages.  Did  the  sugar  com- 
panies meet  the  request? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  met  the  request  for  a  higher  wage.  I  do 
not  think  they  met  the  exact  request  of  the  laborers.  My  under- 
standing of  the  fight  of  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  was  that 
they  sought  recognition,  an  official  recognition,  of  their  organiza- 
tion, and  that,  as  I  understand,  was  not  granted. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  sought  official  recognition  by  these  43  companies 
of  their  organization  and,  second,  higher  wages  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  the  sugar  companies,  controlling  the  entire  sugar 
interests,  refused  to  meet  their  demand  on  the  wage  question:  is  that 
right? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  did  not  meet  their  full  demand;  no. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  they  refused  to  grant  the  labor  organization's 
demand  on  recognition  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  for  that  reason  this  organization  and  its  mem- 
bers refused  to  go  back  to  work  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Some  of  them  refused  to  go  back  to  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  percentage  went  back  to  work? 

Mr.  Mead.  Approximately  75  per  cent. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  those  men  went  back  to  work  and  the  companies 
met  their  demands,  they  would  then  be  in  the  same  position  as  they 
were  the  year  before,  and  would  be  able  to  cultivate  and  to  handle 
and  mill  the  same  amount  of  sugar  as  they  did  before  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  You  mean  the  sugar  plantation? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Would  be  in  the  same  position? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  In  so  far  as  the  ordinary  routine  of  their  crop 
is  concerned? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  most  serious  point  that  is  involved  there  is 
the  recognition  of  that  organization,  because  once  they  accept  the 
management  of  the  labor  forces  by  the  alien  organization  there  is  no 
known  limit  of  the  demands  that  might  be  made  and  where  the  control 
of  the  industry  would  rest. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  Governor,  I  asked  you  this  question  a  moment 
ago  and  I  understood  you  were  not  able  to*  answer  it  and  I  will  ask 
you  now:  What  percentage  of  this  organization  were  American  citi- 
zens; do  you  know? 

Gov.  Farrington.  No;  I  do  not. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IIT   HAWAII.  259 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  when  you  say  it  was  an  ahen  organization,  you 
are  not  able  to  state  the  number  of  American  citizens,  although  of 
Japanese  nationality,  that  were  in  that  organization,   are  you? 

Gov.  FARRiNCfTON.  No,  sir;  except  that  a  very  small  percentage 
was  American  citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  can  you  answer  my  question  if  those  men  went 
back  to  work  and  the  other  demands  of  the  labor  organization  were 
met,  would  that  supply  the  same  amount  of  labor  for  1921  as  they 
had  in  1920? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  assume  it  would  supply  the  labor — a  fair 
supply. 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  yes.  The  shortage  has  not  grown  out  of  the  fact 
that  these  men  have  not  returned  to  work;  the  shortage  has  occurred 
by  reason  of  large  numbers  of  laborers  having  gone  back  to  Japan 
and  to  the  Philippines. 

Mr.  Raker.  WTio  knows  whether  or  not  if  these  men  that  struck  in 

1920  went  back  to  work  you  would  be  in  as  normal  condition  for 

1921  as  you  were  in  1920,  before  they  struck? 

Gov.  Farrington.  The  immigration  commissioner  who  came  on 
here  to  represent  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  will  know  that  fact  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  can  give  you  that  information. 

Mr.  Box.  Governor,  I  note  in  the  figures  introduced  here  yester- 
day, showing  the  population  of  Hawaii  of  the  different  classes,  a  de- 
crease in  the  population  of  Hawaii  of  the  number  of  Hawaiians  during 
the  last  10  years? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  That  decrease  has  gone  on  for  a  great  many  years,  has 
it  not  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  There  has  been  a  steady  decrease  of  the  native 
Hawaiian  population  for  a  period  of  years. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  a  regrettable  fact.     "^Yhat  is  the  cause  of  it  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  One  cause  of  it,  I  think,  is  the  intermarriage. 
You  will  notice  in  those  figures  there  that  the  Asiatic  Hawaiians  and 
Caucasian  Hawaiians  have  increased.  Now,  the  pure  Hawaiian  has 
steadily  decreased.  Their  death  rate  is  high  and  they  have  inter- 
married to  quite  an  extent  so  that  in  the  net  Hawaiian  population, 
as  we  of  Hawaii  class  it,  you  might  say  there  has  been  a  decrease. 

Mr.  Box.  There  has  been  a  partial  amalgamation  with  other  races, 
so  to  speak  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  This  decrease  in  the  number  of  pure  bloods,  is  that  about 
right  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir.     The  man  who  could  answer  that 
question  for  you  very  fully  is  Senator  Wise  of  the  Territorial  Legis- 
lature of  Hawaii.     That  is  my  solution  of  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Governor,  my  understanding  of  this  situation  is  that, 
by  natural  processes  or  otherwise,  the  population  in  Hawaii  has  not 
increased  sufficiently  to  take  care  of  your  expanding  industries  and 
especially  agriculture  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  you  now  have  a  shortage  of  labor? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 


260  LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  you  can  only  secure  this  labor  by  an  inflow  of 
population  from  some  other  country  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  can  not  get  that  froin  the  United  States  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  have  been  unsuccessful  up  to  the  present 
time,  but  not  for  lack  of  effort. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  also  understand  that  you  can  not  get  it  from  the 
Philippines  or  Porto  Rico  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Not  in  adequate  quantity. 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  efforts  have  been  made  to  supply  this  labor 
from  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  have  been  endeavoring  for  some  years  past 
to  secure  immigration  from  the  Philippines.  We  have  now  in  the 
Territory,  as  shown  by  the  last  census,  21,000.  That  is  an  increase 
from  2,000  in  1910,  and  that  increase  is  mainly  due  to  the  immigra- 
tion that  has  been  fostered  by  the  Territory  or  by  the  sugar  planters' 
association. 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  attitude  does  the  Philippine  Government  take 
toward  immigration  to  Hawaii  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  They  want  their  people  for  their  own  Territory. 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  about  Porto  Rico  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  have  understood  the  same  situation  prevails 
there. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  understand,  further,  that  of  the  laboring  classes  in 
these  particular  industries,  such  as  sugar,  rice,  and  pineapples,  that 
^bout  65  per  cent  is  Japanese  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  About  what  per  cent  is  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  One  thousand  seven  hundred  out  of  38,000. 

Gov.  Farrington.  A  very  small  percentage. 

Mr.  Weeber.  Less  than  5  per  cent. 

Mr.  Wilson.  While,  of  course,  you  are  willing  to  take  this  agri- 
cultural labor  from  any  country  from  which  you  may  be  able  to 
get  it,  still,  as  a  practical  proposition,  the  only  available  supply,  as 
you  see  it,  is  from  China  ?     Is  that  the  situation  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  We  know  that  we  can  get  them  there;  or  we 
feel  certain  that  we  can  get  them  there. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  the  last  analysis,  that  is  v^hat  is  contemplated? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Now,  this  resolution  deals  with  a  particular  situation  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  ultimately  it  will  be  construed  as  establishing  a 
policy  for  the  Government,  and  those  are  the  things  that  address 
themselves  to  the  committee.  Now,  the  resolution  provides  any 
inadmissible  aliens  shall,  under  regulations  prescribed  by  the  Secretary  j 
of  Labor,  be  admitted  to  Hawaii  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  For  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  a  certain  kind  of  | 
labor;  that  is  true,  is  it  not? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Agricultural  labor  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  it  fixes  a  limit  of  time  for  their  sojourn  in  the 
islands  ? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    PIAWATT.  261 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  prohibits  them  removing  to  any  other  territory 
belonging  to  the  United  States  ?  «         . 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Now,  a  very  serious  question  in  my  mind  is  the  power 
of  Congress,  under  our  laws  and  the  decisions  of  our  courts,  to  impose 
those  conditions  on  any  nationality  coming  into  our  Territory. 
If  we  can  do  it  in  Hawaii,  of  course  we  can  do  it  in  the  continental 
United  States.  Now,  you  see,  if  you  admit  the  fact  that  he  is  an 
Asiatic  and  incapable  of  citizenship,  it  does  not  change  that  situation; 
if  you  admit  them  and  take  charge  of  them,  you  might  say — and 
this  must  be  done  under  some  governmental  authority  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  you  must  engage  in  a  certain  kind  of  labor  and 
you  must  do  that  for  a  certain  period  of  time,  and  you  must  confine 
your  residence  to  a  certain  territory.  Of  course,  this  resolution 
does  not  fix  the  penalty,  but  the  effect  is  the  same.  Now,  have  you 
had  a  legal  opinion  upon  the  power  of  Congress  to  do  that  thing  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  have  not.  That  question  would  have  to  he 
answered  by  the  commission.  I  assume  we  would  not  be  coming  ort 
here  asking  Congress  to  so  something  that  was  not  within  its  power. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  will  say  it  is  presumed  that  they  would  not  do 
that,  but  that  is  a  very  serious  question  in  my  mind  about  this, 
resolution.  There  is  another  thing  about  that:  If  you  say  to  these^ 
people — if  we  reach  the  conclusion  that  we  can  legally  enact  such  a 
law,  then  what  authority  is  going  to  carry  out  that  portion  of  it 
that  says  to  this  20,000 — is  that  the  number  you  think  you  need  now  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Twenty  thousand. 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  authority  is  going  to  carry  out  that  part  of  it 
providing  that  they  shall  engage  in  a  certain  kind  of  labor?  Ta 
whom  is  it  contemplated  that  that  authority  shall  be  delegated  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  To  whom  shall  it  be  delegated? 

Mr.  Wilson.  Yes. 

Gov.  Farrington.  My  idea  is  that  that  is  a  program  to  be  worked 
out  by  the  Secretary  under  the  Department  oi  Labor. 

Mr.  Wilson.  But  is  the  Department  of  Labor  going  to  be  called 
upon  to  execute  that  provision  of  the  resolution  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  should  say  that  it  would  have  to  be  executed 
under  the  general  supervision  of  the  Department  of  Labor.  Whether 
it  should  be  territorial  and  whether  those  expenses  should  be  borne 
by  the  Territory  or  the  industry.  I  assume  it  should  be  borne  by  the 
industry. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  contemplated,   then,   that  some  official  there 
answerable  to  the  Department  of  Labor  of  the  territorial  government 
in  Hawaii  shall  see  that  that  part  of  it  is  carried  out  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  I  should  consider  that  that  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  the  same  would  be  true  as  to  this  prohibition 
against  removing  to  any  other  portion  of  the  United  States  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  a  matter  that  would  be  com- 
paratively simple  in  Hawaii  with  the  immigration,  for  it  would  be 
very  difficult  for  them  to  move  from  Hawaii  to  the  mainland  of 
the  United  States.  For  instance,  that  prohibition  is  at-  present 
enforced  against  the  Japanese  in  the  islands. 


262  LABOK  PEOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wilson.  But  not  against  the  native  born? 

Gov.  Farrington.  No;  not  native  born. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Native-born  Japanese  or  native-born  Chinese  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  No;  but  the  foreigners  of  Japanese  nationality; 
they  are  not  allowed  to  go  to  the  mainland  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Wilson.  But  any  Chinese  born  during  this  5-year  period  on 
the  islands  would  be  admissible  to  the  United  States  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  say  the  foreign-born  Japanese  are  not  per- 
mitted to  go  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  That  is  a  detail  of  the  regulations  established 
under  the  '' Gentlemen's  agreement." 

Mr.  Weeber.  That  is  prohibited  by  the  presidential  proclamation 
issued  on  March  14,  1907.  Alien  Japanese,  Chinese,  or  Koreans  can 
not  emigrate  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands  to  the  continental  United 
States. 

Mr.  Raker.  May  I  ask  you  a  question  right  there?  Will  it 
interrupt  3^ou  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  No. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  it  your  view  that  under  i^rticle  XIII  of  the  Con- 
stitution the  last  proviso  of  this  bill  that  they  should  only  work  in 
an  agriculturEd  pursuit  and  should  be  returned  if  they  did  not,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  five  years  should  be  sent  back,  would  contravene 
that  section  of  the  Constitution  which  prohibits  involuntary 
servitude  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  have  made  no  investigation  of  the  question.  I 
thought  somebody  else  might  have  done  so. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Will  you  permit  me — in  1904  or  1906,  up  to  that 
time  there  were  several  Southern  States  that  had  entered  into  agree- 
ments and  had  a  permit  to  import  contract  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  that  was  held  immediately,  and  as  quick  as  it 
was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Federal  authorities  that  it  was 
subjecting  them  practically  to  peonage  and  therefore  in  contravention 
of  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Sabath.  No;  certain  contracts  that  have  been  entered  into 
have  been  held  in  violation  of  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  has  it  been  held  any  place  that  a  man  could  be 
put  at  certain  work  and  couid  be  deported  and  moved  back  and  forth 
as  the  parties  saw  fit  ? 

Mr.  Sabath.  Yes;  where  there  was  misrepresentation  made  to 
these  people  who  have  been  imported;  but  they  had  to  show  that 
there  v/as  a  misrepresentation.  I  had  the  matter  up  with  the  de- 
partment in  1908  and  1909  and  I  made  the  charges  of  peonage  and  I 
called  for  an  investigation. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Here  is  the  proposition:  This  is  not  just  the  phase 
of  it  that  I  had  in  mand,  but  whatever  is  done  about  this  relative  to 
these  people  coming  in  the  Government  must  be  a  party  to,  you  see  % 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  two  Governments  ? 

Gov.  Farrington.  Possibly. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  have  made  no  investigation  myself,  but  this  dis- 
cussion has  impressed  me  and  I  thought  that  probably  that  question 
had  beeli  gone  into.     It  is  not  a  question  oi  some  organization  oil 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  2G3 

business  men  down  in  Hawaii  bringing  over  labor;  it  is  a  question  of 
the  Government  being  a  party  to  it  through  the  Secretary  of  Labor. 

Gov.  Farrington.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  vSo  it  is  not  on  all  fours  with  the  case  suggested  at  all. 

Mr.  Sabath.  In  that  case  the  States  were  authorized  to  establish 
immigration  commissioners  and  import  and  bring  over  labor  from 
other  countries,  and  they  did  bring  several  vessels. 

Mr.  Wilson.  My  recollection  is  that  either  some  individual  or  some 
corporation  was  bringing  them  over. 

Mr.  Sabath.  This  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State  and 
received  the  sanction  and  approval  of  our  Federal  Governnient. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  all  you  desire  to  ask  the  governor,  gentle- 
men? 

Mr.  Wilson.  Yes;  that  is  all  I  have. 

The  Chairman.  Governor,  that  is  all.  W^e  are  thankful  to  you  for 
the  information  you  have  given  and  we  wish  you  much  success  in 
your  administration  of  the  government  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 
I  think  that  all  Members  of  Congress  realize  that  Federal  control, 
under  the  territorial  plan  of  government,  of  a  domain  so  far  removed 
from  the  National  Capital  as  Hawaii,  is  difficult  in  the  extreme,  and 
I  for  one  have  often  given  expression  to  the  statement  that  the  gov- 
ernors of  our  two  Territories — Alaska  and  Hawaii — should  have  more 
individual  power  than  is  now  accorded  to  them.  I  regret  the  delay 
which  so  often  occurs  in  the  ratification  by  Congress  of  the  acts  of 
the  Hawaiian  and  Alaskan  Territorial  Legislatures. 

As  you  leave  to  take  up  your  official  duties  I  beg  to  assure  you 
that  all  members  of  this  committee,  regardless  of  political  adherence; 
will  do  all  that  we  can  to  assist  you. 

STATEMENT   OF  MR.   ROYAL  D.   MEAD,   HONOLULU,   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  State  your  name,  residence,  and  business. 

Mr.  Mead.  My  name  is  Royal  D.  Mead,  my  residence  is  Honolulu, 
Hawaii,  and  I  am  appearing  before  this  committee  as  a  citizen  of 
the  Territory,  not  as  a  representative  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar 
Planters'  Association,  by  which  I  happen  to  be  employed. 

Up  to  November  of  last  year  I  was  the  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  association  and  director  of  their  labor  bureau  and  I  have  had  to 
do  with  their  labor  matters  for  the  last  20  years.  I  left  Hawaii  in 
November  to  come  to  Washin^on  to  represent  them  in  labor  matters 
and  have  spent  two  months  in  Porto  Rico  with  the  intention  of  get- 
ting Porto  Ricans  to  go  to  Hawaii.  The  matter  which  I  believe  you 
want  me  to  touch  upon  particularly  is  the  question  of  wages  paid  by 
the  sugar  planters;  that  is  the  question  you  suggested  yesterday 
before  you  adjourned. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  one  question. 

Mr.  Mead.  We  have  very  many  classes  of  labor  on  the  plantations 
in  Hawaii.  The  basic  wage  for  the  unskilled  field  hands  runs  from 
$30  to  $32  a  month  of  26  days,  depending  largely  on  the  location  of 
the  plantation.  Now,  there  are  other  unskilled  laborers,  such  as 
mill  hands,  teamsters,  ditch  men,  and  there  are  dozens  of  occupa- 
tions where  the  unskilled  wage  is  higher  than  the  minimum  wage, 
and  it  varies  on  the  different  plantations;  but  I  think  a  very  con- 


254  LABOR   PROBLEMS   I^    HAWAII. 

servative  statement  as  to  the  average  of  the  wages  of  unskilled  men 
would  be  $1.50  per  day  at  the  present  time — S39  a  month. 

Seventy-five  to  eighty  per  cent  of  the  plantation  work  and  planta- 
tion labor  is  performed  under  contract.  There  are  contracts  for  all 
plantation  operations  from  the  planting  of  the  seed  cane  to  the  load- 
ing of  the  sugar  into  the  cars  after  it  is  manufactured — everything 
that  can  be  done  is  done  under  the  contract  system. 

The  cultivation  contractors,  the  long-term  contractors  as  they  call 
them,  take  the  fields  after  planting,  or  from  the  first  or  second  irriga- 
tion, and  carry  on  the  cultivation  up  to  the  time  the  cane  is  matured 
and  harvested.  Those  long-term  contractors  make  more  money  than 
the  unskilled  day  men,  and  I  should  say  that  their  average  earnings 
are  from  $1.50  to  $1.75  a  day;  perhaps  $1.50  would  be  conservative. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  you  mean  by  contractors  ?  Will  you  explain 
that  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  cultivation  contractors  are  men  who  take  selected 
areas  of  cane  fields  and  do  all  the  necessary  work  of  cultivation. 
The  plantation  is  divided  up  into  areas,  and  a  number  of  men  are 
given  the  privilege  of  doing  the  work  on  a  certain  area  from  the  time 
it  is  planted,  or  from  the  time  of  the  first  and  second  irrigation,  and 
they  are  paid  so  much  per  ton  for  the  cane  raised  upon  that  area, 
varying  according  to  the  growth  of  the  cane.  They  are  given  their 
fertilizer,  and  advances  are  made  to  them  from  month  to  month  for 
their  living  expenses  and  that  sort  of  thing,  and  then  settlement  is 
made  when  the  cane  is  harvested  and  the  weight  determined.  I 
think  I  said  $1.50;  I  should  say  $1.75  is  a  closer  estimate  for  the 
earnings  of  cultivation  contractors  on  the  average. 

In  addition  to  that,  those  men  work  in  other  occupations.  When 
the  field  does  not  require  their  attention,  they  get  oft  for  a  few  days, 
or  a  week,  perhaps,  and  work  at  other  things,  so  that  their  earnings 
are  considerably  increased. 

Then  we  have  the  short-term  contractors — men  who  do  ditch  work 
or  other  short-term  contract  work.  Two  of  our  principal  short-term 
contracts  are  cutting  and  loading.  Loading  cane  is  a  particularly 
hard  job,  and  the  men  do  not  work  very  many  hours  a  day  at  it. 
They  usually  get  out  very  early  in  the  morning  and  quit  early  in  the  . 
afternoon.  Cutting  is  also  a  hard  job.  Those  men  make  consider- 
ably in  excess  of  the  ordinary  wages,  and  I  should  say  a  conservative 
statement  of  the  earnings  of  that  class  of  labor  is  $2  a  day. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  mean  in  that  •contract  that  you  divide  the 
plantation  ofi^  into  100  acres  or  50  acres,  and  the  man  takes  it  and 
employs  his  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  are  two  systems.  Some  plantations  employ 
boss  contractors,  who  in  turn  employ  the  necessary  men.  The  more 
common  system  is  to  have  individual  contractors. 

In  addition  to  the  wages  paid  day  men  and  the  rates  paid  contrac- 
tors, we  have  a  bonus  system  which  applies  to  all  laborers  on  the 
plantations,  even  up  to  skilled  laborers.  That  bonus  system  is  based 
upon  the  price  which  Hawaiian  96°  sugar  brings  in  New  York.  It 
begins  with  a  bonus  of  10  per  cent  for  sugar  at  4  cents,  or  $80  a  ton, 
and  runs  up  at  the  rate  of  1  per  cent  for  every  $2  increase  in  the  price 
of  sugar.  I  have  not  followed  exactly  the  price  of  sugar — I  have 
been  out  of  the  country  so  much — but  the  bonus  begins  the  1st  of 
November  and  runs  on  for  12  months.     I  think  the  price  of  sugar 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAIL  265 

in  November,  December,  January,  and  February  was  something  over 
5  cents — 6  cents.  vSince  then  it  has  dropped,  and  now  it  is  4  cents, 
but  I  think  tlie  average  has  been  well  over  5  cents.  So  that  they 
have  been  obtaining  the  bonus  from  November  on  on  sugar  at  an 
average  of  5  cents,  say,  or  20  per  cent  bonus,  which  would  be  added 
to  their  wages. 

The  condition  of  that  bonus  is  that  they  shall  work  20  days  per 
month. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  highest  bonus  received  during  the 
war  prices  of  sugar  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  highest  bonus  during  war  prices^ — I  do  not  have 
that  figure  exactly,  but  it  ran  up  to  something  over  300  per  cent  in 
one  month.  Sugar  went  up  to  23  cents  at  one  time- — raw  sugar — 
and  it  made  a  perfectly  enormous  bonus. 

The  Chairman.  Can  you  roughly  give  us  one  example  that  would 
show  what  the  common  laborer  would  receive  in  profits  by  that 
bonus  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  I  have  some  figures  on  the  bonuses  here.     Takef 
the  month  of  May,  for  instance,  in  1920;  the  total  bonus  percentagej/' 
that  month  was  466^.     At  that  time  the  base  wage  was  $20.     Thatl 
man  received  $70  in  addition  to  his  wages. 

The  Chairman.  And  he  received  $20  in  pay  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  And  $70. 

The  Chairman.  He  received  $20  and  a  place  to  live  in  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  am  coming  to  that  in  a  moment. 

The  Chairman.  He  got  $70  as  a  month's  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  and  $20  as  wages. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  before  you  pass  that;  with  whom  does  the  con 
tract  man  enter  into  the  contract  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  With  the  plantation. 

Mr.  Raker.  With  the  owner? 

Mr.  Mead.  With  the  plantation  as  represented  by  the  manager. 

Mr.  Raker.  With  one  man  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  usually  there  are  many  men  in  the  contract.  If  a 
dozen  men  take  a  field  under  a  contract,  they  sign  that  contract  indi- 
vidually, each  one  of  them,  with  the  plantation,  and  the  settlement  is 
made  at  the  end  of  the  time. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  he  has  to  work  a  certain  plot  of  ground  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  He  has  to  work  a  certain  plot  of  ground,  a  certain  area. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  I  was  asking  you.  Supposing  a  man  has 
1,000  acres;  he  divides  that  off  in  plots  from  5  acres  up  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  it  varies.  I  do  not  know  of  any  contracts  cov- 
ering as  low  as  5  acres. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  lowest  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  could  not  tell  you  about  that;  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Raker.  Supposing  it  is  20  acres:  There  will  be  four  or  five 
men  take  a  contract  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  average,  I  think,  is  about  one  man  to  9  or  9^  or  10 
acres.     It  usually  works  out  that  way,  I  believe. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  I  get  that  now. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Depending  on  what  part  of  the  island  the  plan- 
tation is  located,  the  number  of  acres  that  a  man  can  cultivate  prop- 
erly is  determined  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  very  largely  so. 


266  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  gets  how  much  a  month  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  the  advances  vary.  I  think  the  last  year  they 
were  discussing  advancing  $20  a  month,  or  more  per  month. 

Mr.  Raker.  Supposing  we  take  100  acres  and  there  are  five  men 
who  take  that  100  acres.  They  are  given  $20  a  month  and  then  the 
bonus.  Supposing  there  is  no  production  on  that  20  acres;  then 
what  do  they  get  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Then  they  are  settled  with  according  to  the  day  wages, 
depending  very  largely  on  the  contractor.  If  the  contractor  has  been 
very  efficient  and  has  done  good  work,  then  the  plantation  makes  a 
settlement  with  him  at  a  rate  somewhat  above  the  day  wages. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  would  that  be  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  should  imagine  a  good  contractor  would  probably  be 
settled  with  now  at  the  rate  of  perhaps  $32  or  $33  a  month. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that  if  there  was  no  production  on  those  100 
acres 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is,  if  the  production  failed,  so  that  he  did  not  get 
back  his  advances,  you  mean  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  then  those  five  contractors  and  laborers  would 
get  about  how  much  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  they  would  be  settled  with  at  the  rate  of  about 
$30  or  $32  a  month,  if  they  had  done  good  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  if  he  had  not  done  good  work  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Then  they  would  settle  with  him  at  the  rate  of  day  wages. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  would  be  what  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  $30;  that  is,  of  course,  discretionary  with  the  planta- 
tion manager.  It  depends  on  whether  the  men  have  been  diligent,  or 
whether  they  have  been  loafers. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Now,  I  understand  that  under  this  contract  system, 
say,  a  planter  has  100  acres  that  he  wants  planted  and  cultivated  to 
sugar;  he  simply  takes  Li  Hung  Chang  and  associates  and  enters  into 
a  contract  for  its  cultivation  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  the  planter  signs  and  the  laborers  sign  that  con- 
tract ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  then  they  will  cultivate  it  in  sugar  for  a  year? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  until  it  is  harvested. 

Mr.  Wilson.  At  a  certain  stipulated  price  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  At  a  certain  stipulated  price  per  ton  for  the  cane  that 
is  raised  on  that  plantation. 

Mr.  Box.  The  cultivation  of  the  crop  extends  over  more  than  one 
year,  does  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  yes;  these  contracts  usually  run  for  18  months. 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  are  the  stipulations  in  this  contract  relative 
to  what  happens  during  the  time  of  a  strike  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  If  the  men  leave  their  contract,  the  plantation  has  the 
right  to  pay  them  off  for  the  work  they  have  done  and  take  over 
the  field.  If  they  go  on  strike,  I  believe  there  has  never  been,  so 
far,  a  provision  in  the  contract  which  would  protect  the  plantation. 
I  believe  the  contracts  entered  into  this  year  are  drawn  to  protect 
the  plantation  on  that  point.  For  instance,  during  the  strike  of 
1920,  the  contractors,  notwithstanding  their  agreement,  left  the  fields 
and  it  was  a  question  when  they  came  back  to  those  fields  whether 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  267 

or  not  they  should  be  paid  for  the  cane  that  was  harvested  in  those 
fields^— whether  they  should  be  paid  the  full  rate  or  just  what  sort  of 
A  settlement  should  be  made  with  them. 
•    Mr.  Raker.  Why  don't  they  pay  a  regular  monthly  wage? 

Mr.  Mead.  Because  the  contract  system  is  far  better  for  our 
conditions.  The  men  work  better;  they  have  a  stake  in  the  cane 
and  they  cultivate  the  ground  better  and  look  after  the  fields  better 
in  every  way.  Their  compensation  is  dependent  very  largely  on 
the  efforts  in  getting  good  crops;  they  do  not  require  the  supervision 
the  daymen  require,  and  in  every  way  it  is  better.  If  we  had  to 
go  back  to  the  old  system  of  the  day  wage,  it  would  require  a  good 
many  more  men  than  it  does  now. 

The  Chairman.  Where  does  that  bonus  begin  on  the  plantation? 
Does  the  bookkeeper  get  any  of  that  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  right  now.  They  have  had  various  systems  for 
dealing  with  skilled  men,  v/hat  we  call  skilled  men,  receiving  $50  or 
over  a  month.  This  year  that  bonus,  as  I  understand,  applies  to  all 
the  laborers  and  all  the  men. 

The  Chairman.  To  everybody  employed  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  So  I  understand. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  that  rated  as  a  profit-sharing  proposition? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  not  profit  sharing,  because  it  is  not  dependent 
on  the  idea  of  profits,  exactly.  You  probably  might  call  it  a  pros- 
perity sharing  bonus.  If  the  price  of  sugar  is  high,  he  gets  a  large 
3onus;  if  the  price  of  sugar  gets  below  a  profitable  price,  then  the 
.aborers  do  not  share. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Then  it  is  profit  sharing. 

Mr.  Mead.  Weil,  profit  sharing,  of  course,  in  the  ordinary  accepta- 
tion of  the  term  '^profit  sharing,"  means  you  set  aside  a  certain  por- 
tion of  your  profits  for  the  purpose  of  distribution  among  the  labor. 
Now,  a  lot  of  our  plantations  are  paying  a  bonus,  and  they  are  not 
profitable. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  they  pay  the  bonus,  and  they  might  not 
make  as  much  as  6  per  cent  on  the  investment  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  A  number  of  the  plantations  have  not  paid  dividends 
for  a  good  many  years,  but,  nevertheless,  they  pay  the  bonus. 

Mr.  Horner.  Is  not  the  bonus  paid  on  the  price  of  sugar,  regard- 
less of  whether  the  planters  make  a  profit  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  absolutely. 

Mr.  Box.  They  share  in  the  gross  receipts  ? 

^Ir.  Mead.  Now,  on  the  question  of  the  perquisites:  In  addition  to 
the  wages  and  bonus  which  the  laborers  receive  from  the  plantations, 
they  are  provided,  without  charge,  with  a  house,  in  the  case  of  fam- 
ilies; with  living  quarters  in  the  case  of  single  men;  with  fuel,  water, 
medical  attendance,  and  with  hospital  treatment  for  themselves  and 
their  families.  I  have  tried  in  the  past  to  get  more  or  less  definite 
figures  of  the  cost  to  the  plantation  of  these  perquisites,  but  it  has 
been  a  very  difficult  matter.  W^ater,  for  instance,  on  some  of  the 
plantations  is  a  very  valuable  commodity;  on  other  plantations  where 
the  rainfall  goes  up  as  high  as  200  inches,  it  is  more  or  less  of  a  waste 
commodity.  The  question  of  fuel  is  also  a  very  difficult  matter  to 
determine,  as  to  what  the  value  of  it  is.  Fuel  on  nearly  all  of  the 
plantations  is  a  very  expensive  item.  They  have  to  go  up  in  the 
moimtains  and  get  the  wood  down,  and  I  know  of  one  plantation  that 


■ 


268  LABOR   PROBLEMS   1^   HAWAII. 

supplies  coal  to  the  laborers,  and  I  know  others,  when  I  left  there  in 
November,  that  were  discussing  the  advisability  of  giving  them  kero- 
sene stoves  and  supplying  them  with  kerosene  as  fuel.  So  that  you 
can  not  find  out  from  any  general  figures  the  value  of  the  various  per- 
quisites. Hospitals,  for  instance — some  of  the  plantations  have  very 
elaborate  hospitals — hospitals  equal  to  any  they  have  in  the  States 
that  I  have  ever  seen;  very  well  equipped  with  a  full  medica  corps, 
and  nurses,  and  others  have  more  modest  establishments,  and  I  think 
a  very  conservative  estimate  of  the  cost  of  these  perquisites,  the  cost 
of  the  houses,  fuel,  water,  hospital,  and  medical  treatment,  and  so 
forth,  equals  about -$10  per  month  per  laborer;  that  is,  as  a  matter  of 
plantation  investment. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  for  the  house  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  For  the  house,  water,  fuel,  and  all  the  prerequisites. 
For  the  laborer  to  have  to  go  out  and  rent  a  house  and  provide  him- 
self with  the  things  that  the  plantation  provides  him  with  free  of 
charge,  I  should  say  it  would  cost  him  up  to  $20  or  $25  a  month. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  kind  of  a  house  do  they  get  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  they  get  a  pretty  good  house.  Some  of  the 
houses,  of  course,  are  better  than  others;  but  the  average  house 
is  pretty  fair. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  they  get  hot  and  cold  water  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  they  do  not  get  hot  and  cold  water;  but  every 
plantation  camp,  most  all  of  the  plantation  camps,  and  I  guess  I  can 
say  every  plantation  camp,  has  a  bathhouse,  where  especially  the 
Japanese  have  hot  water,  where  they  bathe  every  day.  The  Japanese 
are  very  clean;  the  Chinese  the  same.  They  have  to  have  hot  water. 
The  other  people  bathe  in  their  own  houses  or  avail  themselves  of 
the  facilities  furnished  by  every  or  nearly  every  camp. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  they  have  separate  compartments  or  separate 
rooms,  or  are  three  or  four  required  to  be  in  one  room  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  single  men,  I  think,  are  put  two  in  a  room  nowa- 
days. They  used  to  put  more  in  a  room,  but  I  think  nowadays  they 
only  put  two  in  a  room. 

The  Chairman.  They  compare  with  the  houses  which  the  Jajjanese 
erect  for  themselves  in  California,  do  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  have  been  in  the  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico,  and  in 
neither  of  those  countries  or  on  the  mainland  have  I  seen  any  common 
laborers  housed  as  well  as  the  laborers  are  in  Hawaii,  and  improve- 
ments are  going  on  all  the  time.  They  are  increasing  their  facilities 
and  building  better  houses.  There  are  still  some  of  the  plantations, 
some  of  the  unprofitable  plantations,  where  the  houses  are  not  as 
good  as  others,  naturally;  but,  as  the  plantations  can  they  are  re- 
placing those  older  types  of  houses  and  putting  in  better  houses. 

Mr.  Raker.  About  what  is  the  size  of  the  force  working  at  one  of 
those  plantations  ?     It  varies,  I  suppose  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  it  varies.  It  varies  according  to  the  size  of  the 
plantation,  naturally.  I  think  the  Hawaiian  Commercial  employs 
up  to  3,300  men.  That  plantation  produces  normally  about  50,000 
or  55,000  tons  of  sugar  a  year. 

Mr.  Raker.  Does  each  plantation  have  its  own  mill  on  the  plan- 
tation ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes.  There  are  a  few  plantations  where  they  do  not. 
Their  cane  is  ground  in  the  adjoining  mill.  They  have  grinding 
contracts. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  269 

Mr.  Raker.  So  tliat  they  keep  their  growing  and  mill  laborers  all 
on  the  same  plantation  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes.  Now,  there  is  no  seasonal  employment,  such  as 
exists  on  the  mainland,  Porto  Rico,  or  in  Cuba.  The  laborers  in 
Hawaii  are  afforded  employment  for  every  day  in  the  year  if  they 
want  to  work.  That  does  not  seem  a  very  large  proposition,  but  it 
is  a  very  important  matter — the  proposition  of  continuous  employ- 
ment throughout  the  year.  When  the  mill  closes,  the  men  go  out  in 
the  field;  so  that  there  is  never  unemployment  such  as  you  have  in 
the  vStates  here  after  the  harvest  season  and  such  as  exists  in  Cuba 
after  the  harvest  season,  or  in  Porto  Rico. 

Those  wages  I  consider  compare  very  favorably  with  the  wages  in 
the  east  of  the  United  States  and  in  the  South.  They  do  not  com- 
pare with  the  wages  in  California  or  the  West,  where  they  have  the 
highest  wage  for  farm  labor  paid  anywhere  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that  there  will  be  no  misunderstanding,  say  a  plan- 
tation has  5,000  acres,  the  growing  of  the  cane  and  the  milling  of  it 
and  putting  the  sugar  in  the  raw  state  is  all  done  on  that  plantation  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  that  is  ready,  when  it  is  hauled  to  the  wharf, 
to  be  shipped  to  the  refinery  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Box.  And  there  is  no  separation,  so  far  as  your  general 
employment  classes  are  concerned,  between  those  who  work  in  the 
fields  and  those  who  work  in  the  mills  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  no.  The  mill  is  run  for  24  hours  a  dav  during  the 
harvesting  season ;  and  when  the  mill  closes  then  they  go  out  in  the 
fields. 

Mr.  Box.  And  those  brought  in  for  these  agricultural  pursuits 
named  here  would  work  in  those  mills,  too  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  assume  so.  The  mills  down  there  are  not  considered 
as  manufacturing  industries;  they  are  considered  as  part  of  the 
agricultural  industry,  as  a  part  of  the  plantation. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  none  of  the  sugar  is  refined  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  is  only  one  sugar  refinery  in  Hawaii,  on  the 
Honolulu  plantation,  where  they  produce  about  20,000  tons  of  refined 
sugar. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  rest  of  it  is  put  on  the  boat  in  the  raw  state' 
and  shipped  to  the  various  refineries  in  California,  Philadelphia,  and 
New  York  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Up  to  the  present  year,  and  for  several  years  past,  they 
sent  nearly  all  their  sugar  to  the  California-Hawaiian  Sugar  Refining 
Co.  to  be  refined  in  California.  This  year,  I  believe  they  are  sending 
150,000  tons  to  eastern  refineries. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  obliged  to  leave,  and  I  desire  to 
ask  this  gentleman  a  few  questions.  You  say  you  have  been  in  the 
Philippines  and  Porto  Rico  for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  secure  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Sabath.  That  was  last  year  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Philippine  immigration  started  in  1909.  I  was 
there  in  1910,  1912,  and  1914,  looking  over  the  field.  We  have  a 
force  of  men  out  there  working  for  us.  The  Filipinos  and  Porto 
Ricans,  of  course,  can  always  come  to  the  United  States;  they  have 
the  same  rights  and  privileges  of  travel  as  I  have. 


270  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Sabath.  But  there  are  some  aliens  in  Porto  Rico  that  are 
employed  there  from  time  to  time,  who  migrate  from  Porto  Rico^ 
foreign  labor,  is  there  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  there  has  been  no  immigration  to  Porto  Eico. 

Mr.  Sabath.  None  at  all? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  has  never  been  any  immigration  to  Porto  Rico 
that  I  know  of.  Porto  Rico  is  a  small  island  of  less  than  4,000 
square  miles. 

Mr.  Sabath.  They  have  some  Chinese  there,  have  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  they  have  1,300,000  Porto  Ricans  on  that  island, 
and  have  the  m.ost  crowded  conditions  I  have  ever  seen  anywhere, 
even  in  China.  I  hav^e  never  been  any  place  where  the  conditions  of 
the  laboring  man  and  the  lack  of  opportunities  for  advancement  so 
depressed  me  as  in  Porto  Rico. 

Mr.  Sabath.  One  more  question  and  then  I  am  through.  What 
effect  will  this  immigration  have  upon  the  conditions  on  your  islands  ? 
For  instance,  if  this  measure  is  favorably  acted  upon  and  you  will 
secure  15,000  or  20,000  of  these  men,  what  effect  will  it  have  upon  the 
laborers  now  upon  your  island  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  will  have  no  effect  upon  them  that  I  know  of. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Won't  that  throw  a  great  many  people  out  of  em- 
ployment ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  no.  Of  course,  I  have  not  been  in  Hawaii  since 
November,  but  I  have  talked  with  this  commission  in  regard  to 
the  present  shortage  and  I  would  say  that  15,000  people  could  be 
very  easily  absorbed — 15,000  laborers  can  be  absorbed  in  Hawaii  at 
the  present  time. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Is  it  the  aim  in  securing  these  laborers  to  supplement 
those  now  on  strike  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Or  is  it  to  relieve  a  general  shortage  in  addition  to 
those  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  there  is  a  little  misunderstanding, in  regard  to 
the  question  of  that  strike.  There  were  about  6,000  Japanese  on  the 
plantations  on  the  Island  of  Oahu  who  went  on  strike.  When  the 
strike  was  over  I  would  say  that  from  75  to  80  per  cent  of  those  men 
returned  to  their  former  employments.  When  the  final  bonus  period 
came  in  November  and  the  laborers  received  their  final  bonus, 
already  having  received  a  considerable  nionthty  bonus,  a  great  many 
of  them  returned  to  Japan  and  a  great  many  of  the  Filipinos  to  the 
Philippines.  I  do  not  think  that  the  shortage  of  labor  out  there  is 
in  any  way  due  to  the  strike  of  1920. 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  the  bonus  is  so  great  they  are 
taking  a  vacation  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  had  more  money  than  they  knew  what  to  do 
with,  and  they  went  back  home,  mostly. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  speak  of  the  condition  of  Porto  Rico:  Those 
Porto  Ricans  can  go  now  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  even  under  the 
present  law  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  can  go  anyhow  ? 

The  Chairman.  You  can  take  50  shiploads  of  them  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  if  they  wished  to  go. 


LABOR  PEOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  271 

Mr.  IIaker.  Now  the  condition  being  as  you  describe  in  Porto 
Rico,  of  there  being  so  many  people  there  that  it  is  more  thickly 
and  densely  populated  than  China,  with  these  wages  you  pay  and 
with  the  conditions  you  offer  people  in  Hawaii,  why  don't  you  get 
them  there  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  was  there  for  two  months  for  that  purpose  exactly. 
I  made  an  agreement  with  the  Government  there  reciting  the  wages 
and  conditions  of  employment  regarding  which  I  have  already  testi- 
fied to  before  this  committee,  and  went  out  in  the  field  with  my  men 
to  recruit. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Where,  in  Porto  Kico  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  Porto  Rico.  I  got  all  sorts  of  encouragement  from 
the  men  themselves  and  I  felt  so  happy  over  the  situation  that  I 
entered  into  negotiations  for  a  charter  of  the  steamer  Princess 
Matioka,  and  it  was  going  to  cost  the  Hawaiian  sugar  planters 
$225,000  to  get  that  steamer  to  take  that  shipment  of  Porto  Ricans. 
While  I  was  out  in  the  field  getting  the  shipment  ready  the  two  most 
influential  newspapers  in  Porto  Rico  began  an  attack  on  the  immi- 
gration, and  the  reason  for  the  attack — I  will  have  to  go  back  a  little 
bit.  They  had  an  emigration  of  about  50,000  Porto  Ricans  to  the 
States  during  the  war,  and  they  had  an  emigration  of  Porto  Ricans 
to  Cuba,  and  in  each  instance  the  emigration  was  apparently  so 
poorly  conducted  and  they  took  people  apparently  not  suitable  for 
the  kind  of  work  in  which  they  wanted  to  employ  them  here  in  the 
United  States,  that  a  great  many  complaints  came  back  and  there 
are  now  several  hundred  Porto  Ricans  in  New  York  who  are  pestering 
the  Porto  Rican  Government  to  bring  them  home.  And  the  news- 
papers took  the  stand  they  were  opposed  to  emigration  anywhere; 
that  the  emigration  to  Hawaii,  as  we  did  not  propose  to  repatriate 
them,  was  a  bad  thing  for  the  Porto  Ricans,  and  advised  them  not 
to  go  to  Hawaii. 

I  went  to  a  town  called  Penuelas,  where  our  recruiters  got  together 
something  like  50  families  for  examination  by  a  doctor  we  had  in  our 
employ,  and  a  planter  there  read  them  a  lot  of  these  newspaper  clip- 
pings and  dispersed  every  man  in  that  bunch.  I  went  to  a  tov/n 
called  Guayanilla  and  found  the  mayor  of  the  town  had  done  exactly 
the  same  thing.  And  I  found  the  same  thing  in  Lajas,  where  there 
is  a  tremendous  population,  where  the  people  work  a  few  days  in  the 
sugar  fields  there  and  the  rest  of  the  time  starve,  and  found  this  same 
propaganda  had  gotten  in  there  and  it  defeated  our  purpose  there.  I 
went  then  to  one  or  two  other  places,  to  a  place  called  Adjuntas,  up 
in  the  mountains,  where  we  were  getting  a  very  nice  class  of  people 
that  these  newspapers  did  not  reach,  and  those  people  stayed  with  us. 
How  long  they  would  have  stayed,  I  do  not  know;  but  after  going 
over  the  field  and  finding  out  the  feeling  and  what  the  leading  news- 
papers said,  I  canceled  the  Matoika  and  left  a  man  in  charge  and 
came  back  here.  Just  before  leaving  there  we  started  a  counter 
propaganda,  and  I  believe  we  are  going  to  make  some  headway. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Where  were  these  40,000  Porto  Ricans  taken  during 
the  war  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  To  the  South  somewhere;  I  do  not  know  just  where. 

Mr.  Sabath.  And  they  went  to  work  with  the  understanding  they 
would  go  back  ? 


272  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  the  conditions  of  employment;  I  do 
not  think  there  were  any  conditions  of  repatriation. 

The  Chairman.  They  were  sohcited  by  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Labor;  and  if  the  war  kept  on  longer  there  would  have  been 
a  great  many  more. 

Mr.  Mead.  We  had  the  same  trouble  in  1900.  We  took  some 
Porto  Ricans  to  Hawaii  then.  The  recruiting  was  done  by  an  agent 
of  the  association  in  Porto  Rico.  He  was  not  directly  connected 
with  us  and  he  recruited  anybody  and  everybody.  The  result  was 
we  got  a  lot  of  people  from  the  towns;  we  got  a  lot  of  criminals  and 
generally  bad  people,  and  they  made  a  great  deal  of  trouble  for  us. 
They  complained  and  kicked  and  refused  to  work  and  did  everything 
they  could  to  make  trouble  and  to  make  trouble  for  the  Porto  Rican 
Government  also. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  quite  understand  what  you  mean,  that  there 
was  objection  on  the  ground  of  repatriation.  Could  not  those  people 
go  from  Porto  Rico  to  Hawaii  and  still  be  American  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  yes.  By  repatriation,  I  mean  we  refused  to  pay 
their  passage  back  to  Porto  Rico;  refused  to  repatriate  them  at  our 
expense. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  they  have  come  if  you  had  done  that  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  would  have  come  if  we 
had  done  that,  or  not;  but  it  was  something  we  could  not  stand  for. 
In  the  first  place,  there  are  no  regular  lines  of  steamers  between 
Porto  Rico  and  Hawaii,  and  we  have  to  charter  special  steamers  to 
get  them  there;  and  we  can  not  agree  to  send  them  back,  after  a  few 
years,  because  of  the  enormous  expenditure. 

The  Chairman.  People  emigrated  from  Spain  to  the  United  States 
in  very  considerable  numbers  and  within  the  last  eight  months  they 
have  found  themselves  out  of  work  and  that  Government  is  appro- 
priating money  for  their  return  to  Spain.  I  suppose  that  is  repatri- 
ation ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  have  been  following  the  labor  situation  in  Hawaii 
for  so  many  years,  I  am  more  or  less  proud  of  the  advance  the  Hawai- 
ian planters  have  made  and,  before  I  forget  it,  I  would  like  to  read 
what  a  very  impartial  observer  says.  This  is  an  address  by  Dr. 
Franklin  L.  Hoffman,  who  is  the  statistician  of  the  Prudential  Life 
Insurance  Co.  He  has  a  wide  reputation  along  statistical  lines.  In 
this  address  he  made  this  statement : 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  examine  personally  perhaps  half  of  the  labor  camps  on 
the  principal  islands,  and,  broadly  speaking,  their  conditions  conform  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  a  reasonable  ideal  as  could  be  expected  in  the  case  of  a  population  largely 
of  oriental,  or  otherwise  Asiatic,  origin.  It  is  something  very  considerably  to  the 
credit  of  the  Hawaiian  sugar  planters  that  in  this  respect  they  should  have  set  an 
example  of  humanitarian  consideration  and  conformitj^  to  the  exacting  principles  of 
sanitary  science  far  in  advance  of  most  of  the  plantation  housing  conditions  in  the 
Southern  States  of  the  mainland,  or  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico.  It  is  even  more  to  their 
credit  that  they  should  have  provided  better  hospital  facilities  and  free  medical  aid 
to  a  relatively  low  class  of  oriental  or  Filipino  labor  on  the  Hawaiian  sugar  plantations 
than  is  available  at  the  present  time  to  most  of  the  agricultural  population,  rich  and 
poor,  white  and  black,  on  the  mainland  of  the  United  States.  Such  hospitals  as  are 
to  be  found  on  the  island  of  Kauai  at  Lihue  and  on  the  island  of  Maui  at  Puunene 
challenge  comparison  with  any  similar  institution  as  regards  the  equipment,  nursing 
care,  medical  supervision,  and  even  the  keeping  of  card  records,  on  the  mainland. 
It  is  primarily  due  to  the  persistent  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  planters  to  improve 
sanitary  and  housing  conditions,  hospital  facilities,  and  provide  food  at  reasonable 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  273 

prices  for  plantation  laborers,  combined  with  adequate  wages,  free  fuel,  pure  water, 
etc.,  and  the  hearty  cooperiation  of  an  efficient  and  thoroughly  well  organized  Terri- 
torial board  of  health  that  such  far-reaching  sanitary  results  have  been  achieved  in 
recent  years. 

There  is  the  testimony  of  a  man  who  had  no  connection  at  all  with 
the  Hawaiian  sugar  industry.  He  went  out  there  and  made  an 
examination  of  general  conditions  for  the  Prudential  Life  Insurance 
Co.  ^ 

The  Chairman.  In  that  connection,  I  have  just  found  an  oppor- 
tunity to  look  into  the  report  on  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii,  and  a 
letter  from  the  Secretary  of  Labor  transmitting  the  Fifth  Annual 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics  on  labor  conditions 
in  Hawaii  for  1915.  In  the  letter  of  transmittal  it  is  stated  that  this 
is  a  report  transmitted  by  Dr.  Victor  S.  Clark,  under  authority  of 
law,  and  the  Department  of  Labor  says  that  this  is  a  work  for  which 
Dr.  Clark  is  especially  qualified.  I  find  a  number  of  very  interesting 
statements  here,  I  take  it,  covering  a  lot  of  the  matters  which  we  are 
now  trying  to  examine  into.  This  covers  the  conditions  in  1915.  It 
is  an  extremely  readable  report.  Is  that  a  report  which  is  made 
annually  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  was  made  annually  up  to  1904,  when  they  changed  it 
to  a  five-year  report.  It  is  now  published  every  five  years  instead  of 
annually.  I  think  Dr.  Clark  has,  with  the  exception  of  the  first 
report,  either  made  or  assisted  in  making  each  of  the  reports  since 
that  time.  At  one  time  Dr.  Clark  was  in  charge  of  the  Hawaiian 
territorial  board  of  immigration,  so  he  is  particularly  well  qualified 
to  report  on  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  He  is  in  the  employ  of  the  Federal  Government, 
is  he? 

Mr.  Mead.  He  was  at  that  time.  I  understand  he  is  now  the 
editor  of  The  Living  Age. 

The  Chairman.  You  will  have  the  authority  to  put  in  any  extracts 
you  wish  as  a  part  of  your  statement,  and  it  might  be  a  good  idea  to 
put  in  the  record  some  extracts  from  this  report. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  will  be  glad  to  do  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  May  I  ask  Mr.  White  a  question  which  will  save  a  good 
deal  of  time  ?  Mr.  White,  in  Kansas,  during  the  last  three  years 
about  what  was  the  average  wage  for  agricultural  laborers,  without 
board  ? 

Mr.  White.  Does  the  gentleman  mean — I  want  to  be  very  careful, 
if  this  is  in  order — does  the  gentleman  mean  the  wage  for  consecutive 
laborers  employed  by  the  year,  with  houses  and  fuel  furnished? 

Mr.  Raker.  No.  What  I  mean  is  this:  Suppose  a  man  worked  a 
month  or  two  months  or  three  months;  he  worked  by  the  day,  and  he 
was  paid  by  the  day  ? 

Mr.  White.  You  mean  for  seasonal  work  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Seasonal  work  ? 

Mr.  White.  Harvesting  and  thrashing  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  White.  Well,  I  should  say  the  wages  ran  from  $5  to  $10  a  day 
and  found. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  found  ? 

Mr.  White.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  What  does  ^' and  found"  mean? 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  1 5 


274  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  White.  That  means  board  and  lodging. 

Mr.  Box.  I  know  what  it  means,  but  I  would  like  to  have  you  state 
that  for  the  record. 

Mr.  White.  That  is  in  harvesting  and  threshing. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  will  save  a  good  deal  of  time,  and  I  just  want  to 
make  the  comparison  and  ask  a  few  more  questions. 

The  Chairman.  The  witness  has  not  dealt  with  seasonal  labor  at 
all. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  going  to  ask  that  question  in  a  moment.  What 
was  paid  for  seasonal  labor,  where  there  was  no  '^ found"  ? 

Mr.  White.  I  do  not  know  of  any  such  labor.  You  refer  to  agri- 
cultural work  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  White.  A  man  who  works  on  a  farm  in  Kansas  gets  three  meals 
a  day  and  a  bed.  If  he  does  not  get  that  it  is  because  he  does  not 
work. 

Mr.  Raker.  During  the  last  three  years  how  much,  per  month,  has 
he  gotten  for  that  work  ? 

Mr.  White.  That  labor  is  by  the  day,  that  seasonal  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  there  are  others  who  do  work  by  the  year  ? 

Mr.  White.  I  am  only  able  to  speak  for  my  own  locality. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  us  get  that,  it  will  probably  make  a  comparison 
possible. 

Mr.  White.  Well,  I  will  give  the  gentleman  from  California  this 
illustration,  if  he  will  allow  me  to  complete  my  statement.  I  have 
a  man  working  on  one  of  my  farms  and  I  pay  him  $68  for  the  year, 
for  four  weeks,  which  is  about  $74  per  month,  furnishing  him  his  fuel. 
He  cuts  it;  it  is  pretty  tough.  I  furnish  him  his  house  with  six  rooms 
and  a  basement,  and  furnish  him  all  the  land  he  wants  for  the  use 
of  his  family,  on  which  to  raise  garden  truck,  vegetables,  etc.  I 
furnish  him  all  of  the  fuel  he  cares  to  get  cut. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now 

Mr.  White  (interposing).  Hold  on.  He  has  the  use  of  three  cows; 
I  feed  them.  He  owns  one  and  I  feed  it.  I  furnish  him  with  the 
other  two. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  he  not  a  farmer  rather  than  a  workingman  ? 

Mr.  White.  He  is  a  manager,  a  superintendent,  and  he  works 
himself. 

The  Chairman.  He  works  for  a  wage  ? 

Mr.  White.  Yes,  sir;  by  the  year. 

The  Chairman.  He  gets  no  bonus  from  you  ? 

Mr.  White.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  gets  the  vegetables  he  uses  for  his  family,  and  all 
those  things? 

Mr.  White.  Yes;  I  should  say  it  is  equivalent  to  probably  about 
$2,000  a  year. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  equivalent  to  about  $2,000  a  year? 

Mr.  White.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  He  is  the  manager  of  your  farm? 

Mr.  White.  Yes;  he  superintends  my  farm  and  he  furnishes  me 
with  a  weekly  report. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Mead,  from  your  statement,  I  take  it,  that  even 
with  the  bonus  paid  these  men,  the  total  amount  paid  them  is  not 
more  than  is  paid  the  ordinary  common  laborer  in  agriculture  ? 


LABOR    PROBLEMS    IX    HAWAIL  275 

Mr.  Mead.  In  the  West,  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  there  any  other  place  in  the  United  States,  includ- 
ing its  Territories,  where  a  man  is  employed  on  terms  similar  to  the 
terms  of  that  employment  in  Hawaii,  by  a  contract  running  for  18 
months  1 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  anything  at  all  about  the  contract 
system  here  in  connection  with  the  raising  of  agricultural  products; 
that  is,  in  the  States.  But  if  you  will  permit  me,  I  would  like  to 
read  an  extract  from  one  of  the  Washington  papers,  quoting  some- 
thing from  Chestertown,  Md.  This  is  a  dispatch  from  Chestertown, 
Md.,  under  date  of  January  27.     It  says: 

Chestertown,  Md.,   January  27. 

A  new  wage  scale  for  farm  labor  was  adopted  at  a  mass  meeting  of  farmers  here 
The  scale  calls  for  a  day's  work  to  be  from  sunup  to  sundown,  with  the  following 
compensation; 

The  maximum  wage  for  a  month  laborer  to  be  ■5"2o  a  month  -with  h)oard  and  keep 
for  laborer's  horse,  or  §30  a  month  with  board  and  no  keep  for  the  horse. 

The  maximum  wage  for  a  day  laborer  for  regular  farm  work  to  be  SI  a  dav  and  board. 

The  maximum  wage  for  a  woman's  work  in  a  farmhouse  kitchen,  including  washing, 
to  be  S15  a  month,  or  SIO  a  month  without  washing. 

We  pay  our  women  laborers  on  the  plantations  in  Hawaii  $22.50  a 
month. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  was  trying  to  get  at  was  this:  You  prefer 
contract  labor  ? 

!Mr.  Mead.  We  prefer — well,  I  do  not  say  we  prefer  contract  labor. 
We  prefer  the  contract  system  of  doing  our  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  I  meant  when  I  said  contract  labor. 
That  practically  holds  a  man  down  for  a  year  or  18  months? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  he  is  bound  on  his  job  for  that  length  of  time  ? 

^Ir.  Mead.  No;  I  would  not  say  exactly  that,  because  he  can  leave 
at  any  time  he  wants  to.  But  the  avidity  with  which  they  take  a 
contract  of  that  kind  would  surprise  you. 

^Ir.  Raker.  If  a  man  leaves  you  he  loses  the  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  he  does  not. 

The  Chair]vlax.  I  have  been  over  there,  and  I  know  they  seek  such 
a  contract. 

^Ir.  Raker.  I  would  not  doubt  that. 

The  Chajrman.  The  conditions  are  not  bad.  I  have  been  down 
60  miles  from  here  in  Maryland,  in  St.  Marys  County,  and  I  have 
found  that  the  condition  of  much  of  the  colored  population  down  there 
is  wc^ioe  than  anything  in  Hawaii,  in  any  area  or  on  any  plantation 
on  any  island  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  all  amounts  to  this,  does  it  not,  that  so  far  as  the 
laborer  ever  getting  any  hold  in  this  business  or  any  part  of  the  land 
by  his  working  and  saving  is  concerned,  he  can  not  do  it  ? 

The  Chairman.  He  has  no  more  chance  than  he  would  have  on 
certain  plantations  in  California. 

jMr.  Raker.  Oh,  now,  ^Ir.  Chairman,  you  ought  not  to  compare 
these  conditions  with  conditions  in  California. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  not  say  there  is  never  a  chance  of  his  getting 
anvthing.  There  have  been  a  great  manv  homesteads  of  cane  land 
taken  up  by  Portuguese  and  other  citizens. 


276  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  mean  so  far  as  the  plantations  are  concerned, 

Mr.  Mead.  So  far  as  the  plantations  themselves  are  concerned, 
there  is  no  chance. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  are  43  plantations,  according  to  the  census 
report,  and  according  to  that  report  all  of  the  sugar-cane  industry 
is  under  the  control  of  43  corporations.     Is  that  correct  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  not  altogether  true;  no,  sir.  There  are  some 
of  the  plantations  that  are  held  individually — by  individual  owners — 
like  the  Grove  Farm. 

The  Chairman.  But  to  begin  with,  we  ought  to  realize  that  the 
complete  area  of  all  the  Hawaiian  Islands  is  not  large. 

Mr.  Box.  I  would  like  to  get  the  names  referred  to  in  the  census 
report. 

The  Chairman.  These  lands  that  can  be  cultivated  are  the  lands 
known  as  the  highly  cultivated  lands,  which  means  cane  land,  and 
■  that  is  comparatively  small  in  area.  Sugar,  as  a  crop  to  be  produced, 
has  to  be  produced  on  a  large  scale,  or  on  a  large  plantation.  We 
have  had  this  same  matter  up  in  the  Committee  on  Territories,  of 
which  I  am  also  a  member,  and  the  one  great  trouble  we  have  had 
there  is  the  fact  that  leases  to  these  sugar  plantations,  on  some  of  the 
large  areas,  are  about  to  expire,  after  having  been  in  existence  for  30 
years,  and  the  homestead  laws  are  such  that  they  have  to  be  home- 
steaded,  and  when  they  are  homesteaded,  it  is  done  by  lottery,  and 
our  Japanese  friends  come  in  and  win  their  full  proportion  in  the 
lottery  and  will  soon  have  what  has  been  a  large  plantation  in  home- 
stead tracts,  and  then  if  they  are  going  to  continue  sugar  planting 
they  have  to  combine  the  tracts  and  have  some  kind  of  a  big  organi- 
zation to  cover  enough  land  to  make  it  profitable  to  run  a  sugar  out- 
fit, including  railroads,  storehouses,  stores,  and  houses  for  the  laborers, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  Sugar  raising  is  done  on  a  big  scale  or  not 
at  all. 

Mr.  Mead.  It  has  to  be  a  centralized  industry  to  be  successful. 
There  are  several  plantations,  Mr.  Raker,  which  are  owned  and 
controlled  by  individuals,  such  as  the  Grove  Farm,  Gay  and  Robinson, 
on  the  island  of  Kauai,  and  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii  there  are  the 
Hhawi,  the  Puakea  and  the  Niuli  plantations. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  means  simply  a  laboring  proposition  for  the 
laboring  man.  There  is  no  future  hope  of  his  getting  an  interest  in 
the  land  and  getting  into  the  business  himself,  is  there  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  say  there  is  very  little.  I  will  make  that 
statement  very  frankly.  I  think  there  is  very  little  chance  of  a 
plantation  laborer  getting  an  area  of  land  in  a  plantation. 

Mr.  White.  Can  he  acquire  any  interest  in  the  stock  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  He  can  acquire  it  in  the  market.  There  is  no  more 
chance  of  my  getting  an  interest  in  a  plantation  than  there  is  of  the 
laborer  getting  an  interest  in  it;  I  can  buy  the  stock  in  the  market, 
and  he  can  do  it  too. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  where  the  land  is  owned  and  not  leased  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Ultimately,  following  the  present  trend  of  things, 
the  person  who  can  not  become  a  citizen  is  just  as  likely  to  have  con- 
trol of  the  land  there  as  such  a  person  is  likely  to  have  control  of  the 
land  in  California. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IX    HAWAII.  277 

Mr.  Mead.  If  he  could  get  control  of  the  labor  situation  down  there 
and  thereby  control  the  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  only  last  summer  this  com- 
mittee was  called  upon  to  investigate  a  situation  at  Turlock,  Calif., 
which  was  creating  a  disturbance.  They  had  to  deal  ^Wth  the  canta- 
loupe industry.  The  cantaloupe  raisers,  who  raise  them  on  large 
areas,  had  employed  Japanese  as  against  the  migratory  union  fruit 
pickers  of  the  regular  American  Federation  of  Labor  organization. 
These  producers  were  paying  5  per  cent  less  to  the  Japanese,  who 
were  being  supplied  by  some  invisible  system,  and  they  always  came 
out  in  the  night  time,  and  the  organized  American  citizens  were  out 
of  work.  There  were  400  or  500  of  them  idle  in  the  little  town  of 
Turlock.     That  is  the  trouble  with  oriental  labor. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  like  to  say  just  a  word  in  regard  to  some  of  the 
information  which  ^Ir.  Farrington  was  called  upon  to  give.  The 
strike  of  1920  started  in  January  of  that  year,  and  it  was  not  brought 
about  by  demands  made  by  Japanese  laborers  on  those  plantations. 
The  demands  were  made  by  an  organization  of  Japanese  called  the 
Japanese  Federation  of  Labor.  The  original  directorate  of  that 
Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  did  not  have  a  single  laborer  on  it. 
The  men  in  charge,  the  Japanese  in  charge,  were  newspaper  men,  a 
storekeeper  or  two.  and  principally  agitators,  men  who  were  un- 
desirable from  every  standpoint  and  who  were  even  considered  so  by 
the  more  responsible  Japanese.  There  was  not  an  American  citizen 
among  those  organizers.  They  made  the  demands,  the  Japanese 
Federation  of  Labor  made  the  demands  upon  the  Hawaiian  Sugar 
Planters'  Association,  and  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association 
refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  them.  They  thereupon  called 
the  laborers  out  from  the  plantations,  and  the  laborers  did  not  make 
any  demands  at  all  upon  the  plantations  until  a  considerable  time 
afterwards.  When  the  strike  was  over,  as  I  have  previously  said^ 
most  of  those  men  went  back  to  their  work. 

(Thereupon  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  to-morrow.  Thursdav, 
June  23.  1921,  at  10  o'clock,  a.  m.) 


Committee  ox  Immigratiox  axd  Xatuealizatiox, 

House  of  Repeesextatives, 

Tfiursday,  June  23,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o'clock,  a.  m..  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairmax.  I  would  like  to  state  for  the  record  that  Hon.  John 
I.  Nolan,  a  Member  of  Congress  from  California,  by  letter  dated  May 
23.  1921.  has  submitted  to  this  committee  a  copy  of  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Iron  Moulders'  L^nion  of  North  America,  Local  No. 
350.  Honolulu,  Territor}'  of  Hawau,  and  also  a  copy  of  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu,  Territory  of 
Hawaii.  Tsdth  regard  to  the  proposal  to  bring  labor  into  the  Territory 
and  notice  of  opposition  to  that  proposal.  Representative  Nolan 
also  said  he  would  like  to  be  heard  by  the  committee,  and  he  will  be 
called  to  appear  before  the  committee  before  these  hearings  close. 
A  representative  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  resident  here 


278  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

in  Washington  has  also  asked  to  be  heard,  and  will  be  called  before 
the  committee. 

I  will  insert  the  resolutions  by  Mr.  Nolan  in  the  record  at  this  point. 

(The  resolutions  referred  to  are  as  follows:) 

Iron  Moulders'  Union  of  North  America, 

Local  No.  350, 
Honolulu,  T.  H.,  May  5,  1921. 

Keferring  to  the  concurrent  resolution  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii  authorizing  the  appointment  of  a  so-called  labor  commission  to  go  to 
Washington  to  urge  the  necessity  of  importing  Chinese  coolie  labor  into  the  Territory, 
we  beg  to  present  the  protest  of  the  Iron  Moulders'  Union  of  North  America  in  opposi- 
tion to  any  such  scheme. 

Our  opposition  is  based  upon  the  following  considerations: 

We  maintain  that  there  is  not  at  present  any  serious  shortage  in  the  available  supply 
'^  of  labor  in  this  Territory,  and  that  the  representations  of  the  sugar  planters  to  that 
effect  are  false  and  misleading,  being  based  upon  data  that  does  not  cover  the  grounds, 
and  that  the  efforts  put  forth  in  behalf  of  this  scheme  are  for  the  sinister  purpose  of 
creating  an  oversupply  of  labor  with  the  end  in  view  of  introducing  a  cheaper  substi- 
tute for  the  present  labor  element,  and  thus  inevitably  lowering  the  present  standards 
of  living,  not  only  among  the  Japanese  and  Filipinos  but  among  those  of  the  white 
race  and  of  American  nationality. 

J  The  whole  wage  system  of  any  community  is  based  upon  the  lowest  wages  paid 
"^to  unskilled  labor,  and  a  material  reduction  of  the  standards  of  those  at  the  lowest 
subsistence  level  must  affect  the  entire  structure  of  our  social  and  economic  life. 

We  can  not  endure  to  have  a  virtual  system  of  peonage,  with  all  of  its  attendant 
evils,  introduced  into  an  already  complicated  situation. 

The  present  shortage  of  the  sugar  crop  is  not  due  to  the  lack  of  labor,  but  it  is  a 
direct  result  of  the  strike  of  last  year,  which  affected  the  growing  crop  and  reduced 
the  production  for  the  present  year. 

We  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  under  the  organic  act  it  is  required  that  an 
industrial  survey  of  the  Territory  be  held  every  five  years,  and  we  are  advised  that 
1921  is  the  year  in  which  this  survey  falls  due.  Any  action  that  our  legislature  con- 
templates in  this  matter  should  be  deferred  until  after  the  report  of  a  competent  and 
impartial  commission  such  as  would  be  appointed  under  the  Federal  Department  of 
Labor.  If  such  report  shows  an  actual  shortage  of  labor,  which  is  now  claimed,  then 
and  not  now  will  be  the  time  of  devising  some  adequate  and  satisfactory  remedy. 
Then,  again,  we  wish  to  brand  this  idea  of  importing  Chinese  coolies  or  any  other 
cheap  labor  from  a  foreign  country  as  un-American.  This  Territory  is  already  flooded 
with  orientals;  the  last  census  will  vouch  for  this.  Our  aim  is  to  Americanize  this 
Territory  and  make  it  a  place  where  the  middleman  may  earn  and  keep  earning  a 
living  wage.  To-day  we  are  competing  with  the  Jap,  which  is  bad  enough,  and  if  the 
planters  are  allowed  to  flood  this  Territory  with  cheap  foreign  labor  we  Americans  will 
be  compelled  to  leave  here. 

We  beg  to  remain,  very  respectfully, 

Manuel  Souga,  President. 
Paul  Gregory, 
J.  H.  Mulhall, 

M.  GrONDON, 

Ed  Blundon, 

Committee. 


Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu,  Hawaii, 

May  2,  1921. 
Hon.  J.  I.  Nolan, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Referring  to  the  concurrent  resolution  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii,  authorizing  the  appointment  of  a  so-called  labor  commission  to  go  to  Wash- 
ington to  urge  the  necessity  of  importing  Chinese  coolie  labor  into  the  Territory,  we 
beg  to  present  the  protest  of  organized  labor  in  opposition  to  any  such  scheme. 
Our  opposition  is  based  upon  the  following  considerations: 

We  maintain  that  there  is  not  at  present  any  serious  shortage  in  the  available  supply 
of  labor  in  the  Territory  and  that  the  representations  of  the  sugar  planters  to  that 
effect  are  false  and  misleading,  being  based  upon  data  that  does  not  coyer  the  ground, 
and  that  the  efforts  put  forth  in  behalf  of  this  scheme  are  for  the  sinister  purpose  of 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  279 

creating  an  oversupply  of  labor  with  the  end  in  view  of  introducing  a  cheaper  sub- 
atitute  for  the  present  labor  element  and  thus  inevitably  lowering  the  present  stand- 
ards of  living,  not  only  among  the  Japanese  and  Filipinos,  but  among  those  of  the 
white  race  and  of  American  nationality. 

The  whole  wage  system  of  any  community  is  based  upon  the  lowest  wages  paid 
to  unskilled  labor,  and  a  material  reduction  of  the  standards  of  those  at  the  lowest 
subsistence  level  must  affect  the  entire  structure  of  our  social  and  economic  life. 
We  can  not  endure  to  have  a  virtual  system  of  peonage  with  all  its  attendant  evils 
introduced  into  an  already  complicated  situation. 

The  present  shortage  in  the  sugar  crop  is  not  due  to  the  lack  of  labor,  but  it  is  a 
direct  result  of  the  strike  of  last  year  which  affected  the  growing  crop  and  reduced 
the  production  for  the  present  year. 

We  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  under  the  organic  act  it  is  required  that  an 
industrial  survey  of  the  Territory  be  held  every  five  years,  and  we  are  advised  that 
1921  is  the  year  in  which  this  survey  falls  due.  Any  further  action  as  the  legislature 
contemplates  in  this  matter  should  be  deferred  until  after  the  report  of  a  competent 
and  impartial  commission,  such  as  would  be  appointed  under  the  Federal  Depart- 
ment of  Labor.  If  such  report  shows  the  actual  shortage  of  labor  which  is  now 
claimed,  then  it  will  be  time  to  think  of  de^dsing  some  adequate  and  satisfactory 
remedy. 

To  send  this  commission  of  labor  (so-called)  to  Washington  at  this  time  as  the  last 
act  of  the  present  session  of  the  legislature  would  smell  too  strongly  of  "undue  influ- 
ence' '  and  would  bring  into  the  present  rather  strained  situation  another  element 
of  suspicion  and  distrust.  We  state  frankly  that  organized  labor  will  resist  to  the 
last  any  such  effort  aimed  at  creating  artificial  unemployment  in  the  Territory  by 
flooding  the  plantiations  with  a  horde  of  coolies. 
We  beg  to  remain,  very  respectfully, 

Geo.  W.  Wright,  President, 
Jos.  I.  Whittle, 
J.  H.  Pascoe, 
L.  S.  Lloyd, 

Comrmttee. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  ROYAL  D.  MEAD,  HONOLTJLU,  HAWAII, 
REPRESENTING  THE  HAWAIIAN  SUGAR  PLANTERS'  ASSO- 
CIATION—Resumed. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  is  one  further  statement  I  would  like  to  make  in 
connection  with  this  matter  before  closing  my  part  of  it,  and  that  is 
this:  The  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  whom  I  represent, 
have  never  instructed  me  in  any  way  in  connection  with  the  work  of 
this  emergency  labor  commission.  They  have  informed  me  that  the 
commission  was  organized  under  a  resolution  of  the  Legislature  of 
Hawaii,  and  that  the  commission,  which  has  come  on  here,  represents 
the  Territory  and  all  of  the  employing  interests  and  no  special  in- 
terests, by  which  I  take  it  that  whatever  I  have  to  say  is  only  my 
own  individual  statement,  that  whatever  statements  I  may  make  are 
my  own  personal  statements,  and  that  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters' 
Association  is  taking  no  part  in  this  at  all. 

I  want  to  add  also  that  early  in  this  year,  in  March,  I  received 
cable  instructions  from  them  to  proceed  to  Porto  Rico  to  recruit 
3,300  families  of  agricultural  laborers  for  Hawaii,  the  labor  conditions 
at  that  time  being  very  acute.  The  Porto  Rican  immigration  is  going 
to  be  a  most  expensive  proposition.  The  Shipping  Board  has 
fixed  a  rate  of  $125  as  fare  for  an  adult  from  Porto  Rico  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  and  I  estimate  that  the  families  will  run  approx- 
imately 3  adults  to  the  family,  making  9,900  adults  to  be  sent 
from  Porto  Rico  to  Hawaii.  Figuring  the  cost  at  $125  per  adult,  you 
can  see  that  it  will  cost  the  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  in  transporta- 
tion alone,  approximately  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars.    That 


280  LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

shows  what  they  are  up  against,  and  what  they  are  willing  to  do  in 
order  to  save  their  crops. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  reside  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  Honolulu  is  my  home. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  willing  to  give  the  committee  any  observa- 
tions as  to  the  future  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  in  regard  to  persons 
there  who  are  nonassimilable  people  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  I  am  willing  to  make  those  statements,  if  the 
committee  desires  me  to  do  so.  But  I  will  say  to  you  that  I  believe 
that  is  a  matter  which  is  more  for  the  commission  than  for  me.  I 
have  decided  views  upon  the  situation  out  there,  which  I  have  studied 
a  good  many  years  from  the  standpoint  of  labor  and  from  the  stand- 
point of  population.  But  it  is,  perhaps,  more  a  matter  for  the  com- 
mission than  it  is  for  me  to  discuss  with  you.  Some  statements,, 
perhaps,  should  not  be  put  into  the  record. 

The  Chairman.  The  point  in  my  mind  is  this,  that  I  would  like  to 
have  this  committee  have  as  a  matter  of  record  the  very  statements 
which  so  many  think  should  not  be  for  the  record.  In  the  House  of 
Representatives  I  happen  to  be  ranking  Republican  member  of  the 
House  Committee  on  Territories,  and  in  that  committee  I  have 
learned  a  good  deal  about  land  troubles  and  Japanese  troubles  and 
matters  of  that  kind  out  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

I  am  perfectly  willing  to  state  for  the  record  that  if  these  questions 
are  left  somewhat  to  the  people  over  there  to  work  out,  I  think' the 
control  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  is  absolutely  in  danger — that  is,  the 
control  by  the  United  States.  I  think  it  is  inevitable,  unless  we  get 
some  legislative  action  that  all  of  the  lands  that  can  be  homesteaded^ 
or  at  least  a  large  proportion  of  them,  will  fall  into  the  hands  of 
American-born  Japanese. 

Mr.  Box.  Would  not  those  lands  also  be  held  for  the  benefit  of 
their  racial  kindred  ? 

The  Chairman.  Exactly.  When  the  time  comes,  the  Japanese 
will  out-vote  the  other  population.  Furthermore,  my  opinion  is  that 
as  the  Japanese  are  homesteading  the  highly  cultivated  lands,  which 
are  the  lands  used  for  the  raising  of  sugar,  they  will  themselves 
organize  sugar  companies. 

I  am  not  concerned  with  the  statement  made  here  yesterday  that 
there  are  a  limited  number  of  corporations  handling  the  sugar  planta- 
tions. I  happen  to  know  that  the  sugar  plantations  have  to  be  large 
or  they  can  not  be  successfully  conducted.  I  have  been  hoping  that 
at  some  time  some  citizen  of  the  Territory  would  outline  the  Japanese 
problem  clearly  and  carefully.  If  no  one  will  present  the  statements 
which  really  make  the  situation  acute  in  Hawaii,  that  is,  the  race 
situation,  then  I  am  willing  to  place  before  the  committee  all  of  the 
matter  that  has  come  into  my  possession.  Those  who  were  members 
of  the  committee  of  inquiry  in  California  last  year  will  remember 
the  statements  of  Chester  Rowell,  who  had  then  just  returned  from 
Hawaii.     Perhaps  we  shall  discuss  that  phase  of  it  a  little  later. 

I  want  to  ask  you  this  question:  Are  you  familiar  with  the  wages 
paid  on  the  sugar  plantations  in  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Labor  in  the  continental  sugar  industry  is  largely 
seasonal,  and  wages  depend  on  the  section  of  the  country  and  upon 
the  demand  for  and  scarcity  of  labor  in  the  locality.  No  such 
cond  i  1  ns  obtain  in  Hawaii,  where  fixed  wages  are  paid  to  laborers^ 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  281 

with  certain  established  perquisites,  for  continuous  labor  during  the 
entire  year.  On  account  of  seasonal  conditions  of  mainland  labor, 
wages  vary  widely  according  to  locality  and  time  and  no  reliable 
estimate  is  possible. 

The  Chairman.  The  sugar  raised  in  Hawaii  has  to  compete  not 
only  with  the  sugar  grown  in  the  United  States,  but  also  with  sugar 
grown  everywhere  else  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  not  say  that  the  sugar  grown  in  Hawaii  com- 
petes, exactly.  Competition  is  the  other  way.  The  competition  is 
on  the  part  of  Cuba.  When  Cuba  has  an  enormous  crop,  as  it  has 
had  this  year,  it  adversely  affects  the  continental,  the  Hawaiian,  the 
Porto  Rican,  and  the  Philippine  industry.  They  can  raise  sugar  in 
Cuba  cheaper  than  it  can  be  raised  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  Chairman.  I  understood  you  to  say  you  thought  I  meant  the 
beet-sugar  industry.  I  mean  plantations  in  other  parts  of  the  United 
States  as  well. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  only  place  on  the  continent  where  they  raise  any 
quantity  of  cane  sugar  is  in  Louisiana.  The  Louisiana  conditions 
this  year  are  well  nigh  hopeless. 

The  Chairman.  Why  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  have  had  a  bad  year.  They  have  had  a  very 
cheap  price  of  sugar.  Their  costs  have  always  been  higher  than  those 
in  any  other  sugar-producing  country  I  know  of,  and  they  are  really 
in  a  bad  condition. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  coming  to  the  point  I  am  trying  to  bring 
out;  that  is  to  say,  the  cost  of  producing  sugar  in  Louisiana  is 
high 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing) .  Very  high. 

The  Chairman.  Are  the  labor  costs  high? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  that  their  labor  costs  are  so  high.  They 
were  last  year.     Just  what  they  are  this  year,  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  The  sugar  growers  in  Louisiana  could  not  pay  more 
for  common  labor  than  is  paid  in  Hawaii  and  hope  to  compete  with 
the  Hawaiian  sugar  growers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No. 

The  Chairman.  And  Hawaii  can  not  pay  more  for  common  labor 
on  its  sugar  plantations  and  hope  to  compete  with  Cuba  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  that  could  not  be  done. 

The  Chairman.  How  do  the  prices  range  for  common  labor  on  the 
sugar  plantations,  as  between  Cuba  and  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Mead.  As  between  Hawaii  and  Cuba,  I  think  at  the  present 
time  they  are  about  on  a  par.  During  the  harvesting  season  in  Cuba 
I  think  they  pay  their  labor  more  than  w^e  pay  ours.  But  that  is 
purely  seasonal  labor,  and  it  does  not  cost  anything  in  addition  to  the 
mere  wage.  They  do  not  house  the  labor  down  there,  they  do  not 
keep  the  labor  on  their  plantations  all  the  time.  They  employ  labor 
there  during  the  time  when  they  need  the  laborers.  While,  for  a  few 
months  in  the  year  they  may  be  receiving  slightly  higher  wages  than 
the  same  class  of  labor  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  the  average  during 
the  year  is  more  in  favor  of  Hawaii  than  Cuba. 

The  Chairman.  The  cost  of  carrying  that  labor  in  Hawaii  would 
make  it  cost  more  than  the  Cuban  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Considerably  more.  Of  course,  there  are  other  condi- 
tions which  exist  in  Hawaii  that  do  not  exist  in  Cuba.     Cuba  has 


282  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

practically  none  of  the  big  problems  that  we  have  in  Hawaii;  none 
of  the  expensive  problems  that  we  have  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Hawaiian  sugar  is  on  the  free  list,  and  always  has 
been? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  for  many  years. 

The  Chairman.  And  Cuban  sugar  is  not  on  the  free  list? 

Mr.  Mead.  Cuban  sugar,  up  to  this  year,  paid  a  duty  of  1  cent  a 
pound.  The  emergency  tariff  raised  that  duty  to  1.6  cents  per 
pound,  and  immediately  after  that  increased  tariff  went  into  effect 
the  price  of  sugar  dropped. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  not  the  duty  on  Cuban  sugar  the  same  as  that  from 
other  countries,  less  20  per  cent  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  full  duty  is  2  cents  a  pound,  and  the  Cubans  have 
a  preferential  of  20  per  cent.  There  is  practically  no  full-duty  sugar 
coming  into  the  United  States 

The  Chairman,  Let  me  go  back  to  the  subject  we  were  discussing 
a  few  moments  ago  and  ask  you  a  few  questions  in  reference  to  Porto 
Rico.     Is  much  sugar  raised  in  Porto  Rico  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Porto  Rico  raises  about  500,000  tons. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  population  of  Porto  Rico  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  population  of  Porto  Rico  is  1,300,000  people, 
living  on  an  island  containing  less  than  4,000  square  miles.  They 
have  a  very  extensive  tobacco  industry  there  which  this  year  has 
been  very  hard  hit.  They  have  not  sold  a  pound  of  tobacco  that  was 
raised  this  year,  and  a  very  large  part  of  last  year's  crop  has  come 
back  to  them  because  of  its  inferior  quality.  Their  fruit  industry 
has  no  market  and  a  number  of  the  regular  ships  have  been  laid  up. 
Hundreds  of  tons  of  fruit  is  rotting  on  the  ground.  I  have  never 
seen  anyconditions  in  any  country  worse  than  those  in  Porto  Rico 
at  the  present  time.  The  people  are  depressed,  and  they  are  in  a 
very  bad  way.  The  island  raises  less  of  agricultural  products  in 
actual  tonnage  than  Hawaii  does.  Hawaii  produces  100,000  tons  of 
sugar  more  than  Porto  Rico;  last  year  we  packed  150,000  tons  of 
pineapples,  and  in  actual  tonnage  production  Hawaii  exceeds  the 
total  production  of  Porto  Rico,  and  we  have  one-fifth  of  the  total 
population  of  Porto  Rico. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  situation  as  to  area? 

Mr.  Mead.  Most  of  the  island  of  Porto  Rico  is  practically  in  culti- 
tion.     They  raise  their  tobacco  up  in  the  mountains. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  wage  paid  for  common  labor  in  Porto 
Rico? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  highest  day  wage  I  found  to  be  paid  on  the  planta- 
tions there  was  70  cents  a  day.  The  wage  which  the  men  with  whom 
I  talked  told  me  they  were  getting  was  40  cents  a  day. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  any  housing  of  labor  down  there? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  they  do  not  have  to  house  their  labor  in  Porto 
Rico.  Some  of  the  American  corporations  have  gone  in  for  housing 
to  a  limited  extent,  but  there  is  no  such  thing  down  there  as  we  have 
in  Hawaii,  so  far  as  housing  is  concerned.  They  do  not  have  to  do 
it.  When  they  want  some  laborers,  all  they  have  to  do  is  to  send 
word  down  to  the  village  that  they  want  a  certain  number  of  laborers, 
and  they  can  get  them  very  easily  in  that  way. 

The  Chairman.  Of  what  nationality  is  the  common  labor  in 
Porto  Rico  ? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAIL  283 

Mr.  Mead.  I  presume  their  original  stock  was  that  of  the  Caribbean 
Indians.  Of  course,  they  are  mixed  with  the  Spanish  and  Haitians. 
There  is  considerable  of  a  mixture  down  there;  some  of  the  people 
are  very  blagk  while  others  are  as  white  as  you  and  I. 

The  Chairman.  The  Haitian  is  black? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes.  There  has  been  a  considerable  mixture.  The 
original  Porto  Rican  was  of  the  West  Indian  stock. 

The  Chairman.  In  their  field  work,  do  they  dress  as  the  people  in 
Hawaii? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  about  the  same.  The  Porto  Rican  does  not  pay 
much  attention  to  his  dress.  He  wears  trousers  and  a  shirt,  and 
that  just  about  covers  him. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  the  laborers  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
wear  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  wear  dungarees— overalls — while  working.  In 
•comparing  conditions  in  Porto  Rico  with  the  conditions  in  Hawaii, 
the  only  thing  anyone  could  say  is  that  in  Porto  Rico  they  are  still 
in  the  dark  ages. 

The  Chairman.  Porto  Rico  is  an  insular  possession  of  the  United 
States,  and  Hawaii  is  a  Territory  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  Porto  Rico  is  an  insular  possession.  They 
wish  to  have  independence,  as  I  understand  it,  with  a  United  States 
protectorate;  other  than  that,  perhaps  they  wish  statehood. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  in  mind  the  quantity  of  sugar  produced  in 
continental  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  total  production  of  beet  sugar  in  the  United  States, 
Toughly,  is  a  million  tons.  The  production  in  Louisiana,  of  course, 
varies.     There  they  run  as  high  as  300,000  tons. 

Mr.  Box.  Between  250,000  and  300,000  tons  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes.  Of  course,  they  have  bad  years  down  there; 
they  have  gone  as  low  as  100,000  tons. 

Mr.  Box.  I  understand. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Louisiana  people  produce  what  they  call  clarified 
sugar  that  goes  directly  into  consumption,  and  this  and  the  proximity 
to  market  has  saved  the  industry. 

Mr.  Box.  Your  production  in  Hawaii  is  about  600,000  tons  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  runs  from  550,000  tons — I  think  the  highest  crop 
ive  ever  had  was  about  630,000  tons. 

Mr.  Box.  The  United  States  produces  about  a  million  tons  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Of  beet  sugar;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  Your  production  is  a  little  over  half  of  the  amount  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  about  half  of  the  beet-sugar  crop. 

Mr.  Box.  I  was  talking  about  the  entire  production. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  the  amount  of  the  entire  continental  production 
is  about  1,300,000  tons. 

Mr.  Box.  Then,  your  production  in  Hawaii  would  be  a  little  less 
than  one-half  of  the  total  production  in  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Box.  You  spoke  of  what  you  had  to  pay  as  the  cost  of  taking 
Porto  Rican  labor  from  Porto  Rico  to  Hawaii.  I  think  you  said  it 
cost  $125  per  head? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  costs  SI 25  per  adult  fare;  yes,  sir. 


284  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  All! 

Mr.  Box.  How  many  did  you  figure  on  taking  from  Porto  Rico  to 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Planters'  Association  has  instructed  me  to  get 
3,300  famihes.  That  was  their  original  order,  and  th^y  have  not 
amended  it. 

Mr.  Box.  If  you  count  three  to  a  family  that  would  be  practically 
10,000  people? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  would  mean  practically  10,000  adults.  It  would 
be  more  than  that  in  the  total  number  of  people. 

Mr.  Box.  And  the  original  cost  for  their  passage  would  be  some- 
thing like  $125,000? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  cost  of  the  9,900  adults  would  be  over  $1,000,000. 

Mr.  Box.  How  would  you  protect  yourself  in  the  collection  of  that 
money  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  the  collection  of  that  money  ? 

Mr.  Box.  Yes;  you  could  not  give  it  away. 

Mr.  Mead.  We  have  never  yet,  in  any  of  our  immigration  dealings, 
deducted  anything  from  the  wages  of  laborers  for  transportation. 
From  the  time  they  leave  their  homes  until  they  get  to  work  in  Hawaii 
they  have  no  expense. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  a  general  charge  against  the  industry  which  gets 
the  benefit  of  their  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  It  is  not  a  charge  against  them  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  not,  and  never  h<as  been. 

The  Chairman.  When  these  men  are  freed  of  that  expense  which 
is  carried  by  the  sugar  industry,  if,  after  a  short  space  of  time  they 
should  go  to  the  pineapple  orchards,  you  can  not  stop  them  doing 
that? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  can  not  stop  them.  But  they  are  adding  to  the 
general  labor  population  of  the  Territory,  which  is  a  desirable  thing 
at  the  present  time,  as  well  as  the  idea  of  getting  labor  there  for  the 
sugar  industry. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  been  successful  in  bringing  in  Portu- 
guese lately  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  have  had  no  Portuguese  recently;  that  immigration 
stopped  in  1913. 

The  Chairman.  In  those  days  you  were  permitted,  as  a  Territory, 
to  seek  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  was  a  provision  in  the  immigration  law  which 
permitted  States,  Territories,  and  the  District  of  Columbia  to  adver- 
tise inducements  which  such  State  or  Territory  or  the  District  of 
Columbia  might  offer  to  laborers  in  foreign  countries.  That  provi- 
sion was  omitted  in  the  immigration  law  in  1917. 

Mr.  Box.  That  related  to  the  inducing  of  immigration  and  did  it 
not  affect  the  question  of  custody  or  peonage  service  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  we  have  never  brought  in,  under  any  conditions, 
any  contract  labor.  But  we  have  been  very  successful  under  that 
provision  of  the  law  in  getting  people;  at  least,  the  Territory  was 
successful.  There  was  nothing  in  that  law  which  would  prevent 
people  going  from  Hawaii  to  the  mainland. 

Mr.  Box.  What  did  the  people  of  Portugal  do  with  reference  to 
staying  with  you  or  going  to  California  ? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWATF.  285 

Mr.  Mead.  A  great  many  of  them,  as  soon  as  they  acquired  the 
cost  of  steerage  transportation  from  Hawaii  to  Cahfornia,  got  out 
of  Hawaii  and  went  to  Cahfornia. 

Mr.  Box.  Where  did  most  of  them  go  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  To  Cahfornia.  If  there  could  be  a  provision  in  the 
immigration  law  allowing  us,  as  we  have  done,  to  induce  people  to 
go  to  Hawaii,  and  to  advertise  our  inducements  and  pay  their  passage 
to  Hawaii,  and,  in  addition  to  that,  a  provision  so  that  if  a  passport 
is  issued  to  a  man  to  go  to  Hawaii  that  passport  shall  not  be  usable 
for  that  man  to  go  to  the  continental  part  of  the  United  States,  then 
we  would  have,  during  the  five-year  period  in  which  he  may  apply 
for  naturalization,  time  to  anchor  him  there  as  a  part  of  the  perma- 
nent population.  I  believe  the  only  hope  that  we  have  of  settling 
a  permanent  white  population  in  Hawaii  depends  upon  some  provi- 
sion which  would  give  us  time  to  make  them  permanent  citizens. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  not  a  far  better  plan  for  this  committee 
to  be  considering  than  the  plan  now  before  us. 

Mr.  Mead.  It  in  a  better  plan  as  endeavoring  to  seek  a  permanent 
white  population  for  Hawaii.  The  matter  before  the  committee, 
however,  as  I  understand  it,  is  an  emergency  proposition  to  meet 
an  emergency  which  exists  in  the  labor  situation. 

The  Chairman.  The  emergency  exists  now  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  could  not  hope  for  this  legislation  short  of 
several  months.  I  can  not  see  how  an  emergency  would  be  recognized 
as  so  much  more  acute  than  it  might  be  in  California  or  Florida  as  to 
make  it  an  emergency  sufficient  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  House  and  Senate,  and  with  the  certainty  in  my  mind  that 
the  last  piece  of  legislation  that  would  be  touched  by  this  or  any 
future  Congress  is  the  Chinese  exclusion  act. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  am  sorry  to  hear  you  say  that,  because  I  really  be- 
lieve that  the  emergency  is  such  that  there  must  be  congressional 
legislation  to  help  out  the  situation.     That  is  the  way  I  feel  about  it. 

The  Chairman.  I  say  that  in  my  capacity  as  a  Member  of  the 
House  from  a  Pacific  Coast  State.  We  have  the  Japanese  problem 
the  same  as  you  have,  and  as  I  see  it,  if  at  the  time  we  passed  the 
Chinese  exclusion  act  we  had  made  it  an  oriental  exclusion  act  we 
would  be  free  from  our  present  problem. 

Mr.  Box.  As  I  understand  3'our  statement,  in  answer  to  an  in- 
quiry made  by  Chairman  Johnson,  any  plan  you  adopt  will,  in  order 
to  have  any  chance  to  succeed,  have  to  carry  with  it  something  that 
will  confine  them  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is,  something  which  mil  confine  them  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  while  they  are  aliens:  yes,  sir.  I  would  not,  of 
course,  advocate  anything  that  would  say  that  any  citizen  could 
not  move.  If  we  could  have  them  there  during  the  period  of  natur- 
alization, while  they  are  aliens,  and  could  have  time  to  anchor  them 
there  and  improve  their  conditions  so  that  they  would  not  want  to 
move,  I  think  it  would  be  a  very  desirable  thing. 

I  have  discussed  this  matter  with  other  Members  of  Congress,  and 
I  prepared,  at  one  time,  a  provision  which  could  become  a  part  of 
the  immigration  law,  if  the  committee  wanted  to  do  that,  which  I 
think  would  cover  the  situation. 


286  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  We  would  like  to  have  you  submit  that,  if  you. 
have  it. 

Mr.  Mead.  You  mean  submit  it  now? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  will  be  glad  to  submit  that  to  you. 

The  Chairman.  This  brings  us  to  the  discussion  of  a  subject  which 
we  hear  talked  about  all  the  time,  and  in  regard  to  which  a  great  deal 
of  mail  comes  to  the  committee.  It  is  a  subject  which  lecturers  are 
discussing,  and  chambers  of  commerce  are  advocating  all  the  time, 
under  the  indefinite  terms  of  selective  immigration  and  placement. 
I  have  never  been  able  to  figure  out  how  distributed  immigration 
could  be  anchored. 

Mr.  Box.  That  means  one  thing  in  the  mind  of  one  writer  and 
another  thing  in  the  mind  of  another,  and  when  you  come  down  to 
the  final  analysis  of  it  you  will  find  they  are  speaking  from  the  stand- 
point of  their  own  interests  and  their  own  local  situation,  and  the 
kind  of  selection  they  would  make  would  be  to  select  the  people  who- 
are  adapted  to  their  work  and  their  environment,  and  not  for  the 
education  and  development  of  citizens.  When  somebody  else  goes 
to  select  immigrants  you  will  find  that  they  want  them  for  some 
particular  trade  or  work,  like  the  people  who  wanted  5,000,000  on  the 
eastern  border.  That  is  what  half  of  the  talk  about  selective  immi- 
gration means  with  the  sugar  producers  in  the  United  States. 

The  gentleman  has  just  stated  a  fact  in  reference  to  a  condition 
where  the  sugar  beet  growers  are  getting  their  laborers  under  a 
dispensation  which  I  do  not  think  was  legal.  It  is  a  big  question. 
I  think  these  gentlemen  have  brought  a  big  question  to  us  and  I 
think  they  are  entitled  to  our  best  consideration.  I  think  it  is  a 
mighty  serious  thing,  as  the  chairman's  questions  would  indicate. 

The  Chairman.  You  mentioned  the  present  form  of  passport  con- 
trol in  Hawaii.  I  want  to  ask  you  about  that.  I  judge  that  any 
alien  in  Hawaii  with  a  passport  from  some  other  country  is  limited 
in  the  use  of  that  passport  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  under  a  presidential  proclamation  I  think  it  is 
limited  now  entirely  to  orientals.  You  are  familiar  with  the  pass- 
port provision  in  the  immigration  law.  It  says  that  ''Whenever 
the  President  is  satisfied  that  passports  issued  by  any  foreign  gov- 
ernment to  a  citizen  to  go  to  any  country  other  than  the  United 
States  or  to  any  insular  possession  of  the  United  States  or  to  the 
Canal  Zone,  are  being  used  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  holder& 
to  come  to  the  continental  territory  of  the  United  States  to  the 
detriment  of  labor  conditions  therein,  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the 
President  to  refuse  to  permit  such  citizens  of  the  country  issuing 
such  passports  to  enter  the  continental  territory  of  the  United 
States  from  such  country  or  from  such  insular  possession  or  from  the 
Canal  Zone."  The  President's  proclamation  was  issued  in  1913;  it 
is  confined  to  orientals. 

The  Chairman.  Since  that  enactment,  as  a  result  of  the  war,  we 
have  enacted  other  passport  legislation  and  now  require  all  aliens  to 
come  to  the  United  States  to  have  passports  from  their  country 
viseed,  and  I  was  wondering  whether  a  man  living  in  Hawaii,  coining 
from  Sweden  with  a  passport,  could  then  move  on  to  the  United 
States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  could  not  tell  you  that. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  287 

The  Chairman.  He  could  with  a  vise,  I  presume  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  presume     so. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  there  not  some  special  arrangement  by  which  labor 
has  been  carried  to  Panama  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  was  some  special  Panama  legislation  on  that 
subject.  They  took  a  great  many  people  from  Jamaica,  from  the 
Virgin  Islands,  and  other  West  Indian  islands  to  Panama,  but  most 
of  them,  I  think,  have  left. 

Mr.  Box.  There  were  provisions  that  kept  them  out  of  continental 
United  States  ? 

^  Mr.  Mead.  There  were  provisions  that  kept  them  out  of     con- 
tinental United  States. 

Mr.  Box.  What  became  of  them  later  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  were  repatriated,  as  I  understand  it. 

The  Chairman.  Taken  back,  or  called  back  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  they  were  taken  back. 

Before  reading  this  provision,  which  I  had  suggested  could  be 
inserted  in  the  immigration  law,  I  should  like  to  say  that  between  /' 
1906  and  1914  a  total  of  15,012  Portuguese,  Spanish,  and  Russian 
meii,  women,  and  children  were  brought  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
by  the  Government  thereof.  This  was  done  under  the  provision  of 
the  law  allowing  assistance  of  immigration  by  State  boards  with 
funds  raised  by  public  taxation.  Agents  of  the  Territory  cooperated 
with  Federal  officials  in  the  selection  of  agricultural  families.  The 
total  cost  of  assisting  these  people  to  the  Territory  was  approxi- 
mately $1,250,000. 

During  that  same  period,  from  1906  to  1914,  a  total  of  12,041  men, 
women,  and  children  of  the  same  nationalities,  Portuguese,  Spanish, 
and  Russians,  left  the  Territory,  and  from  1914  to  1919,  inclusive^- 
5,912  more  left  the  Territory,  none  having  coine  in  except  a  few 
coming  back  from  California.  The  people  who  came  from  1906  to 
1914  amounted  in  total  figures  to  15,012,  and  the  people  who  left 
amounted  in  total  figures  to  17,953. 

Mr.  Box.  Then  it  would  appear  that  heretofore  your  efforts  to  get 
immigrants  have  resulted  in  the  dumping  of  that  very  element  on 
the  continental  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Very  largely  so.  We  have  done  everything  we  could 
to  hold  them,  but  the  lure  of  California  has  been  too  great  for  them. 
You  can  not  blame  them  for  that. 

The  Chairman.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  great  amount  of 
unemployment  in  the  United  States  now,  particularly  among  a  great 
many  of  the  colored  population  who  were  attracted  north  by  reason  of 
the  war  wages,  so  much  unemployment  that  in  Chicago  to-day  there 
are  20,000  or  30,000  Negroes  out  of  work,  would  you  be  able  to  get 
that  kind  of  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  doubt  very  much  whether  they  would  go  out  there. 
I  very  seriously  doubt  whether  they  would  go  there  to  work  in  the 
cane  fields. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  know  more  about  Negro  labor  than  almost  anything 
else.  These  Negro  laborers  will  not  mix  with  Asiatics  or  any  other 
foreign  population. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  have  been  efforts  made  to  get  Negroes,  but  they 
have  not  been  successful. 


288  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  American  white  man  is  the  only  man  the  Negro 
wants  to  cooperate  with,  and  it  is  impossible  to  get  him  to  do  that 
with  anybody  else.  If  you  had  15,000  or  20,000  down  there  with 
people  who  knew  how  to  handle  them,  you  might  keep  them  there, 
but  the  other  proposition  is  impossible. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  that  is  true. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  tried  Hindus  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  there  were  a  few  Hindus  who  came  in  there.  I 
think  they  came  from  British  Columbia,  but  there  were  only  a  very 
few  of  them.  We  could  not  recruit  Hindus,  of  course.  I  am  told 
that  227  of  them  came  in  1910,  but  they  got  out  rapidly. 

The  Chairman.  The  Hindu,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  in  the  barred 
zone. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  mean  before  the  barred  zone  went  into  effect. 

Mr.  Mead.  All  the  efforts  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  to  get  labor 
liave  been  directed  to  getting  white  labor.  There  has  never  been 
any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Territory  to  get  anything  but  white 
labor  to  build  up  the  citizen  population. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  the  Hindus  who  went  to  Hawaii  remain  there  'i 

Mr.  Mead.  No. 

Mr.  Raker.  Most  of  them  went  to  California  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Most  of  them  went  to  California.  They  are  particu- 
larly in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  in  the  lumber  country. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  be  very  glad  to  have  you  give  us  your 
suggestion  of  the  amendment  you  referred  to  awhile  ago. 

Mr.  Mead.  This  is  my  suggestion  of  an  amendment  which  could 
Le  inserted  in  the  law  in  its  proper  place,  as  a  proviso : 

Provided,  That  any  alien  laborer,  skilled  or  unskilled,  not  having  become  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  who  has  gone  to  any  foreign  country  or  to  any  insular  territory 
or  possession  of  the  United  States  or  Canal  Zone  under  a  passport  issued  by  his  govern- 
ment, permitting  him  to  proceed  thereto,  shall  not  be  allowed  to  enter  the  continental 
territory  of  the  United  States  from  such  foreign  country,  insular  territory  or  possession 
of  the  United  States  or  Canal  Zone. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Will  you  read  that  again  ? 
Mr.  Mead.  This  suggested  proviso  reads : 

Provided,  That  any  alien  laborer,  sldlled  or  unskilled,  not  having  become  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  who  has  gone  to  any  foreign  country  or  to  any  insular  territory 
or  possession  of  the  United  States  or  Canal  Zone  under  a  passport  issued  by  his  govern- 
ment, permitting  him  to  proceed  thereto,  shall  not  be  allowed  to  enter  the  continental 
territory  of  the  TJnited  States  from  such  foreign  country,  insular  territory  or  possession 
of  the  United  States  or  Canal  Zone. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  would  apply  to  those  aliens  who  have  adopted 
United  States  citizenship  as  well  as  those  who  have  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Under  this  provision  any  alien  who  goes  to  Hawaii,  to 
an  insular  territory  or  the  Canal  Zone  would  not  be  permitted  to  go 
into  the  continental  territory  of  the  United  States  under  a  passport 
which  entitles  him  to  go  to  any  one  of  those  places. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  not  think  that  would  run  counter  to 
our  treaties  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  it  is  a  passport  issued  by  his  government  to  him. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  make  that  general,  applying  to  all  people  ? 

IVir.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  put  no  restriction  on  it? 

Mr.  Mead.  As  far  as  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  are  concerned,  no — 
it  would  not  be  necessary.  This  provision  would  be  merely  supple- 
mental to  the  present  immigration  laws,  not  amendatory. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  289 

Ml*.  Raker.  You  want  people  to  go  to  Hawaii  who  are  laborers, 
skilled  or  unskilled.  Would  you  make  it  general,  applying  to  all 
nationalities  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  I  would,  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  then  permit  any  of  the  Asiatic  laborers  to 
come  to  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  that  is  not  my  intention  at  all,  under  this  provision. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  may  not  be  your  intention,  but  that  is  what  that 
would  mean  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  I  do  not  think  it  would,  because  this  does  not  in 
any  way  amend  your  Chinese  exclusion  act,  and  it  does  not  amend 
the  gentleman's  agreement  as  to  Japanese 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  you  would  not  have  that  provision  applied  to 
the  Chinese  so  that  they  might  come  under  that  provision  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  My  intention  in  that  was  to  provide  a  white  labor 
population  for  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Your  idea  would  be  not  to  permit  the  Chinamen  to 
come  under  that  provision  as  those  from  Porto  Rico  and  elsewhere  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  not  permit  Chinese  to  come  under  that  provi- 
sion.    They  could  not  come  in  under  the  present  laws. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  you  permit  Japanese  to  come  in  under  that? 

Mr.  Mead.  No  ;  I  would  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  exclude  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would. 

Mr.  Wilson.  From  where  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  From  Hawaii.  My  idea  in  connection  with  this 
proposition  is  simply  and  wholly  that  of  getting  a  white  population 
for  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  It  does  not  propose  to  take  the  place 
of  this  emergency  immigration  legislation  at  all.  It  is  simply  with 
the  idea  of  trying  to  get  white  people  to  come  there  and  to  give  us  a 
chance  to  have  them  settle  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  your  proposition  would  be  to  have 
people  who  come  to  Hawaii,  skilled  and  unskilled  labor,  from  all 
countries  of  the  world,  without  any  limitation,  to  remain  there  as 
long  as  they  wanted  to,  but  at  no  time  to  allow  them  to  come  to  the 
continental  United  States,  with  the  exception  of  the  oriental  labor- 
ers? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir.  Chinese  and  Japanese  are  excluded  under 
the  present  laws. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is,  including  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  At  no  time  while  they  are  still  aliens  to  let  them  come 
to  the  United  States.  I  have  no  intention,  and  it  is  clearly  stated 
there,  that  they  shall  not  be  permitted  to  come  so  long  as  they  are 
aliens.  This  would  give  us  the  naturalization  period  of  five  yers  in 
which  to  make  conditions  in  Hawaii  so  attractive  to  them  that  they 
would  remain  there  and  become  a  part  of  the  white  population. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  let  us  put  it  this  way:  Your  idea  would  be  to 
allow  all  nationalities  of  the  world,  without  any  restrictions,  skilled 
and  unskilled  labor,  excepting  Asiatic  coolie  labor  from  Japan  and 
China,  to  remain  there  as  long  as  they  wanted  to,  to  become  natural- 
ized if  they  desire,  and  when  they  become  naturalized  to  have  them 
come  to  the  continental  United  States,  but  not  otherwise  ? 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 6  "'■'  'Ml 


290  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  you  have  tried  to  get  the  nationalties  of  all 
countries  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  up  to  this  time  you  have 
practically  failed,  except  in  the  case  of  those  from  Japan  and  China  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  have  not  failed  in  getting  them;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Getting  them  and  keeping  them  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Getting  them  and  keeping  them;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  by  this  resolution  you  would  not  hope  to  get 
any  other  nationalities  save  and  except  the  Chinese  and  the  Jap- 
anese ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  would  not  hope  to  get  any  other  but  the  Chinese 
and  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  By  this  resolution  before  you  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  resolution  is  a  resolution  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii,  presented  by  a  commission  from  the  Territory.  What 
their  instructions  are  and  what  they  desire  to  get  is  something  I  do 
not  know  about.     Personally,  I  hope  they  will  get  the  Chinese. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  have  to  read  what  is  presented  to  us.  Having 
failed  in  all  the  other  cases — and  I  will  say  you  have  made  a  very 
clear  presentation  of  it  and  put  it  to  us  in  a  splendid  way — there 
could  be  no  other  result  of  the  resolution  than  to  secure  otherwise 
inadmissible  Chinese,  except  that  we  have  them  from  China. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  believe  you  have  stated  it  correctly;  yes,  sir.  Asia 
is  the  closest  place  to  Hawaii,  where  there  is  an  available  labor  supply. 
It  is  the  only  place  we  can  go  at  the  present  time  and  get  labor  at 
anywhere  near  a  reasonable  cost.  In  the  first  place,  your  immigra- 
tion laws  prohibit  us  from  going  to  Europe  and  getting  people. 

The  Chairman.  To  get  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  To  get  labor;  the  cost  is  prohibitive.  Our  natural 
source  of  supply  is  Asia,  and  when  we  go  to  Europe  we  are  going  to 
an  unnatural  source  of  supply,  but  we  are  willing  to  do  it  if  we  are 
permitted. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  object  of  this  resolution  is  to  secure  laborers  for 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  For  a  temporary  supply  to  meet  an  emergency. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  understand  that  under  the  resolution  now  before 
the  committee  no  Japanese  would  come  in  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Absolutely  not,  under  that.  The  situation  in  regard 
to  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii  is  perhaps  well  known  to  all  of  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  has  been  drawn  with  that  proposition  in  view  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  situation  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  To  exclude  the  Japanese  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Absolutely;  I  think  they  would  not  consider  getting 
any  Japanese  into  the  islands. 

Mr.  White.  The  terms  of  the  resolution  exclude  the  Japanese,  do 
they  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  discuss  that  phase  of  it  with  the  members 
of  the  commission.  I  want  to  ask  you  about  this  paragraph  of  this 
proposed  amendment  to  the  immigration  law  to  see  if  my  mind  is 
clear  in  regard  to  it.  I  have  another  angle  of  it.  Following  the  plan 
you  have  suggested,  if  an  alien  laborer — skilled  laborer — came  to  the 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HA  WAIL  291 

Hawaiian  Islands  from  England  with  a  passport,  he  would  have  to 
stay  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  or  go  back  home.  He  could  not  go  to  the  conti- 
nental territory  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  other  words,  if  a  laborer  comes  to  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  although  he  may  be  admissible  as  an  American  citizen,  he 
must  reside  during  the  entire  period  of  naturalization  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Exactly. 

The  Chairman.  You  think  that  would  not  interfere  with  any  of 
our  treaties  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir.  If  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  issued  a 
passport  to  a  man  to  go  to  Hawaii,  it  shows  that  Great  Britain  does 
not  want  him  to  go  anywhere  else. 

The  ChaiRxMAN.  I  think  it  might  be  all  right  if  it  were  an  insular 
possession. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  want  to  ask  you  about  your  statement  that  when 
Great  Britain  issues  such  a  passport  to  an  Englishman  it  is  because 
the  Government  of  Great  Britain  does  not  want  him  to  go  anywhere 
else  than  to  Hawaii.  Has  not  the  passport  been  issued  because  the 
man  applied  for  a  passport  to  go  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  might  be  the  construction  of  it,  but  for  the  pur- 
poses of  getting  labor  and  of  getting  a  population  down  there  you 
have  to  look  at  the  practical  situation  in  connection  with  it.  You 
have  to  get  people  who  want  to  stay  there  and  build  up  that  country. 
They  want  people  who  are  going  to  make  their  homes  there. 

Mr.  Wilson.  If  you  had  this  clause  in  the  immigration  law  that  a 
man  shall  apply  to  his  government,  for  instance,  Great  Britain,  to 
get  a  passport  to  go  to  Hawaii,  of  course  the  Government  would 
issue  this  passport  in  view  of  these  restrictions;  it  would  have  knowl- 
edge of  these  restrictions  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  a  man  who  came  to  the  country  would  come 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  conditions  under  which  he  would  go  to 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  His  government  would  know  about  it  and  he  would 
know  about  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Although  he  might  make  a  good  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  your  idea  would  be  to  retain  him  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
during  the  time  of  naturalization,  during  the  period  of  five  years,  in 
order  to  pin  him  to  the  soil  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  order  to  pin  him  to  the  soil;  in  other  words,  to  anchor 
him  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  Unless  there  was  a  positive  provision  prohibiting  a 
common  laborer,  who  at  a  certain  time  went  to  Hawaii,  who  was 
otherwise  admissible  to  the  United  States,  coming  to  the  United 
States  after  he  had  gone  to  Hawaii,  notwithstanding  his  passport, 
you  could  not  exclude  him  from  the  continental  territory  of  the 
United  States,  could  you  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Under  this  provision  you  could,  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  would  be  no  law  to  prevent  him,  if  he  got 
tired  out  there,  from  leaving  Hawaii  ? 


292  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  While  I  have  this  paper  before  me  I  want  to 
read  into  the  record  some  remarks  made  by  Mr.  Mann  of  Ilhnois 
during  the  debate  on  the  immigration  suspension  bill.  Mr.  Mann 
said: 

I  think  Hawaii  is  in  danger  because  the  great  mass  of  the  people  who  work  there  are 
Japanese.  They  have  a  very  large  Japanese  population  and  the  children  of  the 
Japanese  population  born  there  are  citizens  of  the  United  States.  It  is  highly  de- 
sirable to  get  the  Portuguese  or  any  other  European  nationality  to  send  their  people  to 
Hawaii  and  let  them  remain  there,  and  have  families  there,  rear  their  children  there, 
and  become  the  class  who  do  the  work  there,  instead  of  compelling  the  Hawaiians  to 
depend  upon  the  Japanese.  It  would  be  easy  of  course  to  forbid  these  people  coming 
to  the  United  States  from  Hawaii. 

That  is  from  volume  60  of  the  Congressional  Record,  No.  5,   page 
136. 
Then  this  paper  goes  on  to  say: 

There  are  two  precedents  for  taking  such  action  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Mann.  Chinese 
laborers  are  not  allowed  to  enter  any  state  or  territory  of  the  United  States  from  Hawaii. 
The  Immigration  Laws  of  1907  and  the  President's  proclamation  based  thereon,  keep 
out  of  the  continental  territory  of  the  United  States  all  Japanese  or  Koreans  who  have 
gone  to  any  foreign  country  or  insular  possession  with  a  passport  permitting  them  to 
proceed  thereto.  You  are  of  course  familiar  with  the  provisions  referred  to  which  is 
at  the  end  of  section  1  of  the  act  of  February  20,  1907. 

The  paper  further  says :  • 

It  would  be  highly  desirable,  for  military  reasons,  if  for  no  other,  that  immigration 
into  Hawaii  from  nations  other  than  Japan,  be  assisted  and  encouraged,  and  an  oppor- 
tunity be  given  to  induce  such  immigrants  to  remain.  We  are  confident  that  the 
military  authorities  are  alive  to  the  situation  and  will  concur  in  the  statements  herein 
made. 

Mr.  Box.  Where  does  that  come  from  'i 

The  Chairman.  That  is  from  a  statement  prepared  in  advocacy  of 
some  kind  of  relief. 

Mr.  Raker.  Take  the  statement  that  has  been  read.  The  propo- 
sition there  is  not  what  was  contemplated  by  what  you  presented 
just  now  before  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  this  was  entirely  outside.  This  was  simply  my 
own  personal  idea  of  the  way  it  could  be  done. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  perfectly  clear. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  a  right  to  consider  any  substitute,  and 
have  it  explained. 

Mr.  Mead.  This  is  not  a  substitute.  This  is  merely  my  own  idea 
of  the  way  in  which  you  can  acquire  a  permanent  white  population 
for  Hawaii.  It  is  not  a  proposition  in  any  way  to  meet  the  present 
conditions  that  exist  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Your  idea  would  be  that  with  certain  restrictions  as 
to  health  and  other  conditions,  the  bars  are  thrown  down  for  immi- 
gration to  Hawaii  from  all  countries  of  the  world,  save  and  except 
Japan  and  China,  and  that  after  they  get  there  they  should  remain 
there  and  not  be  permitted  to  come  to  the  United  States  for  five 
years;  you  think  that  would  be  a  good  thing  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  not  say  from  all  countries  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  would  you  exclude  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  All  of  Asia.     I  would  exclude  anything  but  Europe. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  other  words,  under  this  proposed  amendment  to 
the  immigration  law,  the  people  who  would  go  to  Hawaii  would  be 
the  same  people  who  can  immigrate  to  the  United  States  now  ? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAW  AIL  293 

Mr.  Mead.  Exactly. 

Mr.  Wilson.  From  the  same  territory? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Would  it  be  your  intention  in  doing  that  to  remove 
the  restrictions  in  the  immigration  law  relative  to  the  literacy  test  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  you  would  have  to  remove  the  restrictions  of  the 
literacy  test,  so  far  as  the  kind  of  people  we  would  want  to  come  are 
concerned.  The  literacy  test  operates  to  bar  pretty  nearly  all  agri- 
cultural people. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  other  words,  your  idea  would  be  to  have  practi- 
cally an  unlimited  opportunity  to  emigrate  to  Hawaii  from  European 
countries,  under  the  restrictions  that  the  passport  upon  which  a  man 
came  must  hold  him  there  during  all  the  period  and  processes  of 
naturalization  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  let  us  put  it  this  way.  With  the  same 
restrictions  now  in  the  immigration  law,  under  the  act  of  1917,  with 
the  exception  of  the  literacy  test,  you  would  exclude  all  Asiatic 
laborers,  allowing  it  to  apply  generally  to  Hawaii,  and  you  think  that 
would  meet'your  situation,  do  you? 

Mr.  Mead.  Hardly.  There  would  have  to  be  other  exceptions. 
You  would  have  to  permit  us  to  assist  them  and  to  advertise  the  in- 
ducements we  offer  to  them.  You  would  have  to  amend  your  pro- 
visions for  a  literacy  test. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  eliminated  that. 

Mr.  Mead.  We  would  have  to  be  allowed  to  assist  them,  and  the 
literacy  test  would  have  to  be  eliminated  that  we  may  get  them. 
The  agricultural  people  that  we  want  to  come  are  poor  people.  They 
are  illiterate  and  they  have  to  be  assisted.  But  I  tell  you  the  second 
generation  of  the  Portuguese  we  have  brought  in  make  just  as  good 
American  citizens  as  you  find  anywhere  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  us  get  your  statement  fully.  First,  you  would 
eliminate  the  literacy  test.  You  would  eliminate  the  provision  which 
prohibits  advertising  abroad,  and  third,  you  would  give  them  assist- 
ance ? 

Mr.  Mead.  And  I  would  include  also  the  payment  of  their  passage. 
You  would  still  keep  the  contract-labor  provision  in  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  then  exclude  the  orientals  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  You  are  already  excluding  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  also  put  a  provision  in  that  they  should 
not  within  five  years  enter  the  continental  territory  of  the  United 
States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  While  they  are  aliens  they  could  not  enter  the  conti- 
nental territory  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  While  they  are  aliens  those  people  should  not  enter  the 
continental  United  States — you  think  that  would  meet  your  situation  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  would  meet  the  situation  for  a  permanent  popu- 
lation. It  would  not  meet  the  situation  at  the  present  time.  It 
would  be  an  experiment  perhaps,  but  one  worth  trying. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  familiar  with  the  general  movement  in 
central  Europe  to  get  out  of  that  part  of  the  world,  and  you  are  famil- 
iar with  the  fact  that  a  large  portion  of  those  people  want  to  leave 
central  Europe  and  come  into  the  United  States  or  go  to  South  America  ? 


294  LABOR    PROBLEMS   IN    HA  WAIL 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  I  have  heard  of  it. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  not  think  that  will  be  of  some  assistance 
in  your  permanent  population  proposition  i 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  think  they  would  be  lured  to  go  to 
Hawaii  and  have  to  stay  there  five  years  before  coming  on  to  the 
United  States  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  think  they  are  the  kind  of  people  we  want  to 
get  in  Hawaii.  The  people  that  I  would  personally  prefer  would  be 
the  people  from  Portugal,  from  the  Azores,  and  irom  the  Madeira 
Islands,  and  perhaps  from  the  northern  part  of  Italy. 

The  Chairman.  If  we  undertake  to  enact  such  amendment,  Hawaii 
would  be  open  to  all  people  who  could  get  passports  to  Hawaii,  would 
it  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  would  not  go  because  they  could  not,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  transportation  from  Europe  to  Hawaii  is  a  very  expensive 
proposition. 

The  Chairman.  If  people  from  central  Europe,  upon  failing  to  get 
passports  to  the  United  States  directly,  can  go  to  Vera  Cruz,  leave  the 
ship  there,  and  then  take  the  railroad  for  a  thousand  mileg  or  so  across 
the  Mexican  border,  and  then  find  their  way  to  St.  Louis  or  New 
York,  they  could  become  American  citizens  under  that,  could  they 
not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  If  they  ever  got  as  far  as  California  they  would  not 
want  to  go  any  farther. 

The  Chairman.  If  the  way  was  open  by  which,  without  all  that 
expense,  they  could  go  directly  to  Hawaii,  they  could  go  there  and 
locate  for  five  years  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  theory  they  could,  but  in  practice  they  would  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  your  statistics  all  there  before  you,  or  you 
can  get  them  from  your  assistant.  Can  you  give  to  the  committee, 
briefly,  the  production  of  sugar  in  tons  and  the  value  of  that  sugar  in 
1890,  and  from  that  year  down  to  the  present  time  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  I  can  give  you  that,  although  I  am  not  sure 
that  I  can  give  you  the  value. 

Mr.  Raker.  Give  us  what  information  you  have  along  that  line, 
or  go  as  far  back  as  you  can. 

Mr.  Mead.  You  want  to  go  back  as  far  as  1900  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Go  back,  say,  10  years. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  can  give  you  the  Hawaiian  sugar  crop  from  1911  to 
1920, in  tons,  showing  the  production  upon  each  plantation  in  Hawaii, 
by  years,  from  1911  down.  **^ 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  the  production  in  1911  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  production  in  1911 — and  this  is  all  in  short  tons, 
2,000  pounds  for  the  ton — was  566,821  tons. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  value  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  value  you  would  have  to  get  from  the  customs 
statistics;  I  do  not  have  it.  In  1912  the  production  was  595,258;  in 
1913,  it  was  546,798;  in  1914  it  was  617,038;  in  1915  it  was  646,455; 
in  1916,  it  was  593,483  tons:  in  1917,  it  was  644,574  tons — that  was  | 
a  banner  crop — in  1918  it  was  576,842  tons;  in  1919  it  was  603,583 
tons ;  in  1920  it  was  556,871  tons.  I  can  get  you  the  production  from 
1900  if  you  desire  it. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  295 

Mr.  Raker.  You  might  give  that  to  us. 

Mr.  Mead.  Mr.  Weeber  can  give  those  figures  to  you. 

STATEMENT   OF  MR.   CHARLES  F.   WEEBER,   SECRETARY  OF 
THE  HAWAII  EMERGENCY  LABOR  COMMISSION. 

Mr.  Weeber.  The  production  in  the  year  1900  was  289,544  tons 
of  sugar;  the  production  in  1901  was  360,036  tons;  the  production 
in  1902  was  355,611  tons;  the  production  in  1903  was  437,931  tons; 
the  production  in  1904  was  367,475  tons;  the  production  in  1905  was 
426,248  tons;  the  production  in  1906  was  429,231  tons;  the  produc- 
tion in  1907  was  440,317  tons;  the  production  in  1908  was  521,123 
tons;  the  production  in  1909  was  535,156,  and  the  production  in  1910 
was  518,127.  Mr.  Mead  has  given  you  the  production  by  years  from 
1911  to  1920. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  give  to  the  committee  the  same  data  relative 
to  the  pineapple  production  from  1900,  giving  us  the  gross  production  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  The  production  of  pineapples,  by  years,  since  and 
including  1910,  is  as  follows: 

Cases.  I  Cases- 

1910 650,  000  I  1916 2,  609,  483 

1911 730,  000  1917 2,  607,  031 

1912 1,313,363  ,  1918 3,847,315 

1913 1.667,122  !  1919 5,071,976 

1914 2,  268,  781  1920 5,  978, 182 

1915 2,669,616  | 

Mr.  Raker.  I  would  like  to  have,  for  the  benefit  of  the  committee, 
the  gross  production  of  coffee  and  rice  for  the  same  pt'.riods. 

Mr.  Weeber.  Coffee  was  exported,  by  years,  since  and  including 
1910,  as  follows: 

Bags  of  100 
pounds. 

1910 23,656 

1911 28,789 

1912 16,182 

1913 27,955 

1914 32,146 

1915 24,266 


Bags  of  100 
pounds. 

1916 27,661 

1917 11,709 

1918 39,833 

1919 28, 042 

1920 16,316 

1921  to  date '.....  17,  257 


In  addition  to  the  coffee  exported,  a  much  smaller  quantity,  which 
it  is  impossible  to  estimate,  is  consumed  in  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  give  us  the  same  figures  for  rice  production  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  No,  sir.  Hice  is  produced  in  the  Territory  by  inde- 
pendent growers,  most  of  whom  are  Chinese.  This  same  statement 
is  true  of  the  rice  produced  in  the  past  20  years,  and  there  are  no 
compiled  figures  to  show  the  production  by  years  during  that  time. 
In  1904,  however,  there  were  practically  9,000  acres  of  rice  land  under 
cultivation,  producing  approximately  4,600  pounds  of  rice  to  the  acre, 
making  a  total  production  of  about  414,000  bags  of  100  pounds  each. 
In  1920  there  were  some  2,800  acres  of  rice  land  under  cultivation, 
producing  only  about  168,000  bags  of  the  same  weight,  a  reduction 
of  59.2  per  cent. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  furnish  us  with  the  number  of  laborers  em- 
ployed by  years  in  the  sugar,  pineapple,  coffee,  and  rice  industries  ? 


296  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.    Weeber.  The   number   of  laborers   employed   in   the   sugar 
industry,  by  years,  since  and  including  1900,  were  as  follows: 


Laborers. 

1900 35,040 

1901 39,  587 

1902 42,242 

1903 (1) 

1904 45,860 

1905 45,  243 

1906 41,525 

1907 44,  447 

1908 46,918 

1909 41,702 

1910 43,917 


Laborers. 

1911 45,048 

1912 47,345 

1913 45,600 

1914 46,043. 

1915 45,654 

1916 43,961 

1917 45,  000 

1918 44,708 

1919 45,311 

1920  (May) 43,  371 

1920  (December) 38,  348 


The  sugar  industry  is  the  only  one  of  the  four  industries  in  question 
in  which  there  has  been  maintained  a  central  organization  which  is 
able  to  furnish  accurate  statistics  with  reference  to  production  and 
labor.  The  records  of  the  Bureau  of  Census  are  also  incomplete  so 
far  as  segregating  the  agricultural  laborers  employed  in  the  coffee, 
rice,  and  pineapple  industries  is  concerned. 

In  the  year  1900,  when  there  was  no  pineapple  industry,  census 
reports  show  that  there  were  45,413  farm  laborers  in  the  Territory, 
of  which  number  35,040  were  employed  in  the  sugar  industry  alone, 
leaving  less  than  10,373  for  both  the  coffee  and  rice  industries.  In 
the  year  1910  there  were  425  farm  laborers  employed  in  the  coffee 
industry,  1,962  employed  in  the  rice  industry,  and  862  listed  by  the 
Bureau  of  Census  under  the  heading  of  ^^  Orchard  and  fruit-farm 
laborers,"  the  pineapple  laborers  being  included  in  this  number. 

Estimates  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Census  from  preliminary  work 

sheets,  which  are  still  subject  to  revision,  show  that  the  following 

laborers  were  employed  in  the  industries  in  question  in  1920: 

In  the  coffee  industry 948 

In  tlie  rice  industry 1,  661 

In  the  pineapple  industry / 2.  917 

These  figures  are  as  of  the  1st  of  January,  and  the  total  for  the 
pineapple  industry  does  not,  therefore,  indicate  the  maximum  number 
employed  during  the  midsummer  harvest  season,  this  number  being^ 
estimated  at  between  five  and  six  thousand. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  might  give  us  the  names  of  the  concerns  engaged 
in  the  sugar  industry. 

Mr.    Weeber.  I   have    those  names  here.     They  are  as  follows: 

On  Hawaii:  Olaa  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.),  Waiiakea  Mill  Co.,  Hilo  Sugar 
Co.,  Hawaii  Mill  Co.  (Ltd.),  Kaiwiki  Milling  Co.,  Onomea  Sugar  Co., 
Pepeckeo  Sugar  Co.,  Honomu  Sugar  Co.,  Hakalau  Plantation  Co., 
Laupahoehoe  Sugar  Co.,  Kaiwiki  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.),  Kukaiau  Plan- 
tation Co.,  Kukaiau  Mill  Co.,  Hamakua  Mill  Co.,  Paauhau  Sugar 
Plantation  Co.,  Honokaa  Sugar  Co.,  Pacific  Sugar  Mill,  Niulii  Mill 
and  Plantation;  Halawa  Plantation,  Kohala  Sugar  Co.,  Union  Mill 
Co.,  Hawi  Mill  and  Plantation,  Puakea  Plantation,  Puako  Plantation, 
Kona  Development  Co.  (Ltd.),  Hutchinson  Sugar  Plantation  Co., 
and  Hawaiian  Agricultural  Co. 

On  Maui:  Pioneer  Mill  Co.  (Ltd.),  Olowalu  Co.,  Wailuku  Sugar  Co., 
Hawaiian  Commercial  &  Sugar  Co.,  Maui  Agricultural  Co.,  Kaeleku 
Plantation  Co.  (Ltd.),  and  Kipahulu  Sugar  Co. 

On  Oahu:  Honolulu  Plantation  Co.,  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.), 
Ewa  Plantation  Co.,  Apokaa  Sugar  Co.   (Ltd.),  Kahuku  Plantation 

1  No  figures  available. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL  297 

Co.,  Waianae  Co.,  Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.),  Laie  Plantation^ 
Koolau  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.),  and  Waimanalo  Sugar  Co. 

On  Kauai:  Lihue  Plantation  Co.  (Ltd.),  Grove  Farm  Plantation, 
Koloa  Sugar  Co.,  McBryde  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.),  Hawaiian  Sugar  Co.,., 
Gay  &  Robinson,  Waimea  Sugar  Mill  Co.,  Kekaha  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.), 
Estate  V.  Knudsen,  Kilauea  Sugar  Plantation  Co.,  Makee  Sugar  Co.,, 
and  Kipu  Plantation. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  a  representative  here  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  and  before  the  morning  session  ends  we  would, 
like  to  have  a  statement  from  him. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  EDGAR  WALLACE,  REPRESENTING  THE 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  wish  to  state  that  I  have  sent  for 
some  information  on  this  subject  to  Denver,  but  it  has  not  yet 
arrived.     I  wish  you  would  defer  my  examination  for  a  day  or  two. 

The  Chair^iax.  How  long  do  you  think  it  will  take  you  to  get  that 
information;  how  long  do  you  wish  to  have  your  statement  deferred  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  The  information  will  probably  be  here  to-morrow. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  mean  when  you  say  ^'information'^  ? 
Do  you  mean  instructions  from  the  officers  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No;  it  is  some  information  which  came  to  them  from 
Hawaii  and  which  they  took  wdth  them  to  Denver,  which  I  have  wired, 
for  and  expect  to  have  here  within  a  day  or  two. 

STATEMENT    OF    MR.    ROYAL   D.    MEAD— Resumed. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  Mr.  Mead,  there  has  been  a  remarkable  increase^ 
in  the  production  of  sugar,  in  tonnage,  since  1900? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  also  a  remarkable  increase  in  production  in  the 
pineapple  industry  ? 

]\lr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  has  also  been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  men 
employed  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Wages  have  increased  or  decreased  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Wages  have  been  on  the  increase  right  along  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  From  1900  up 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  these  three  industries  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  can  not  speak  definitely  for  the  pineapple  industry; 
I  can  speak  for  the  sugar  industry. 

Mr.  Raker.  Taking  the  other  industries,  such  as  peanuts,  pota- 
toes, and  the  products  that  you  raise  there,  has  there  been  an  increase 
in  the  production  of  those  other  articles  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  a  surprise  to  me  they  are  raising  any  peanuts 
down  there  for  export.  The  only  peanuts  I  have  ever  seen  there 
were  in  the  back  yards. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  other  agricultural  production;  has  it  increased? 

Air.  Mead.  I  believe  the  production  of  coffee  has  increased.  I 
have  no  accurate  information  on  that,  sir,  but  I  think  there  has  been, 
a  general  increase  in  all  agricultural  products  in  Hawaii. 


298  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  a  general  increase  of  the  wages,  too  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  And  a  general  increase  of  the  wages,  too;  and  a  very 
marked  improvement  also  in  the  general  conditions  surrounding 
labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  notice  in  the  census  report  there  are  43  institutions, 
corporations,  that  handle  the  sugar  industry  in  Hawaii,  and  the  report 
puts  it  at  100  per  cent  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  not  entirely  accurate.  The  table  that  has  been 
submitted  shows  all  the  producers  in  the  Territory.  Altogether  there 
are  56  various  organized  bodies  or  individuals  producing  sugar  in 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right.     The  census  report  here  puts  it  at  43. 

Mr.  Mead.  That,  sir,  I  think  relates  to  43  mills. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  called  up  the  Director  of  the  Census  yesterday 
morning  and  read  this  to  him  and  asked  him — it  says  here  ''sugar 
cane."  I  said,  "Does  that  mean  the  production  of  sugar  in  the  field 
and  the  handling  of  it  until  it  is  ready  to  ship  ?"  and  he  says  that  is 
his  understanding. 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  I  took  exception  to  that  statement  when  I  read 
it  in  that  report. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  took  exception  to  it  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  and  I  wrote  to  him  about  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  know;  I  am  seeking  information,  that  is  all. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  wrote  to  the  Director  of  the  Census  particularly  in 
regard  to  that  statement,  and  I  think  his  statement  was  they  were 
then  dealing — I  am  speaking  from  memory  now — with  those  who 
manufacture  the  sugar,  the  mills. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  the  list  of  the  corporations  which  was  read 
a  few  minutes  ago  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  any  objection  to  letting  that  go  in  the 
record  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  has  already  gone  in,  the  whole  list. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  those  practically  foreign  corporations,  so  far  as 
Hawaii  is  concerned  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No.  The  great  proportion  of  those,  the  vast  majority 
of  them  are  all  Hawaiian  corporations;  but  there  are  some  California 
corporations  in  there.  There  are  no  foreign  corporations  in  the 
sugar  business  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  put  it  the  other  way:  Most  of  them  interested 
are  nonresidents  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Most  of  them  interested  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  Most  of  them  interested  are  residents.  We  have  no 
nonresident  ownership  there  to  any  extent. 

Mr.  Raker.  Most  of  the  stockholders  are  nonresidents,  then  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  are  nearly  all  residents  of  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  are  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  are;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Sabath.  But  there  are  some  California  people — ■ — ■ 

Mr.  Mead.  There  are  some  California  people.  The  Hawaiian 
Commercial  &  Sugar  Co.  is  incorporated  in  California.  Honolulu 
Plantation  is  owned  very  largely  by  San  Francisco  men.  The  Maka- 
weli  Plantation  is  a  California  organized  corporation,  and  some  of  the 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  ^  299 

W.  G.  Irwin  plantations — the  old  W.  G.  Irwin  plantations^  which  are 
now  under  the  agency  of  C.  Brewer  &  Co.,  I  do  not  know  just  where 
the  control  of  those  plantations  is  held;  I  think  C.  Brewer  &  Co.,  a 
Hawaiian  corporation,  has  purchased  the  control  of  one  or  two  of 
those  pantations,  but  when  the  Irwin  Co.  had  the  agency  they  were 
owned  very  largely  in  wS.tn  Francisco  or  California. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  regard  to  your  labor  strike — were  you  there  during 
the  strike  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  was. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  did  I  ask  you  the  question — I  think  not — 
whether  these  men  who  were  in  this  strike  were  seeking  better 
wages  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  demands  were  made,  sir,  by  the  Japanese  Federa- 
tion of  Labor — the  so-called  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  affiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  not.  They. attempted  to  affiliate  with  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor  but,  to  the  best  of  my  information,  they 
were  turned  down. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  affiliated,  with  other  labor,  into  one  big  union? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  one  big  union  in  Hawaii;  it  has  no  affiliations 
outside  of  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  not  affiliated  with  what  we  call  the  radical 
element  of  the  labor  organizations  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  not  that  I  know  of.  The  Japanese  laborers  on  the 
plantations  in  Hawaii  are  or  were  members  of  the  Japanese  Federation 
of  Labor,  nearly  every  one  of  them.  The  Japanese  Federation,  an 
organization  of  Honolulu,  was  organized  by  people  who  were  not 
laborers;  they  were  school  teachers;  they  were  newspaper  men  and 
rank  agitators.  There  was  not  a  laborer  and  there  was  not  a  citizen 
on  the  directorate  of  the  Japanese  Federation;  or,  at  the  beginning, 
as  a  member  of  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Those  school-teachers — are  they  not  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  are  not;  no,  sir.  They  are  Japanese  school- 
teachers. They  are  sent  to  Hawaii  usually  by  the  Buddhist  Church  of 
Japan,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Japanese  Government.  I  believe 
their  appointments  have  to  be  approved  by  the  minister  of  the 
interior. 

Mr.  Irwin.  You  are  speaking  there  of  the  foreign-language  schools  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Of  the  foreign-language  schools;  the  teachers  of  the 
Japanese  schools. 

Mr.  Irwin.  They  were  striking  for  what? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  demanded  higher  wages;  they  demanded  a  recog- 
nition of  the  federation.  There  were  no  demands  on  the  part  of  the 
laborers  on  the  plantations;  the  demands  were  refused  by  the 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  and  then  the  Japanese  Federa- 
tion called  out  the  laborers  on  the  plantations  of  Oahu.  It  was  not 
until  sometime  after  they  had  gone  out  on  strike  that  any  demands  or 
requests  were  made. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  they  good  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes, 

Mr.  Mead.  If  the  Japanese  wants  to  work,  you  can  not  beat  him. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  what  is  the  matter  ? 


300  ^  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  thought  they  had  us  down  there;  that 
is  what  is  the  matter;  they  thought  we  needed  them  absolutely,  and 
could  not  get  along  without  them— that  was  what  was  the  matter. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  you  mean — that  the  Japanese  intended  to 
run  the  situation  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well^^ 

Mr.  Sabath.  Is  not  that  what  you  always  claim  about  the  Japanese 
in  California,  Judge  Raker  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  not  on  the  witness  stand,  and  I  beg  the  gentle- 
man's pardon. 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  my  views  on  the  situation  are  perhaps  pretty 
strong.  I  have  had  to  do  with  the  two  different  strikes  we  have  had 
out  there  of  the  Japanese,  and  I  have  never  had  any  delusions  in 
regard  to  Americanizing  them. 

The  Chairman.  Your  views  are  the  same  as  those  of  most  of  the 
California  people  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  presume  so,  although  I  have  not  talked  much  to  the 
Californians  about  it.  But  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  prospect  of 
Americanizing  them.  Without  doubt,  as  a  race,  the  absolute  cohe- 
rence and  solidarity  of  the  Japanese  is  marvelous. 

Mr.  Raker.  Irrespective  of  whether  they  are  born  in  Hawaii  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Absolutely,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  that  is  one  of  the  things  you  have  to  contend 
with  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  the  big  thing  we  have  to  contend  with.  Not 
only  do  we  have  to  contend  with  it  from  an  industrial  standpoint,  but 
it  is  a  thing  the  United  States  Government  has  to  contend  with  from 
a  military  standpoint. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  get  stronger  and  more  numerous,  they  will 
practically  control  the  whole  situation  so  far  as  the  industries  and 
l^bor  is  concerned  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  have  nearly  control  of  the  labor  situation  out 
there  now. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  go  into  business  in  cities  like  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Open  barber  shops  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Everything. 

The  Chairman.  Tailor  shops  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Everything. 

The  Chairman.  Anything — plumbing  and  carpentering  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Every  blessed  thing  you  can  think  of. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  it  is  really  sort  of  a  contest  between  the  American 
white  owners  and  laborers  of  all  kinds,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Japanese  owners  and  laborers  on  the  other  hand  ? 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  do  not  think  that  question  is  proper.  You  know 
what  is  in  my  mind  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  want  to  make  any  comments.  The  judge  has 
so  many  good  things  in  his  mind;  if  I  knew,  of  course 

The  Chairman.  You  may  answer  the  question. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  not  say  there  is  any  contest  out  there  exactly, 
because  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  now  and  is  going  to  be  American; 
it  is  going  to  remain  American  under  any  condition  and  we  are  going 
to  control  the  situation  out  there — the  Americans  are  going  to  control 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  301 

the  situation  out  there;  the  United  States  Government  is  going  to 
control  the  situation  out  there.  If  it  becomes  so  bad  that  any  alien 
race  gets  control  of  the  electorate,  I  expect  the  Government  will  step 
in  and  form  a  commission-form  of  government. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  mean  is  in  numbers. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  has  got  to  be  some  offset  to  the  Japanese  out 
there;  there  is  no  question  about  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  I  mean. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  are  a  constantly  growing  population.  The  main 
object  of  the  Japanese  woman  is  to  bear  children;  that  is  hdi*  pi-rpose 
in  life;  there  is  no  question  about  it.  The  statistics  of  population 
show  you  the  Japanese  are  increasing  very  rapidly. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  an  economic  situation  as  between  the  two 
races  as  to  which  shall  dominate  in  Hawaii  at  the  present  time  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  contest  as  to  who  shall 
dominate;  thejwhite  race,  the  white  people,  the  Americans  in  Hawaii 
are  ^oing  to  dominate  and  will  continue  to  dominate — there  is  no  v 
question  about  it.  There  is  an  economic  question  as  to  what  we  are 
going  to  do  with  those  people,  as  to  whether  we  are  going  to  bring 
in  anything  to  offset  them;  that  is  the  question. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  the  women  work  in  the  fields  in  Hawaii,  the  same 
as  they  do  in  California  1 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  And  the  children  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  children  not  to  any  very  great  extent. 
I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  some  of  these  statements  should  not  go 
into  the  record. 

The  Chairman.  I  was  just  about  to  say  I  have  been  advising  here 
with  members  of  the  committee  and,  while  this  is  an  open  hearing, 
it  may  be  advisable  to  strike  from  this  record  certain  statements. 
However,  the  question  was  before  the  committee  last  year,  and  here 
it  is  again. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  reserve  the  right,  later  on,  to  object 
to  some  of  the  questions  asked  and  to  some  of  the  answers  given,  rela- 
tive to  a  matter  which  I  think  is  not  pertinent  to  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  is  for  the  record^ — — 

The  Chairman.  Just  wait  a  minute.  I  say  now  we  will  run  thor- 
oughly through  the  hearing,  and  unless  there  is  objection  the  chair- 
man will  use  his  judgment  in  either  striking  from  the  record,  or 
adding  to  the  record,  matters  presented  and  under  controversy. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  are  seeking  by  this  resolution  to  bring  in  laborers, 
evidently  Chinese  laborers,  to  come  in  competition  with  the  Japanese 
that  are  there,  aAd  I  suppose  we  should  get  all  the  facts  bearing  on 
the  matter;  and  we  have  put  the  soft  pedal  on  this  matter  for  years, 
instead  of  meeting  it  as  we  ought  to  have  met  it  and  saved  these 
people  in  Hawaii  and  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  always  been  ready  to 
save  the  people  of  Hawaii,  and  I  am  also  willing  to  save  our  Govern- 
ment from  unnecessary  complications,  and  a  great  many  of  these 
questions  that  the  gentleman  from  California,  Mr.  Raker,  has  asked, 
he  knows  more  about  it  than  any  man  in  this  room ;  he  has  lived  with 
the. question  and  is  thoroughly  posted  on  the  question. 


802  ILABOE   PROBLEMS   IX    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes.  but 


Mr.  Sabath.  He  knows  more  about  the  question  than  any  other 
man,  I  think,  in  this  room.  It  is  not  that  he  desires  the  information; 
he  has  the  information.  I  must  concede  that  he  is  better  posted  than 
any  one  I  have  ever  had  the  pleasure  to  meet,  on  the  Japanese  ques- 
tion. We  all  know  his  standing  and.  his  position,  so  it  is  not  neces- 
sa'ry  to  rehash  it ;  and  put  in  the  record  things  that  are  known  to  the 
members  of  the  committee.  And  I  hope  that  he  is  not  trying  to 
prepai'e  a;  rec;or.d  for  some  one  else,  for  some  outsiders. 

^he*  Chairman.  liet  me  make  a  statement  to  the  effect  that  when 
this  committee  considers  it  necessary  to  discuss  certain  phases  of 
this  question,  if  that  question  is  properly  before  this  committee,  we 
shall  discuss  the  same.  If  necessary  we  can  secure  authoric^y  to 
send  a  subcommittee  to  Hawaii.  We  can  make  trouble  here  by 
certain  disclosures.  Questions  can  be  asked  in  open  hearing  without 
doing  any  good  to  any  one. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  state  this,  in  conclusion.  I  feel 
that  my  duty  as  a  member  of  this  committee  and  as  a  Member  of  the 
House,  representing  a  State  that  has  an  interest  and  representing 
the  Government  to  go  thoroughly  into  this  matter ;  and  I  say  to  you, 
sir,  frankly  and  candidly,  that  we  have  pussy-footed  this  question  for 
many  years. 

Mr.  Sabath.  What  question,  sir  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Whether  we  should  give  proper  treatment  to  Hawaii 
and  the  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  to  bring  out  the  facts 
that  the  American  people  and  the  world  might  know  just  our  attitude; 
and  if  we  come  out  boldly  and  frankly,  as  a  matter  of  fair  dealing 
with  these  people,  as  we  ought,  with  a  firm  hand  instead  of  a  jelly-back 
proposition,  we  will  get  results  without  any  trouble.  That  is  now 
my  attitude  publicly  and  privately  expressed  and  that  is  the  only 
thing  I  am  trying  to  do,  to  the  end  that  we  get  all  the  facts  before 
this  committee  on  which  to  act.  It  is  unquestioned  from  the  testi- 
mony presented  that  they  are  not  seeking  or  can  not  get  any  other 
nationality  save  and  except  Chinese,  and  the  question  now  is  ought 
we  not  go  to  the  very  bottom  of  the  thing. 

Mr.  Sabath.  If  the  gentleman  is  satisfied,  there  is  no  use  bringing 
in  side  issues.  I  am  ready  to  vote  on  the  resolution  now;  I  have  heard 
enough  to  satisfy  me  that  they  are  in  need  of  this  labor;  and  if  the 
gentleman  from  California  is  satisfied,  what  is  the  use  of  wasting  all 
this  time. 

The  Chairman.  If  there  are  no  more  questions,  Mr.  Mead,  we  want 
to  thank  you  for  the  information  and  the  very  good  evidence  you 
have  given  the  committee  and  also  for  your  patience. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  thank  Mr.  Mead  for  his  kind  and  courteous 
treatment  of  myself  in  the  few  questions  I  have  asked  him. 

Mr.  Mead.  At  any  time,  Mr.  Raker,  that  you  want  to  go  into  the 
Japanese  situation  in  Hawaii  with  me,  I  will  be  ver^^  glad  to  discuss 
it  with  you.  > 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  sure  you  will  present  it  in  all  frankness. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  who  wants  to  proceed  ?  Mr.  Wallace,  if  you 
will  give  us  a  little  discussion,  we  would  like  tohear  you  on  the  matter 
for  a  few  minutes. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  30^ 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  EDGAR  WALLACE,  LEGISLATIVE  REPRE- 
SENTATIVE, AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 

The  Chairman.  Give  the  stenographer  37^pur  name. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Edgar  Wallace,  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  And  your  position  with  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  is  what  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Legislative  representative. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  heard  this  discussion  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  read  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  views  in  regard  to  the  labor  situa- 
tion on  the  plantations  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  the  conditions  that 
surround  the  people  of  Hawaii  are  very  much  like  those  that  sur- 
round the  people  in  other  sections  of  the  country.  It  appears  there 
has  not  been  enough  inducements  to  bring  people  to  that  country 
voluntarily  to  labor.  We  did  not  bring  about  this  Japanese  situation; 
we  deplore  it;  we  warned  against  it.  We  do  not  think  it  would  be  the 
part  of  wisdom  to  try  to  change  it  by  bringing  in  another  oriental 
people  in  bondage.  It  can  not  be  called  anything  else  but  in  bondage. 
Men  will  be  bound  down  for  five  years  and  then  sent  back;  and  if  they 
undertake  to  return,  they  must  come  again  in  bondage.  In  my 
opinion,  it  is  worse  than  the  condition  that  antedated  the  revolution 
in  this  country,  when  men  were  indentured  and  served  out  their 
time  and  then  became  citizens  of  the  country — freemen  in  the 
country.  I  do  not  see  anything  in  this  resolution  that  would  prevent 
them  from  bringing  in  Soloman  Islanders,  man  eaters,  or  any  kind 
of  labor  that  they  thought  could  be  handled  cheaply. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  anything  in  the  immigration  laws  of  thes 
United  States  to  prevent  these  people  coming  to  the  United  States 
voluntarily  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Which  people,  the  Chinese  ? 

The  Chairman.  The  Soloman  Islanders. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is.  They  would  be 
admitted  if  they  could  fulfill  the  literacy  test. 

The  Chairman.  Forty  words. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Naturally  there  would  be  some  objections  raised. 
Our  objection  is  that  these  men  should  be  brought  in  there  as  bonds- 
men. The  Japanese  labor  was  a  kind  of  labor  that  they  chose  to  get 
in  there  because  that  labor  was  cheap;  it  was  abject,  and  submitted 
to  anything  until  they  got  power  and  then  they  became  t3n?anical, 
as  I  see  it — as  I  understand  it  now.  I  recognize  that  it  is  a  political 
question  as  well  as  an  economic  question;  but  I  do  not  think  that 
that  question  can  be  remedied  by  bringing  in  another  problem  just 
like  it,  another  danger  just  like  it — by  bringing  in  other  orientals  to 
take  the  places  of  those  men,  possibly  cheaper,  to  displace  them  and 
then  there  will  be  another  danger  to  the  country. 

As  I  stated  to  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  when  you  first  asked  me,  some 
protests  came  in  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  from  certain 
American  labor  unions  on  the  island  in  Honolula.  They  had  gotten 
information  that  this  measure  was  to  be  brought  up  here  and  they 
sent  this  information  in  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  and 


304  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

asked  us  to  take  care  of  the  situation  as  near  as  we  could;  that  is, 
to  present  their  case  before  this  committee,  before  the  Members  of 
Congress.  The  convention  is  on  at  Denver;  they  took  those  papers 
ivith  them  to  Denver.  I  have  telegraphed  for  the  information  that 
came  from  Honolulu  to  us  and  they  are  sending  it  to  me  by  special- 
delivery  letter.  When  it  comes,  I  would  like  to  present  it;  in  the 
meantime,  if  there  is  anything  else,  any  question  that  I  can  answer, 
I  will  be  glad  to  do  so,  but  I  wish  to  pause,  first,  to  enter  my  protest 
against  any  system  of  bond  labor  to  be  introduced  in  any  part  of 
the  United  States  or  its  Territories. 

Mr.  Raker.  Could  I  ask  you  a  question  right  there  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  your  business  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  am  a  coal  miner. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  official  business  do  you  have  with  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Oh,  I  am  a  representative;  that  is,  it  is  my  busi- 
ness to  appear  before  such  conunittees  as  this  and  to  try  to  present 
our  case  before  such  committee. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  was  figuring  on  and  intended  to  ask  you,  I 
thought  maybe  as  you  were  appearing  as  the  legislative  representa- 
tive you  had  gone  into  this  matter  in  a  legal  way. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Oh,  I  am  not  a  lawyer;  I  am  a  miner,  as  I  said.  We 
do  not  pick  lawyers  for  this  kind  of  a  job;  we  generally  select  some 
man  who  has  a  labor  point  of  view  and  who  represents  the  interests 
of  the  laboring  man. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  spoke  as  if  you  appeared  from  a  legal  standpoint 
and  because  of  that  I  was  very  much  interested  and  was  going  to 
ask  you  to  give  the  committee  your  view.  Have  you  discussed  it 
with  the  legal  branch  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  think,  in  substance,  the  effect  of  this  resolution 
practically  puts  these  men  in  bondage  or  slavery  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Absolutely;  that  is  my  opinion.  I  can  not  read 
anything  else  into  it.  They  are  there  as  long  as  they  will  submit  to 
a  certain  contract  to  work  at  a  certain  work,  with  the  fear  of  being 
deported  if  they  do  not,  and  we  do  not  know  what  penalties  await 
them  on  the  other  side,  if  they  are  deported — we  do  not  know — 
and  I  have  reason  to  fear  there  are  penalties  on  the  side  from  which 
they  come,  if  they  do  not  fulfill  the  contract. 

Mr.  Maloney.  What  do  you  know  about  the  strike  of  1920,  Mr. 
Wafiace? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  do  not  know  anything,  except  the  Japanese 
federation  is  not  afifiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
Its  system  of  unionism  is  entirely  foreign  to  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  system  of  unionism;  in  other  words,  it  embraces  only 
Japanese.  I  would  class  it,  really,  as  a  racial  organization  instead  ofj 
an  economic  organization.  My  belief  is,  if  that  is  worth  anything, 
that  it  has  a  racial  meaning,  a  nationalistic  meaning,  instead  of 
unionism.  | 

Mr.  Maloney.  Has  the  American  Federation  any  organization  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  ?  j 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  have  organizations  of  skilled  workmen  in  the 
cities. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    PIAWATI.  305 

Mr.  Maloney.  They  have  not,  as  far  as  the  plantations  are 
concerned  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  On  the  plantations  there  are  only  the  Japanese 
laborers  and  men  of  that  kind,  and  they  have  organized  among 
themselves,  I  understand  from  what  I  hear  here,  but  not  through  my 
connection  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  The  Japanese  in  Honolulu,  we  will  say,  go  into 
business:  Can  they  join  the  American  Federation  unions  there? 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  may. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  open  to  them  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  That  is  open  to  them;  if  they  belong  to  some  craft, 
they  can  join  that  organization  as  an  individual. 

The  Chairman.  And  they  probably  do  that? 

Mr.  Wallace.  And  possibly  they  do. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  had  presented  for  the  record  this  morning 
two  sets  of  protests  from  unions  in  Honolulu.  If  there  were  Japanese 
members  there,  they  would  be  instrumental  in  getting  those  resolu- 
tions passed  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Chairman,  my  opinion  is — and  that  is  why  I 
wanted  to  wait  on  the  information — ^that  these  protests  come  from 
distinctly  white  -  dominated  unions — unions  that  are  composed 
largely  of  Americans,  or  possibly  foreigners  who  are  naturalized 
Americans,  American  citizens — and  they  are  not  dominated  at  all 
by  any  Japanese  on  the  Island. 

Mr.  'Raker.  Mr.  Wallace,  right  there,  so  that  your  statement  may 
be  clear:  It  does  not  make  any  difference  to  a  man  joining  the  union 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  whether  he  is  a  foreigner  or 
whether  he  has  taken  out  his  first  papers,  or  whether  he  is  naturalized, 
does  it? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir.  We  have  to  take  the  men  such  as  they 
are — ^the  men  who  are  brought  in  there  and  hired. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  inquired  yesterday — I  wanted  to  get  at  the  fact  and 
I  have  not  found  out — and  I  was  advised  by  the  different  ones  that 
an  alien,  one  who  had  made  application  for  his  first  papers,  or  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  all  were  permitted  to  join  the  unions  in 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  ?     Is  that  so  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  are  permitted  to  join  the  union.  We  have 
certain  unions,  the  Mine  Workers  of  Ohio,  for  instance,  that  make  it  a 
provision  that  while  an  alien  can  join  the  organization  he  must  apply 
for  his  first  papers  as  soon  as  that  is  possible — as  soon  as  sufficient 
time  has  elapsed. 

Mr.  Raker.  But,  generally  speaking,  an  alien  is  eligible  for 
membership  in  the  unions  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Raker,  the  employers  hire  the  men.  We  try 
to  organize  them.  We  do  a  great  deal  towards  Americanizing  them; 
we  try  to  Americanize  them. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  then,  when  an  alien  gets  to  the  point,  as  he 
might  do  in  Honolulu,  where  a  man  who  is  not  eligible  to  citizenship 
may  apply  for  membership  in  the  union,  have  you  any  rules  to  pre- 
vent that,  or  is  that  a  local  matter? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No;  we  would  consider  those  men  eligible  if  the 
employers  insist  upon  employing  them.  We  are  going  to  organize 
them  if  we  can,  so  that  they  shall  not  come  into  unfair  competition. 

56754— 21— SER  7,  PT  1 7 


306  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  But  what  are  you  going  to  do  when  you  come  ta 
Seattle,  with  the  Japanese  barbers?  The  white  barber  is  protesting- 
against  the  admission  and  the  activities  of  the  oriental  barber.  The 
white  waiter  objects  to  the  oriental  waiter,  and  so  on. 

Mr.  Wallace.  The  particular  union  should  have,  and  has,  according- 
to  the  American  spirit,  complete  jurisdiction  over  these  cases. 

The  Chairman.  They  can  not  be  controlled  by  the  central  labor 
council  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  can  not  be  controlled  by  the  central  labor 
council  nor  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  the  point  I  want  to  bring  out. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes. 

Mr.  Maloney.  That  is  controlled  by  the  different  local  unions  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  is  controlled  by  the  different  local  unions. 

Mr.  Maloney.  The  union  of  whichever  trade  he  works  at  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  We  might  suggest,  we  might  counsel  that  they 
should,  but  we  can  not  say  that  they  shall  take  in  even  colored  men 
born  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Free.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  some  of  the  unions  affiliated  with 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  like  the  stevedores  union,  which, 
has  a  large  Hawaiian  membership,  have  placed  themselves  on  record 
as  in  favor  of  this  proposition  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Absolutely  not.  I  have  never  heard  of  anything;  in 
fact,  the  protest  comes  direct  from  them,  and  I  am  instructed  to  protests 

Mr.  Free.  From  whom  does  the  protest  come  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  From  Honolulu,  first,  and  through  that  Honolulu 
Federation  of  Labor  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  we  are 
speaking  for  both.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  feels  the 
danger  of  any  such  resolution  being  adopted  for  any  part  of  the  Ter- 
ritories under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  and,  if  it  is  adopted 
and  becomes  a  law,  and  they  are  permitted  to  bring  men  in  under- 
such  conditions  in  Hawaii,  why  under  the  same  supposed  emergency 
they  cculd  be  brought  in  in  Florida  or  California  or  any  other  part 
of  the  country.  It  would  be  a  precedent  that  would  be  dangerous; 
it  would  be  a  step  backward. 

The  Chairman.  Does  any  member  want  to  ask  any  questions  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Have  you  ever  been  out  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  do  not  know  anything  about  the  conditions  there ;- 
that  is,  how  many  of  these  people  belong  to  the  unions  out  there  I 
Can  you  give  us  some  idea  about  that  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  can  not  tell  you  the  exact  numbers,  but  in  the- 
cities  we  have  locals  of  molders  and,  as  was  shown  here,  they  have 
unions  of  the  other  skilled  trades. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  I  want  to  get  at  is  this:  If  these  Chinese  come 
in,  are  they  going  to  compete  with  any  men  that  belong  to  any  of 
your  local  unions  out  there  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  would  not  make  any  difference;  it  would  estab- 
lish a  system.  We  would  be  establishing  a  system  of  slavery  in 
countries  dominated  by  the  United  States.  I  believe  they  would, 
eventually  aim  to  put  those  men  under  certain  restrictions,  and,  some 
way  or  other,  they  will  get  them  under  that  restriction  whenever 
the  necessity  arises.  If  some  of  these  sugar  planters  have  other- 
interests  and  they  have  trouble  with  their  men,  I  do  not  believe  that. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  307 

they  would  have  any  scruples  in  removmg  some  of  those  Chinese  into 
the  factories  to  take  the  place  of  the  Americans  they  have. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  if  you  were  to  bring  enough  laborers 
in  to  take  the  place  of  those  who  are  in  the  fields  now,  enough  Chinese 
laborers,  it  would  remove  all  those  now  in  the  fields,  drive  them  out 
and  drive  them  into  the  cities  to  compete  with  the  Americans  there 
in  the  other  industries  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  would  be  a  very  poor  wa}^  of  Americanizing  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  to  bring  in  orientals.  Yes,  it  would  have  that  effect 
in  my  opinion;  whenever  the  necessity  arose  they  would  use  them 
anywhere  that  they  could  be  used. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  3-ou  know  whether  any  of  those  men  who  are  em- 
ployed in  the  fields  belong  to  unions  at  the  present  time  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  is  evident  that  those  Japanese  have  joined  a 
union  of  their  own. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Your  point  is  that  these  people  who  are  employing 
Japanese  over  there,  that  the  Japanese  were  all  right  with  them  as 
long  as  they  could  control  them;  but  now  that  they  have  gotten  out- 
side of  their  control,  they  are  beginning  to  recognize  they  have  some 
rights  as  to  fixing  the  conditions  under  which  they  work,  that  now 
the  employers  are  objecting  and  want  to  bring  in  a  class  that  they 
can  control  and  also  control  the  conditions  under  which  they  work  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Absolutel}^^.  And,  as  I  said  before,  it  might  be 
South  Sea  Islanders,  and,  if  there  is  anything  below  that,  they  can 
choose  them — anyone  that  they  can  absolutely  hold  down  and  have 
them  work  under  conditions  that  they  wish  to  impose  upon  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  matter  with  those  Soloman  Islanders  ? 
That  is  a  new  one  on  me. 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  are  a  man-eating  class.  I  do  not  know,  but 
I  have  read  some  of  Jack  London's  stories. 

Mr.  Free.  Don't  you  think  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  let  some 
of  them  get  in  there  and  eat  up  some  of  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  That  is  my  impression.  They  had  this  black- 
birding  system  among  those  islanders;  they  would  go  to  those 
islands  and  some  chief  would  sell  them  a  certain  number  of  young 
men  for  a  certain  length  of  time  and  he  would  get  a  consideration 
and  they  would  have  to  go  in  there  and  work  for  a  certain  length 
of  time  and  then  they  would  turn  them  back  and  so  many  ijiore 
would  come.  That  is  the  system  under  which  they  raised  copra 
in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  according  to  my  reading. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  another  question.  You  are 
here  representing  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  are  here  in  response  to  a  protest  filed  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  am  here  in  answer  to  a  protest  filed  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  by  the  Honolulu  Federation  of  Labor, 
consisting  of  the  labor  unions  over  there. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  I  want  to  get  at  is  to  find  out  the  condition 
over  there  in  Hawaii  and  Honolulu,  as  to  who  are  in  back  of  this 
^  protest.     Is  it  the  Japanese  and  the  Japanese  unions,  or  employees 
of  the  Government,  or  who  ? 


308  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  have  not  the  information  here;  I  have  not  the 
originals. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  I  want  to  get  the  origin  of  the  pro- 
test, if  it  is  possible.  I  am  not  asking  you  to  give  away  any  state 
secrets. 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  But  we  want  to  2:et  all  the  information. 

Mr.  Wallace.  This  is  not  a  secret  at  all.  I  was  anxious  to  brin  .^ 
this  before  the  committee,  but  I  do  not  have  the  original  papers. 
But  here  is  an  answer  to  Mr.  H.  N.  Tyson,  president  of  the  Central 
Labor  Union. 

Mr.  Cable.  Now,  who  is  Mr.  H.  N.  Tj^son? 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  is  not  a  Japanese. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  does  he  do  out  there,  do  you  know? 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  is  president  of  the  Central  Labor  Union;  I  do 
not  know  what  else.  He  is  in  some  trade,  no  doubt,  working.  1 
have  not  the  information  here,  and  that  is  why  I  asked  to  wait 
until  the  papers  came. 

Mr.  Free.  Isn't  it  a  fact  that  a  man  by  the  name  of  Wright  is 
president  and  Mr.  Tyson  is  not  the  president  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  This  is  all  I  have — Mr.  Tyson,  president  of  the 
Central  Labor  Union. 

Mr.  Cable.  Can  you  give  us  the  benefit  of  the  names  of  those  who 
protested  and  who  they  represent  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  will  bring  that  here  as  soon  as  I  get  the  infor- 
mation. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  believe  it  would  help  the  committee  in  acting  fairly 
in  this  matter,  to  find  out  the  source  of  the  objections  filed  in  the 
resolutions. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  want  to  say  one  thing,  that  we,  as  a  federation 
of  labor,  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  support  the  nationalistic  hopes 
of  any  race  of  people  in  any  part  of  this  country  or  its  Territories. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  exactly  what  I  want  to  get  at;  whether  this 
is  a  Japanese  problem  and  whether  you  are  in  back  of  it,  or  whether 
this  is  entirely  an  American  Federation  of  Labor  problem. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Cable,  we  protested  against  the  admission  of 
Japs  in  this  country  or  any  of  its  Territories.  They  were  brought 
in  in  spite  of  our  protest  as  long  as  they  would  labor  and  labor  cheap 
and  were  obedient  and  even  abject.  I  want  to  say  this,  also,  that  : 
if  the  time  comes  when  we  either  have  to  admit  any  race  of  people  ' 
into  this  country  or  fight,  at  my  age  I  am  willing  to  take  a  gun.  I 
am  not  here  representing  any  foreign  race  of  people  or  any  race  of 
people;  I  am  here  to  try  to  protect  conditions  of  labor  in  America; 
I  am  here  to  protest  against  slavery  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  will  find  this  committee  unanimous,  I  think, 
against  importing  any  labor  into  this  country. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Or  any  of  its  Territories. 

Mr.  Cable.  We  are  not  against  hearing  American  labor  here,  but  | 
what  we  want  to  find  out  is  whether  or  not  the  situation  there  in  | 
Hawaii  is  different  or  not. 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  way  for  you  to  correct  that 
situation  is  not  by  importing  another  oriental  situation,  and  under 
conditions  even  worse  than  those  under  which  the  Japanese  were 
brought  in. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN"   HAWAII.  309 

Mr.  Free.  What  would  be  your  solution  of  that  problem?  You 
realize  we  have  a  problem  out  there  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  If  this  industry  can  not  get  along  without  some 
kind  of  slave  labor,  I  say  it  is  a  parasitic  industry.  I  believe  if  the 
inducements  there  wcrg  sufficient  men  would  go  there.  I  see  no 
reason,  even  in  that  country,  if  there  are  certain  advantages  in  going 
over  there,  why  they  can  not  advertise  those  advantages  in  this 
country  and  get  a  plentiful  supply  of  labor.  There  are  5;000,000 
idle  men  in  this  country.' 

The  Chairman.  They  would  not  work  on  crops  in  the  fields,  would 
they? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Oh,  I  do  not  know;  why  not? 

Mr.  Cable.  You  would  not  favor  American  labor  going  over  there 
and  working  for  the  wages  they  give,  would  you? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Not  for  the  wages  they  give,  but  if  the  wages  are 
good  enough,  if  they  could  give  fair  wages,  I  know  of  pretty  good 
American  citizens  who  work  in  the  fields.  They  call  them  farmers, 
but  they  work  in  the  fields. 

Mr.  Free.  A  white  man  can  not  work  in  the  fields  of  that  country, 
can  he  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  My  impression  has  been  that  when  a  job  becomes 
a  Negro's  job,  to  use  that  expression,  or  a  Jap's  job,  why,  then,  the 
white  man  won't  work  there;  and  that  is  the  objection  they  have 
to  going  there  to  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  not  that  the  condition  that  has  occurred  in  the 
Western  States,  that  our  best  young  men  and  women  from  the 
schools,  during  their  vacations,  went  out  and  picked  prunes  and 
gathered  up  almons  and  gathered  the  greater  part  of  the  crop  of 
apricots,  and  then  on  to  the  hops,  and  did  that  work  until  the  Japs 
came  in,  and  then  the  white  bo}^  and  the  white  girl  would  not  go 
out  there  and  work  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Of  course  they  would  not;  why  should  they?  Why, 
those  men  were  brought  in  first  because  they  would  work  cheap ;  and 
then  this  migratory  importation — I  have  seen  men,  white  men, 
Americans,  driven  away  from  the  mines,  driven  away  from  the 
factories  by  the  cheaper  labor  that  was  imported.  They  spread  over 
the  country  and  kept  going  westward,  without  homes,  without 
families,  until  they  met  the  incoming  flood,  the  yellow  flood,  and 
they  were  driven  back,  and  those  men  have  a  grouch  against  the 
Government.  They  are  called  the  I.  W.  W's,  and  they  are  nothing 
but  disgruntled  men.  They  have  a  grouch  against  the  Government 
and  hatred,  and  I  think  it  is  partly  justified. 
.  The  Chairman.  You  say  they  have  a  grouch? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  say  they  have  a  grouch. 

The  Chairman.  Their  leader.  Bill  Hayward,  seemed  to  have  a 
graft. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  have  read  that,  too. 

Mr.  Sabath.  In  what  way  do  you  think  they  are  justified  in  part, 
when  the  conditions  of  the  men  who  labor  have  been  getting  better 
and  better  and  better  ?  Have  they  not  improved  the  laboring  con- 
ditions of  the  American  in  the  last  20  or  30  years  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Since  organized  labor  has  gotten  some  hold.  The 
conditions  were  miserable  and  the  harm  was  done  and  the  potential 
family  was  driven  out  before  organized  labor  got  a  chance. 


310  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IIT   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  would  grant  that  the  Federation  of  Labor  or  united 
labor  has  done  a  great  deal  to  improve  the  conditions  and  they  have 
done  so  especially  in  the  last  30  years.  Now,  what  I  desire  to  ask 
is,  in  view  of  the  improved  conditions,  What  reason  or  justification 
have  these  men  to  have  this  grouch  ?  They  have  been  earning  more 
money  than  ever  before;  they  live  better  than  ever  before;  they  have 
nearly  everything.  Of  course,  here  and  there  there  may  be  some 
shortcomings. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Sabath,  I  am  not  a  patriarch  yet;  but  I  re- 
member when  all  of  the  iron  mills,  all  of  the  coal  mines,  most  of  the 
textile  mills  were  manned  by  Americans  and  the  early  immigrants. 
I  have  seen  them  driven  out  from  those  places  until  not  1  per  cent 
remain.  These  men  that  drifted  out  into  the  building  of  railroads, 
into  the  lumber  camps  of  the  West,  into  the  quartz  mines  and  new 
places,  they  have  never  married.  It  is  the  womanless  man,  the  man 
who  has  no  stake  in  the  country,  that  is  a  menace  to  this  country. 
He  has  nothing  to  lose.  And  from  that  kind  of  people  you  get  all 
your  labor  radicals. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  brought  in  this  cheap  foreign  labor  to  take  their 
places  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  To  take  their  places  and  drove  them  out  of  every 
place.  They  have  no  wives;  they  have  no  family;  they  have  no  plot 
of  ground — they  have  no  stake. 

^Ii\  Raker.  And  we  do  not  have  to  go  very  far  and  very  many 
years  back  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Over  in  Illinois,  less  than  four  years  ago,  their  agents 
went  dov/n South  and  brought  up  trainloads  of  Negroes,  with  promises, 
that  came  to  the  door  where  these  men  worked  and  went  in  and  took 
their  jobs? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Absolutely,  and  drove  them  out.  Those  are  the 
radicals. 

The  Chairman.  That  will  be  all,  and  when  you  have  that  evidence, 
we  will  be  glad  to  have  it. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

(The  committee  thereupon  adjourned  until  to-morrow,  Friday, 
June  24,  1921,  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  in.) 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

WasMngton,  June  24,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  Your  chairman  has  given  some  thought  to  the 
question  raised  yesterday  that  discussion  in  detail  before  this  com- 
mittee of  various  phases  of  the  Japanese  problem  in  Hawaii  might 
not  be  proper  subject  matter  to  come  before  this  committee,  and 
that  such  discussion  of  these  problems  might  embarrass  the  State 
Department. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  go  on  record  as  opposed  to  that  statement 

The  Chairman.  If  you  will  just  wait  a  minute. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  311 

The  cliairman  has  examined  questions  and  answers  in  the  hearings 
•of  the  past  three  days  and  finds  that  the  questions  involved  are 
identical,  or  nearly  identical,  with  those  which  furnished  the  basis 
•of  the  inquiry  by  this  committee  in  California,  Oregon,  and  Wash- 
ington during  the  Sixty-sixth  Congress. 

Therefore  the  chairman  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that,  inasmuch  as 
the  present  labor  situation  in  Hawaii  is  alleged  to  be  largely  the 
result  of  Japanese  settlement  within  the  islands  and  Japanese 
solidarity  there,  it  is  pertinent  for  this  committee  to  hear  statements 
•on  any  and  all  phases  of  the  question  in  open  hearings. 

At  the  proper  time,  unless  there  is  objection,  I  may  present  a  state- 
ment with  the  views  I  have  gathered  here  and  elsewhere.  Pertinent 
questions  may  be  asked  of  any  witnesses  appearing  here  after. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  chairman  will  present  a  statement  for  the  wit- 
nesses ? 

The  Chairman.  No,  I  will  present  a  composite  statement  which 
seems  to  give  the  whole  thing  in  a  nut  shell. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  after  that  has  been  presented  in  a  nut  shell, 
there  might  be  some  necessity  to  crack  that  nut  a  little  bit,  and  we 
will  be  given  the  opportunity  to  see  what  is  inside  of  the  nut  ? 

The  Chairman.  If  the  matter  is  not  considered  sufficiently  dis- 
cussed for  this  committee  to  come  to  a  conclusion  and  act  on  the  re- 
solution directly,  we  can  go  on  and  hold  hearings  all  summer,  although 
many  other  matters  are  pressing. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  perfectly  satisfactory  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  Representative  Nolan  is  present  and  desires  to  be 
heard,  we  will  hear  him  now. 

STATEMENT  OF  HON.  JOHN  I.  NOLAN,  A  REPRESENTATIVE  IN 
CONGRESS  FROM  THE  STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Mr.  Nolan.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  there 
are  two  phases  of  the  subject  covered  by  this  resolution  about  which 
I  desire  to  say  a  few  words. 

As  a  Californian  and  as  one  of  the  California  Delegation  in  the 
House,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  transmit  to  this  committee  certain  pro- 
tests that  I  have  received.  In  addition  to  that,  I  feel  it  my  duty 
also  to  enter  my  protest  against  any  legislation  or  any  resolution  by 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  that  would  permit  the  tilting  of  the 
lid  regarding  Asiatic  immigration,  whether  it  happened  to  deal  with 
Chinese,  Japanese,  or  other  Asiatics. 

The  people  of  our  State,  in  fact  the  people  of  the  West  coast,  are 
pretty  generally  solidified  on  the  matter  of  complete  Asiatic  exclu- 
•sion.  We  have  had  an  opportunity  during  the  last  four  or  five  years 
to  try  out  all  sorts  of  suggestions  regarding  relief  to  the  agricul- 
turists and  horticulturists  of  the  Western  States.  One  little  exper- 
ience we  had  I  would  like  to  call  to  the  attention  of  the  committee — ■ 
that  was  when  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  in  interpreting  the  Burnett 
immigration  bill,  decided  that  certain  classes  of  labor  would  be  per- 
mitted to  come  over  our  borders,  practically  in  bond,  for  agricultural 
purposes.  I  do  not  know  what  the  experience  of  the  rest  of  the 
border  States  was  in  that  regard;  I  do  know  this,  that  some  of  the 
Mexican  laborers  that  came  over  into  California  and  got  up  into  our 
beet  fields,  did  not  receive  the  consideration  that  was  promised  them. 


312  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

They  were  not  in  bond  as  proposed  practically  by  the  terms  of  this 
resolution;  but  they  did  not  get  the  considertaion  they  should  have 
received  from  the  beet  growers  and  the  sugar  men.  That  was  our 
only  experience  with  tilting  the  lid  for  agricultural  purposes. 

A  movement  was  started  in  California  by  certain  interests  to  bring- 
about  a  sentiment  there  among  the  farmers  and  agriculturists  gener- 
ally for  the  admission  of  Chinese  in  bond;  a  well-financed  movement 
in  this  country  was  started  and  it  had  its  headquarters  in  New  York 
and  undoubtedly  you  gentlemen  received  plenty  of  literature.  I  can 
not  recall  the  name  of  the  gentleman  who  had  charge  of  the  matter 
over  there,  but  I  know  he  circularized  Congress  time  after  time  in 
regard  to  this  movement.  The  people  of  our  State  had  an  oppor- 
tunit}^  to  go  on  record,  through  the  farmers'  organizations,  and  they 
went  on  record  solidly  against  any  importation  of  Chinese  for  agri- 
cultural purposes,  in  bond  or  otherwise.  So  I  just  preface  my  re- 
marks on  this  situation,  as  it  applies  to  Hawaii,  to  tell  you  just 
exactly  how  our  people  feel. 

You  know  what  happened  in  the  alien  land  referendum  last  fall; 
you  know  how  our  people  feel  about  Asiatic  labor  generally,  and  if 
the  suggestion  was  even  made  out  there  that  we  would  admit  Chi- 
nese for  any  purpose,  it  would  be  overwhelmingly  defeated. 

The  Chairman.  Just  a  minute.  What  did  happen  on  the  alien 
land  referendum  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  A  four  to  one  vote  against  it;  a  four  to  one  vote 
against  permitting  Japanese  or  Asiatics  from  owning  or  leasing  land 
in  the  State  of  California. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  applied  to  Chinese  as  well  as  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  To  all  Asiatics — all  those  ineligible  to  citizenship. 

The  other  phase  of  this  on  which  I  would  like  to  say  a  word, 
before  going  into  the  situation  in  regard  to  Hawaii,  is  that  I  do  not 
know  how  we  can  justify  any  action  by  the  American  Congress  that 
would  mean  bonded  or  forced  labor;  and  if  you  admit  labor  in  any 
considerable  numbers,  in  bond,  you  are  tying  them  to  the  particular 
jobs  they  are  supposed  to  do. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  not  that  specifically  inhibited  by  the  Constitution, 
as  well  as  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  since  the  thirteenth 
•amendment? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  will  leave  that  to  you  lawyers.  I  am  not  a  lawyer; 
I  only  happen  to  be  a  layman.  But  I  think  we  put  that  thing  behind 
us  many  years  ago  and  the  struggle  cost  the  lives  of  many  good  men 
on  both  sides  in  doing  it.  We  settled  the  question  of  bonded  labor; 
and  whether  it  is  the  continental  United  States  or  one  of  our  posses- 
sions or  anybody  we  have  under  our  wing,  we  ought  not  to  give  it  a 
moment's  consideration.  If  an  industry  can  not  live  in  this  country 
.  or  in  any  of  our  possessions  without  bonded  labor  or  enforced  labor, 
it  should  not  thrive  at  all;  it  does  not  belong  to  us.  That  is  about 
all  I  have  to  say  in  that  regard. 

Now,  gentlemen,   I  want    to    tell    you  my  experience  as  far  as 
Hawaii  is  concerned.      I  went  over  there  first  in  1900  and  stayed,, 
there  13  months   and   came  back  to  the  United  States  in   1901.     I^ 
went   there   again  in    1904,  stayed  eight  months  and  came  back  in 
1905.     When  I  first  went  over  there,  the  Japanese  were  coming  in' 
in  droves;   they  were  also  leaving  the  islands  for  the  mainland,  and 
they  continued  to  do  that  until  1907. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  313 

I  had  some  opportunity  to  observe  conditions  over  there.  The 
first  strike,  I  think,  of  the  Japanese — and  I  mention  the  strikes 
because  that  is  largely  responsible  for  this  resolution,  the  experiences 
of  the  planters  and  people  of  Hawaii  generally  with  the  Japanese 
strike  last  year— the  first  strike  I  have  any  knowledge  of  occurred  on 
one  of  the  plantations  on  the  island  of  Oahu  in  1901.  I  can  not  give 
you  the  name  of  the  plantation,  because  it  has  gone  out  of  my  mind. 
I  remember  very  well,  though,  that  the  then  high  sheriff  of  Honolulu, 
Sheriff  Brown,  and  several  of  his  deputies — and*  if  T- x'-e^rneinbertigdu, 
I  think  one  of  the  members  of  this  commission  happened  to  be^'With 
them  at  the  time,  Mr.  Chillingsworth,  and  I  do  k^ncw  |vl7'.',Difme,find 
some  others  went  along — went  out  to  the  plailir^lJioil 'to'.a^til^ 'the 
Japanese  strike.  Luckily  the}^  had  the  consul  general  of  the  Jap- 
anese Government  with  them,  and  he  was  able  to  talk  to  them  and 
quiet  them  down;  otherwise,  somebody  would  have  been  hurt. 

From  that  time  on  they  have  had  considerable  trouble  with  the 
Japanese,  due  to  the  fact  they  began  to  feel  their  strength — they 
were  dominating  the  labor  situation  on  the  plantation.  I  am  not 
going  to  blame  the  planters:  I  think  they  have  probably  been  penalized 
heavily  enough  without  criticizing  the.Ti  for  the  situation  that  exists 
there.  But  they  turned  everything  on  the  plantations  o^^er  to  ihe 
Jap— not  along  the  laborious  work  in  the  fields,  but  the  buildin,^^  of 
pipe  lines,  contracting  for  the  building  of  ditches,  and  work  like  that. 
They  turned  over  to  them  practically  ever^'thing  of  a  mechanical 
nature  on  the  plantations  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  chief 
eng^ineer's  job  and  a  few  other  important  jobs  of  that  kind. 

In  1904,  when  I  was  over  there,  the  planters — I  make  the  sugges- 
tion it  was  the  planters,  because  I  do  not  know  of  any  other  interest 
that  would  have  started  the  movement  over  there  except  the  plant- 
ers— made  a  proposition  to  the  builders'  and  traders'  organization 
in  Honolulu  and  the  Honolulu  Trades  and  Labor  Council,  asking 
them  each  to  appoint  a  committee  of  three  to  make  a  tour  of  all  the 
plantations  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  labor  situation  and 
making  recommendations.  That  committee  was  taken  in  tow  by 
Mr.  Pinkham,  former  Governor  of  Hawaii,  and  I  think  he  at  that 
time  was  connected  with  the  Territorial  board  of  health.  They  made 
quite  an  extensive  tour  of  the  islands  and  came  back  to  Llonolulu 
and  wrote  a  report  memorializing  Congress  to  admit  into  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii,  for  a  period  of  10  years,  30,000  Chinese  in  bond  for 
agricultural  purposes.  I  was  a  delegate  to  the  Central  Labor  Coun- 
cil out  there,  and  I  bitterly  opposed  the  proposition.  The  council 
then  took  no  action,  favorable  or  unfavorable,  for  the  simple  reason 
everything  broke  up  in  a  row  whenever  a  discussion  took  place. 

Mr.  Raker.  Where  was  this  meeting,  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  In  Honolulu.  The  people  who  were  interested  in 
having  that  resolution  adopted  sent  for  the  delegates  to  that  council, 
practically  everyone  of  them,  and  tried  to  induce  them,  by  various 
methods,  to  vote  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  report,  which  would 
have  been  a  memorial  from  a  representative  gathering  of  labor  over 
there  to  the  American  Congress  to  admit  Chinese  in  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii.  In  return  for  their  support  to  admit  Chinese  into  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Hawaii,  they  promised  to  discharge  every  Japanese  holding 
a  skilled  mechanical  or  semiskilled  position  on  the  plantations  and 
to  turn  those  positions  over  to  citizen  labor. 


314  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  was  communicated  with  and 
immediately,  in  their  convention  in  San  Francisco  in  1904,  they 
entered  a  strong  and  vigorous  protest  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  against  any  action  of  this  kind.  Some  of  the  local 
unions  over  there  that  had  adopted  the  report  were  disciplined  by 
their  international  unions  through  a  loss  of  their  charter.  It  shows 
you  the  very  strong  feeling  that  the  people  of  this  country,  especially 
the  workers,  had  against  any  admission  of  Chinese,  in  bond  or  other- 
wise^'.'-,        \  •'  I  ''  r'<  '   '' 

The  thing  was  dropped;  no  effective  action  was  had  upon  the  propo- 
sition. ;  But;!  wovJd  like  to  call  the  committee's  attention  to  this 
fkcG,"  that  as'  far^  back-. 4s  1904  the  proposition  of  admitting  Chinese 
into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  was  a  live  issue,  and  considerable  time 
and  money  was  spent  in  sending  this  commission  around  to  the 
difi'erent  islands  and  in  compiling  this  report  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
effective  action. 

Now,  the  same  arguments  were  advanced  in  1904  that  you  find 
advanced  here  to-day.  I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  being 
present  before  this  committee,  but  I  have  discussed  this  matter  with 
Mr.  Dillingham  and  Senator  Wise,  and  I  have  also  discussed  it  with 
a  man  I  know  very  well  and  who  has  had  a  great  many  years'  expe- 
rience in  Plawaii,  Mr.  McCrosson,  and  I  went  into  it  very  fully  with 
them;  and  the  very  same  arguments  are  being  presented  to  you 
to-day,  gentlemen,  as  were  presented  in  1904 — the  sugar  industry  in 
Hawaii  could  not  live  unless  they  got  cheap  labor,  unless  they  were 
relieved  from  the  terrific  situation  they  were  living  under  at  that 
time,  on  account  of  the  economic  control  of  those  islands,  as  far  as 
the  labor  situation  was  concerned,  by  the  Japanese. 

Notwithstanding  that,  Hawaii  has  continued  to  prosper.  I  would 
like  you  to  have,  Mr.  Chairman,  an  opportunity  of  going  over  the 
stock  reports  in  reference  to  the  stock  of  the  different  plantations  in 
Hawaii  and  the  different  institutions  interested  in  sugar  over  there, 
and  you  can  get  them  very  readily  enough  through  the  clerk  of  this 
committee,  for  1904,  1920,  and  the  present  time.  You  can  then  see 
whether  Hawaii  has  prospered,  notwithstanding  her  claims  at  that 
time. 

Now,  the  sugar  industry  has  not  alone  prospered,  but  they  have 
built  up  what  to-day  is  a  tremendous  business,  and  that  is  the  pine- 
apple industry  over  there.  And  Hawaii  has  prospered,  notwithstand- 
ing the  statements  made  at  that  time,  and  is  going  to  prosper  without 
Chinese  and  without  forced  labor. 

The  Chairman.  How  did  they  build  up  the  pineapple  industry? 

]VIr.  Nolan.  They  had  no  pineapple  industry  when  I  was  there, 
and  I  am  calling  your  attention  to  the  fact,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  it 
has  prospered.  They  made  the  statement  that  they  had  to  have  this 
cheap  labor  for  their  plantations  in  1904,  and  they  wanted  30,000 
Chinese  to  save  the  islands.  I  do  not  know  how  they  did  it,  but  I 
am  telhng  you  you  can  get  the  facts  as  to  how  the  pineapple  industry 
prospered,  because  they  found  a  common-sense,  practical  method  of 
canning  pineapples  and  have  a  very  effective  organization  over  there, 
not  alone  for  distribution  but  for  advertising  the  excellent  qualities 
of  pineapple  as  a  food. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  done  by  organization,  beginning  with  the 
introduction  of  capital  ? 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  315 

V  Mr.  Nolan.  Yes.  But  at  that  time  they  had  no  pineapple  in- 
dustry. I  am  calhng  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  not  alone  the 
.sugar  industry  has  been  able  to  survive  over  there  and  live  with  the 
labor  conditions  complained  of  in  1904,  but  they  have  built  up  this 
added  industry  and  I  hope  many  others. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  in  that  industry  a  great  many  young  people, 
young  women,  are  used  in  canning  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  could  not  give  you  the  facts  in  connection  with  the 
class  of  labor;  but  I  am  calling  your  attention  to  the  fact,  in  a  broad 
way,  that  Hawaii  has  prospered  since  1904,  notwithstanding  the 
claims  of  the  commission  at  that  time  and  the  planters  that  they  had 
to  have  relief  through  forced  or  bonded  labor  to  save  the  situation 
and  relieve  them  from  the  Jap. 

Mr.  Raker.  From  your  personal  observation  over  there,  Mr.  Nolan, 
and  knowledge  of  the  labor  condition  generally,  just  what  is  the 
trouble  with  those  people  in  Hawaii  in  regard  to  labor?  Can  you 
-tell  us  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Well,  it  is  no  different.  Judge,  so  far  as  the  Japanese 
.are  concerned — which  is  the  class  of  labor  that  is  largely  used  on  the 
plantations — than  it  is  in  California.  From  my  investigations  over 
there  and  from  what  I  could  find  out,  when  the  Jap  was  first  brought 
there  he  got  $16  a  month  and  the  same  conditions  of  house,  fuel,  light, 
water,  a  little  patch  of  ground  and  medical  attention,  and  the  Waihani 
woman  got  $12  a  month,  in  the  fields.  Since  that  time,  I  understand 
it  has  gone  up  to  approximately  $24  or  $26  a  month — a  dollar  a  day. 
When  he  first  came  there,  he  did  not  have  control  in  the  cane  fields 
and  he  did  a  good  day's  work,  according  to  the  statements  of  the 
planters — he  was  considered  a  good  laborer,  because  he  had  not  gotten 
control.  As  they  gradually  came  along,  he  diminished  the  amount  of 
the  labor  he  did  in  the  cane  fields  and  in  other  lines  over  there,  until 
he  was  doing  what  he  considered  $16  worth  of  work,  and  the  state- 
ment was  made  it  took  three  Japanese  in  1904  and  1905  to  do  the 
same  amount  of  labor  that  was  done  by  one,  when  they  did  not  have 
control  of  the  plantations,  several  years  before. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  he  was  fixing  his  labor  according  to  the 
amount  he  was  paid  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  He  was  doing  what  they  call  striking  on  the  job.  He 
was  making  a  place  for  another  fellow  to  come  along,  because  he  did 
not  get  what  he  considered  he  was  earning.  Now  they  were  making 
room  for  more  of  them.  What  they  had  in  the  back  of  their  head,  in 
making  room  for  more,  I  do  not  know;  but  that  situation  has  gone 
on  until  last  year. 

You  have  the  history  of  the  strike  down  there.  They  had  a  pretty 
hard  time  of  it. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Will  you  give  us  the  history  of  that  strike  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  could  not  give  it  to  you  for  last  year;  I  was  not  over 
there  and  all  I  know  are  the  newspaper  reports.  But  I  think  these 
gentlemen  here  have  given  you  the  exact  facts  and,  as  far  as  I  know, 
I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  one  word  they  say  in  relation  to  the  strike 
situation  over  there  last  year.  Knowing  the  people  they  had  to  deal 
with,  as  I  do,  I  do  not  think  they  can  exaggerate  anything  they  did. 
We  know  what  they  did  in  California.  They  have  my  entire  sym- 
pathy as  far  as  that  situation  is  concerned,  whether  they  are  respon- 
:sible  for  it,  or  not;  because  we  have  it  in  a  milder  way  in  California. 


316  LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII. 

Now  there  is  not  a  farmer  in  this  country,  or  not  any  great  number 
of  farmers  in  this  country,  that  are  not  oppressed  from  time  to  time 
on  account  of  the  labor  cost.  In  yesterday's  paper,  a  statement  was 
made  that  they  had  to  pay  $6  a  day  to  farm  labor  in  the  State  of 
Kansas,  on  account  of  the  shortage 

Mr.  White.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Nolan  (continuing).  And  we  know  there  is  a  tremendous 
number  of  men  hundreds  of  thousands  or  a  million  or  two,  of  farm 
laborers  available  some  place  in  this  country  without  the  necessary 
means  of  transportation,  distribution  or  anything  else  to  take  them 
to  Kansas  to  relieve  that  situation.  It  is  not  a  question  of  $6  a  day; 
it  is  a  question  of  shortage,  and  that  is  exactly  what  labor  costs  mean. 
Wherever  there  is  a  shortage,  it  goes  up. 

This  Congress  recently  passed  an  immigration  bill.  Now,  you  had 
all  of  the  calamity  howlers  in  this  country  before  your  committee- 
protesting  against  the  limitation  of  immigration — the  representa- 
tives of  the  big  interests  and  everybody  else  that  was  interested — and 
they  could  put  up  just  as  fine  a  tale  as  the  gentlemen  from  Hawaii. 
Now,  if  they  can  get  relief  under  legitimate  conditions,  I  am  willing 
to  go  as  far  as  anybody  else  to  give  it  to  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  From  your  observation,  Mr.  Nolan,  are  not  the- 
Hawaiian  people  in  a  little  different  situation  than  they  are  in  conti- 
nental United  States,  in  that  the  Japanese  are  of  such  a  large  per- 
centage now  of  the  labor  that  instead  of  really  being  a  labor  organiza- 
tion, by  classes  as  to  each  occupation,  they  make  it  a  national 
organization,  and,  therefore,  they  are  in  a  position  practically  to 
dominate  the  entire  situation  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  national  aspect. 
I  do  know  something  about  the  Ja])anese  and  their  methods. 
Whether  it  is  in  California  or  Hawaii,  there  is  nobody  that  has  a, 
closer  feeling  of  kin  than  the  Japanese — whether  it  is  out  in  the  field 
as  a  laborer,  or  whether  it  is  in  the  formation  of  small  cooperative^ 
organizations  with  a  limited  amount  of  capital  to  start  with,  branch- 
ing out  and  sending  their  people  out  into  the  world  to  work  until  such 
time  as  they  need  to  draw  them  in  to  take  their  part  in  this  particular- 
line  of  business,  or  whether  it  is  trying  to  capture  some  fertile  valley 
in  the  State  of  California  or  some  place  else,  through  methods  they 
know  so  well  how  to  practice;  that  is,  for  a  number  of  years  they  have' 
had  a  monopoly  in  furnishing  labor  to  that  particular  section  of  a. 
State  and  have  driven  out  every  other  class,  and  then,  when  the  time' 
comes  and  the  crop  is  about  to  ripen  on  the  trees,  they  withhold  labor 
and  will  not  gather  the  crop  at  any  price;  and  through  that  mean& 
eventually  they  get  control  not  only  of  the  crop  but  the  land  itself. 

We  are  trying  to  reach  that  situation  in  California  in  a  straight- 
forward way ■ 

The  Chairman.  Now,  if  you  were  trying  to  meet  it  in  Hawaii,, 
then  what  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  say  I  am  willing  to  give  every  legitimate  help.  We 
in  California  have  got  to  find  a  way  to  meet  that  thing  legitimately. 
We  think  we  have  done  it.  Some  people  are  telling  us  we  are  going 
to  plunge  the  country  into  war  by  doing  it — by  depriving  those 
people  within  the  State  of  the  right  of  holding,  leasing,  or  owning; 
land. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  317 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  your  chief  objection  to  this  resolution  the  fact  a 
bond  is  required  for  the  return  of  these  people? 

Mr.  Nolan.  My  principal  objection  to  the  resolution  is  that  behind 
it  I  feel  they  want  Chinese  labor,  and  they  are  not  curing  the  race 
(jucstion  over  there  except  in  another  direction.  Those  of  us  who 
A\  ere  raised  in  California  know  how  much  of  a  menace  the  Chinaman 
is.  Now  he  happens  to  be  of  good  standing  throughout  the  country; 
to-day  he  happens  to  be  in  fairly  good  standing  in  Calif ornia,  because 
man}^  years  ago  he  ceased  to  be  an  economic  menace.  And  when  he 
•ceased  to  be  that  to  the  field  worker  and  the  manufacturer  and  agri- 
culturist, he  took  on  a  new  being.  When  he  went  into  the  restaurant 
husiness  and  went  into  the  curio  business  and  went  in  the  house- 
holds, as  a  household  servant,  why  he  ceased  to  be  an  economic 
menace  to  anybody;  but  when  he  used  to  come  over  by  the  thousands 
he,  first  of  all,  was  a  menace  to  the  worker;  when  he  started  to  go  into 
business,  then  he  became  a  menace  to  the  retailer;  when  he  became 
a  manufacturer,  then  he  became  a  menace  to  the  manufacturer,  and, 
when  the  people  began  generally  to  buy  from  him  direct,  he  became 
a  menace  to  everybody  and  we  got  the  Chinese  exclusion  law. 

Now,  we  do  not  want  Chinese  to  enter  into  any  of  our  possessions 
any  more  than  the  Japs.  I  have  probably  a  little  bit  more  fear,  in 
the  matter  of  compettiion,  of  the  Japanese,  but  I  do  not  want  the 
Chinese;  that  is,  I  do  not  want  to  see  us  return  to  the  proposition  of 
forced  labor  and  bonded  labor  in  any  case. 

Mr.  Cable.  If  there  was  no  bond,  would  it  be  bonded  labor? 

Mr.  Nolan.  If  you  admit  them  to  this  country  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  No;  to  Hawaii,  I  mean. 

Mr.  Nolan.  If  you  admit  them  to  Hawaii  for  a  certain  specific 
purpose  and  confine  thern  to  that,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with 
them  when  they  leave  the  plantation  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Arrest  them  and  send  them  back. 

Mr.  Nolan.  You  are  chaining  them  to  the  job  again. 

Mr.  Raker.  Surely. 

Mr.  Nolan.  What  is  the  difference  between  that  and  a  bond? 

Mr.  Raker.  None  whatever. 

Mr.  Nolan.  You  are  only  doing  in  this  instance  what  you  relieved 
or  tried  to  relieve  the  seamen  from.  The  seaman,  when  he  quit  his 
ship  in  any  port  in  the  United  States,  up  to  a  few  years  ago,  was  re- 
turned to  the  ship.  We  stopped  that.  And  I  say  on  the  Hawaiian 
question,  no  matter  what  he  may  look  like  or  what  color  they  are,  do 
not  introduce  another  race  problem  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii;  if 
you  can  relieve  them  in  any  way  at  all,  for  God's  sake  give  them  the 
kind  of  labor  we  can  assimilate. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  would  you  recommend?  Provided  what  they 
have  said  is  true,  that  they  paid  the  Japs  so  much  money  last  year  that 
a  good  many  of  them  are  leaving  and  there  is  a  labor  shortage  and  a 
failure  of  crops  in  the  field,  what  is  your  idea  for  remedying  that 
situation  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  will  give  you  my  idea,  but  I  want  to  say  to  you, 
frankly,  that  I  do  not  think  Congress  is  going  to  pass  any  legislation 
of  this  kind;  I  do  not  think  they  are  going  to  give  any  special  privileges. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  want  to  get  your  idea  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
mittee. 


318  LABOR  PROBLEMS   Iiq"   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  will  tell  you  what  I  think  is  going  to  happen  over 
there;  they  are  going  to  take  the  Jap  and  work  the  Jap,  but  they  will 
work  him  under  different  conditions — they  will  put  him  on  a  basic 
wage,  which  will  be  better  for  the  planter  and  for  everybody  else. 
The  mistake  was  made  on  the  bonus,  because  the  price  of  sugar,  under 
conditions  that  we  ourselves  are  somewhat  responsible  for,  went  so 
high  that  the  wages  over  there,  the  plantation  wages,  were  all  out  of 
proportion.  A  basic  wage,  fixed  from  time  to  time  as  we  fix  the  wage 
for  farm  labor  in  this  country,  would  have  been  the  better  proposition 
for  the  plantations  of  Hawaii,  and  that  is  the  best  thing  he  can  do 
to-day,  whether  he  deals  with  the  Jap  or  anybody  else;  that  is,  to  deal 
with  them  like  the  farmers  in  this  country  deal  with  them. 

Just  imagine,  gentlemen,  what,  is  going  to  happen.  You  have  a 
cane-sugar  industry,  not  on  such  a  large  scale,  down  here  in  the  State 
of  Louisiana.  What  would  the  Louisiana  cane  planters  think  if  you 
are  going  to  give  any  special  privileges  to  Hawaii;  what  will  the  beet- 
sugar  men  of  California,  Utah,  Colorado,  Nebraska,  Michigan,  and  all 
the  rest  of  those  Middle  Western  States  think  if  you  are  going  to  give 
special  privileges  to  the  growers  of  Hawaii  ?  They  are  entitled  to  the 
same  consideration.  They  have  to  market  their  product  in  com- 
petition with  Hawaii,  and  you  must  give  them  the  same  consideration. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  not  their  chief  competitor  Cuba  rather  than  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Competitor  of  who  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Of  the  sugar  industry  in  this  country? 

Mr.  Nolan.  It  is  all  in  the  same  boat.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is 
that  the  price  of  sugar  is  fixed  by  the  trust.  The  trust  buys  the  sugar 
from  the  Llawaiian  planter;  it  buys  it  from  the  Louisiana  planter,  and 
it  buys  it  from  the  planter  in  Cuba  and  buys  it  from  the  rest  of  the 
world,  and  it  also  negotiates  with  the  men  who  control  the  sugar 
industry  in  this  country  regarding  prices. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  they  fix  the  price  through  their  refineries  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  Louisiana  planters  refine  their  own  product; 
they  are  in  competition  with  the  trust. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  say  the  arrangements  are  generally  consummated 
through  the  American  Sugar  ReSning  Co.,  even  though  there  are  a  lot 
of  independents.  In  other  words,  they  are  not  out  in  the  markets 
competing.  Whether  they  have  a  signed  agreement  or  not,  they  have 
some  sort  of  an  understanding. 

Mr.  Cable.  That    understanding    does    not    hold    good    to-day 
though,  does  it? 

Mr.  Nolan.  No  understanding  holds  good  to-day  so  far  as  com- 
modities are  concerned.  You  can  do  it  with  the  building  material 
and  you  can  do  it  with  the  stuff  that  doesn't  perish,  but  you  can  not 
do  it  with  farm  products.  If  you  could,  the  farmers  in  this  country 
would  be  more  prosperous  than  they  are. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  Louisiana  sugar  planters,  of  course,  must  com- 
pete directly  with  the  Hawaiian  sugar  producers. 

Mr.  Nolan.  Surely;  just  as  much  as  they  compete  with  Cuba  and 
the  illustration  I  was  trying  to  make  is  what  are  the  Louisiana 
planters  going  to  say  if  you  are  going  to  give  Hawaii  Chinese  or  some 
other  type  or  class  of  cheap  labor  and  deny  it  to  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  will  say  right  there,  Mr.  Chairman,  it  has  already 
gone  into  the  hearings  that  the  continental  American  sugar  producers 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  319 

took  the  position  at  their  New  York  meeting  that  if  this  resolution 
should  pass,  extending  this  privilege  to  Hawaii,  they  are  going  to 
demand  of  us  that  the  same  privilege  be  extended  to  the  continental 
United  States. 

Mr.  Nolan.  And  I  can  tell  you  that  the  fruit  growers  of  California 
want  the  same  thing,  if  you  are  going  to  give  any  special  privileges. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  did  not  know  that. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  mean  they  would  expect  it.  There  was  a  group  of 
them  that  wanted  it  and  I  will  say  this  much  for  them  that  they  were 
patriotic  enough,  and  have  shown  their  patriotism,  to  turn  it  down. 
I  am  not  talking  for  political  effect,  because  the  only  farmers  in  my 
district  are  those  that  I  make  myself  through  the  annual  distribution 
of  garden  seed;  but  the  farmers  out  there  were  patriotic  enough  to 
stand  pat  on  this  proposition  and  9  oiit  of  every  10  of  them  voted 
against  the  admission  of  all  Asiatics. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  notwithstanding  that,  Mr.  Nolan,  the  large  fruit 
producers  and.  the  large  hop  growers  and  others  have  been  feeding  this 
question  up  to  the  limit  right  along. 

Mr.  Nolan.  When  you  are  talking  about  the  fruit  producers 
you  are  not  talking  about  farmers ;  and  when  you  are  talking  about 
the  hop  growers,  you  are  talking  about  men  who  employ  Hindus  and 
all  sorts  of  labor  in  the  hop  fields,  and  they  are  the  men  who  are 
largely  responsible  for  that  custom. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  I  say  they  have  been  feeding  this  stuff  right  up  to 
the  limit  to  see  if  they  could  not  get  a  letting  down  of  the  bars  and 
let  them  have  Chinese. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  say  9  out  of  10,  and  these  fruit  producers  and  hop 
growers  you  speak  of  being  the  tenth — I  say  9  out  of  everj^  10  farmers 
in  California  have  opposed  it. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  do  not  see  how  the  planters  in  the  Territory  of 
I  Hawaii  can  expect  this  special  consideration.  They  have  got,  as 
they  call  it,  a  trickle  from  the  Philippines;  they  are  making  an  effort 
in  Porto  Rico.  They  might  try  some  of  the  rest  of  the  islands  and 
get  labor  that  is  admissible  to  go  over  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 
I  would  advise  them,  as  a  Member  of  Congress,  to  devote  most  of 
their  energies  to  that  end  of  it  and  give  it  a  severe  trial.  I  am  not  a 
bit  fearful  of  the  future  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  if  they  do  not  get 
this  sort  of  special  relief.  I  have  called  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  they  have  prospered  since  1904  up  to  this  year  of  1921,  and  they 
raised  the  same  issue  then  and  the  chairman  of  this  committee  and  I 
believe  Judge  Raker  and  a  few  others  on  the  committee  remember 
a  Mr.  Hindle  who  came  over  here  not  as  representing  the  planters 
but,  he  frankly  stated  himself,  a  group  of  very  wealthy  Chinese  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  who  were  desirous  of  bringing  large  numbers 
of  their  countrymen  into  the  Territory  some  years  ago. 

Now,  I  just  want  to  register  the  protest  of  a  number  of  organiza- 
tions in  California,  the  Exclusion  League,  State  Federation  of  Labor, 
and  other  organizations  there,  that  are  opposed  to  the  admission 
of  any  Asiatics  to  either  the  continental  United  States  or  any  of  our 
insular  possessions. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  There  is  no  shortage  of  labor  in  the  farming  com- 
munities of  California,  is  there  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  No;  not  now. 


320  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Kleozka.  That  is,  a  shortage  of  unskilled  labor  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  There  is  no  shortage  of  unskilled  labor  just  now.  They 
have  had  their  shortages,  but  during  this  period  ol  unemployment 
in  the  cities  they  can  get  about  all  the  labor  they  need. 

The  Chairman.  In  connection  with  your  suggestion  and  recom- 
mendation to  the  planters,  that  they  try  to  secure  labor  from  else- 
where, I  will  call  your  attention  to  a  proposition  coming  before  the 
committee,  not  in  the  form  of  a  bill,  but  in  the  form  of  a  suggested 
amendment  to  the  immigration  act.     [Reading:] 

Provided,  That  any  alien  laborer,  skilled  or  unskilled,  not  havins;  become  a  citizen 
■of  the  United  States,  who  has  gone  to  any  foreign  country  or  to  any  insular  territory  or 
possession  of  the  United  States  or  Canal  Zone  under  a  passport  issued  by  this  Govern- 
ment, permitting  him  to  proceed  thereto,  shall  not  be  allowed  to  enter  the  continental 
territory  of  the  United  States  from  such  foreign  country,  insular  territory,  or  possession 
of  the  United  States  or  Canal  Zone. 

Can  you  see  in  that  the  nucleus  of  legislation  that  might  help  the 
situation  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  No.  I  can  only  see  in  that  a  letting  down  of  the  bars 
as  far  as  our  immigration  laws  are  concerned  to  suit  a  particular 
condition  that  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  feels  it  is  confronted  with 
and  that  a  great  many  of  the  States  of  this  Union  could  also  justify 

The  Chairman.  This  does  not  apply  to  any  aliens  barred  from 
admission  by  the  present  law. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  understand.  This  would  clearly  bar  out  those  that 
are  not  admissible  at  the  present  time,  but  I  can  not  see  any  justifi- 
cation for  a  broad  proposition  of  that  kind,  that  is,  for  any  special 
section  of  our  domain. 

The  Chairman.  You  think,  then,  that  if  the  planters  in  Hawaii  are 
sincere  in  their  statement  that  they  are  suffering  for  labor  or  see  that 
they  will  be  suffering,  if  they  can  not  provide  relief  from  those  that 
go  naturally  to  the  Territory,  the  sugar  industry  out  there  had  better 
perish  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  do  not  want  to  see  anybody  crucified.  I  do  not 
think  they  are  suffering  from  a  want  of  labor.  I  think  they  are 
suffering  from  a  want  of  the  kind  of  labor  that  they  are  after.  I  think 
before  very  long  they  will  reemploy  the  Jap  on  satisfactory  terms  and 
that  the  thing  will  settle  down  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Japanese 
will  be  willing  to  listen  to  reason  and  to  go  on  the  plantations  and 
work.  Now,  if  it  is  a  proposition  of  driving  all  Japanese  out  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii,  that  is  another  proposition.  We  have  no  right 
to  do  that.  I  want  to  know  how,  as  the  American  Government,  we 
are  going  to  justify  our  contention — I  will  just  divert  a  little  bit  on 
this  international  situation — how  we  are  going  to  justify  the  position 
that  we  are  asking  the  State  Department  to  take  to-day,  through 
diplomatic  channels,  in  trying  to  arrange  with  Japan  for  the  complete 
exclusion  of  all  of  her  nationals;  and  then  to  say,  in  another  breath, 
get  rid  of  your  people  who  have  come  into  the  country  under  the 
law,  and  say  now  in  the  Territor}^  of  Hawaii  we  are  going  to  ex- 
tend special  privileges  to  the  sugar  interests  over  there  and  business 
nterests 

The  Chairman.  No;  the  problem  is  this,  that  while  we  are  trying 
to  arrange  for  the  specific  exclusion  of  one  oriental  race,  we  are  sug- 
gesting that  we  might  aid  in  that  exclusion  by  extending  special  privi- 
leges to  the  people  of  another  oriental  race. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  321 

Mr.  Nolan.  In  other  words,  you  would  allow  other  immigrants  to 
come  into  Hawaii  who  would  not  be  permitted  to  come  to  the  United 
States,  and  the  idea  in  mind  would  be  to  relieve  the  planters  over 
there  from  this  labor  situation  and  to  drive  the  Jap  off  the  plantations 
•out  into  the  labor  market  and  there  is  no  place  for  him  to  go,  and  he 
must  go  back  to  his  own  country.     Is  not  that  the  fact  ? 

The  Chairman.  Well,  nearly  so. 

Mr.  Nolan.  How  are  we  going  to  justify  our  position  with  Japan 
in  a  diplomatic  way,  in  asking  them  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  us 
accepting  the  proposition  of  excluding  her  nationals  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  this  proposition  excludes  the  Japa- 
nese— the  resolution  that  is  before  the  committee. 

The  Chairman.  The  substitute  you  have  in  your  hand  there  does 
not  deal  with  oriental  peoples  at  all. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  It  deals  with  all  races,  all  orientals,  to  prevent  their 
readmission  to  the  United  States.     That,  in  short,  is  its  effect. 

Mr.  Nolan.  The  inference  is  he  would  be  eligible  to  become  *a 
-citizen  if  he  came  into  this  country. 

The  Chairman.  No;  the  proposition  is  that  any  alien  could  not 
leave  the  island  with  a  passport  to  go  to  the  United  States  until  he  has 
completed  his  citizenship;  that  is,  unless  he  is  a  citizen  he  can  not 
come  to  the  continental  United  States. 

Mr.  Nolan.  That  is  a  five-year  tenure  on  the  Islands  of  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  heard  all  sorts  of  propositions  put  for- 
ward here  with  regard  to  the  naturalization  of  aliens  under  various 
forms  and  an  extension  of  time — forced  naturalization  and  distribu- 
tion and  holding  them  in  certain  places — you  have  heard  that  proposed 
by  lecturers  and  chambers  of  commerce  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  this  resolution  would  permit  all 
Chinese  and  Japanese  that  desired  to  come  to  Hawaii  to  come,  the 
suggested  resolution,  but  they  never  could  come  to  the  United  States 
because  they  are  ineligible  to  be'come  citizens  ? 

The  Chairman.  It  is  proposed  to  make  this  resolution,  if  the  words 
are  not  clear,  applicable  only  to  those  who  could  become  citizens. 
As  I  remember  the  argument  yesterday,  it  was  designed  and  put 
forward  with  a  view  of  admitting  only  those  that  would  be  assimilable. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  not  what  they  want.  They  do  not  want  to 
exclude  Chinese.  The  resolution  now  before  the  committee,  and  I 
want  to  call  Mr.  Nolan's  attention  to  it,  which  relates  to  the  complica- 
tions that  are  now  in  existence  before  the  State  Department  and 
otherwise,  would  not  allow  any  Japanese  to  come  to  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  In  other  words,  it  says  ''but  that  such  admission  of  aliens 
shall  not  operate  to  increase  the  number  of  persons  of  any  one  alien 
nationality  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  so  that  their  total  number  at 
any  one  time  should  exceed  20  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of 
Hawaii  as  determined  by  the  last  census."  Now  there  are  280,000 
there  and  of  course  the  Japanese  have  exceeded  that  20  per  cent. 
There  are  only  12,000  Chinese.  Take  that  from  56,000  and  it  would 
-leave  about  44,000  Chinese  that  could  be  admitted  under  this  reso- 
lution. So  that  we  are  excluding  one  of  the  Asiatic  nationalities  and 
admitting  the  other,  which  would  bring  about  the  same  complica- 
^tion  we  have  now,  only  intensified. 

56754— 21— SEB  7,  pt  1 8 


322  LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  was  addressing  myself  to  tliis  proviso,  whicli  the 
cliairinan  read.  I  do  not  believe  we  ought  to  have  any  of  our  outly- 
ing possessions  used  as  an  instrument  to  citizenship  hj  having  people 
serve  a  probationary  period.  And  that  is  exactly  what  this  would 
do  and  give  them  the  opportunity  of  coming  in  there  regardless  of 
our  immigration  laws. 

The  Chairman.  A  question  or  two  on  other  phases  of  the  situation. 
The  resolution  of  the  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu  states,  '^  We 
maintain  there  is  not  at  present  any  serious  shortage  of  the  labor 
supply  in  the  Territory."     Do  you  agree  with  that  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  have  no  m-cans  of  knowing  vfhether  that  is  a  state- 
ment of  fact  or  not. 

The  Chairman.  They  state,  also,  that  the  present  shortage  in  the 
sugar  crop  in  the  island  is  not  due  to  a  lack  of  labor  but  is  a  direct 
result  of  the  strike  of  last  year,  which  affected  the  grov/ing  crop  and 
reduced  the  production  of  the  crop  for  the  present  year.  You  have 
no  information  concerning  that  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  No.  The  statement  was-  made  by  Mr.  Dillingham  to 
Kie  that  it  was  stated  in  the  Central  Labor  Council  that  white  men 
would  work  in  the  cane  fields.  I  want  to  agree  with  this  commission 
that  you  can  not  get  white  men  to  work  in  the  cane  fields ;  so  that  any 
man  who  m.ade  that  statement,  whether  on  the  floor  of  the  council  or 
anywhere  else,  is  absolutely  in  error. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  mean  that  the  white  man  will  not  work  in  the  cane 
fields. 

Mr.  Raker.  Why? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Well,  because  of  the  conditions  of  climate  and  every- 
thing else.  We  have  a  hard  time  getting  them  to  work  in  the  delta 
up  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  on  potatoes  and  on  asparagus;  and  I 
think  it  is  tougher  .work  out  in  the  cane  fields  of  Hawaii  than  it  is  in 
the  California  Delta. 

Mr.  Box.  The  organization  you  mentioned — what  is  the  name  ? 

The  Chairman.  The  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Box.  I  want  to  know  whether  that  is  a  Japanese  organization 
or  does  it  represent  American  workmen  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  All  American  workers. 

The  Chairman.  The  legislative  representative  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  stated  here  3'esterda3^  that  the  unions  could  take 
alien  workers  into  their  ranks. 

Mr.  Nolan.  Aliens,  yes;  not  necessarily  citizens.  But,  as  far  as 
I  know,  there  are  no  Asiatics  in  any  of  those  organizations.  I  do 
not  know  of  any  organization  that  takes  in  Asiatics. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  are  not  excluded,  are  they  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  do  not  know  that  they  are  excluded  specifically, 
but  I  have  never  known  of  any  unions  that  have  taken  them  in. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  The  Japanese  have  their  own  labor  organization  in 
Hawaii,  have  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  believe  they  have. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  is  one  thing  I  have  been  unable  to  reconcile. 
Supposing  there  are  40,000  Japanese  over  there,  American  citizens. 
Now,  as  American  citizens,  having  the  rights  of  American  citizens 
in  every  way,  without  any  discrimination  whatever,  don't  you  think 
that  Congress  should  not  recognize  legislation  that  would  bring  in 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  323 

nonassimilable,  nonadmissible,  Asiatic  laborers  to  take  the  place  of 
and  drive  out  those  American  citizens,  although  they  were  Japs,  by 
depriving  them  of  their  right  to  participate  in  the  working  conditions 
and  others  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  do  not  know  how  many  thousand  citizens  there  are 
of  Japanese  parentage,  but  I  doubt  very  much  whether  there  are 
40,000. 

Mr.  Weeber.  There  are  49,000  native-born  Japanese. 

Mr.  Nolan.  Forty-nine  thousand  native-born  Japanese  that  have 
reached  the  age  of  21  years? 

Mr.  Weeeer.  No,  sir;  they  have  not  all  reached  that  age. 

Mr.  Eaker.  I  do  not  fix  the  age,  but  there  are  49,000  citizens  who 
are  Japanese. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  see  the  point. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  they  are  in  all  branches  of  business,  either 
agriculture  or  fruit.  Could  we,  as  the  American  Congress,  consider 
for  a  moment,  notwithstanding  their  nationality  is  Japanese,  passing 
legislation  that  would  deprive  them  of  the  right  to  work  or  labor 
and  to  handle  their  business  in  the  island,  whatever  it  may  be,  and 
bring  in  bonded  Chinese  ?     Let  us  get  right  down  to  fundamentals. 

Mr.  Nolan."  No;  we  could  not  under  the  Constitution;  but  our 
people  would  advocate  an  amendment  that  would  permit  us  in  the 
State  of  California  to  deprive  even  native-born  Japs  of  the  right  to 
own  land,  and  so  forth. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  we  have  not. 

Mr.  Nolan.  We  are  advocating  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  No. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  did  you  handle  that  situation  out  in  California? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Senator  Phelan  had  a  constitutional  amendment 
pending  in  the  Senate 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  I  want  to  differ  with  you;  that  is  not  his  amend- 
ment. I  have  had  the  same  amendment  pending  in  the  House  for 
four  years.  This  is  the  amendment — that  cliildren  hereafter  born 
of  alien  parents,  who  themselves  (their  parents),  or  either  one, 
could  not  become  citizens,  could  not  become  citizens  although  born 
in  the  United  States.     That  is  the  amendment. 

Mr.  Nolan.  The  only  difference  is  you  are  not  making  it  retro- 
active; that  is  all.  The  principle  is  the  same.  Frankly,  I  am  in 
favor  of  it,  if  it  could  be  accomplished,  knowing  our  experience  with 
them. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  just  wondered  how  you  handled  the  situation  out 
in  California  that  you  described,  where  the  Japs  would  get  control 
of  a  valley  or  attempt  to  get  control  by  refusing  to  work. 

Mr.  Nolan.  Why,  they  own  the  land  now,  they  own  the  leases,  and 
the  way  we  are  trying  to  correct  it,  at  a  rather  late  date,  is  through 
depriving  them  of  the  right  to  own  or  lease  land  in  the  State. 

Mr.  Cable.  By  your  State  legislation? 

Mr.  Nolan.  By  our  State  legislation.  It  is  a  little  bit  late,  but 
we  are  trying  to  save  the  rest  of  the  State  from  the  conditions  that 
exist  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  and  certain  portions  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley  and  a  large  section  of  the  Santa  Clara  Valley.  They 
have  control  of  the  potato  crop;  they  have  control  of  the  asparagus 
and  berry  crop,  and  largely  control  of  the  cantaloupe  crop. 


324  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  percentage  of  the  land  do  they  own? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Not  in  the  aggregate  such  a  great  percentage  of  the 
land,  but  they  own  a  fairly  good  percentage  of  the  land  in  California 
that  is  under  cultivation  in  fruits  and  vegetables. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  all  covered  in  the  hearings  held  last  year. 

Mr.  Nolan.  They  own  too  much — I  will  say  that — for  the  good  of 
California. 

The  Chairman.  I  notice  in  the  report  of  the  Census  Office  published 
this  morning  that  the  Japanese  population  in  the  United  States 
reported  in  1920  is  not  nearly  so  large  as  the  figures  given  to  this 
committee  by  the  agents  of  the  Japanese  societies. 

Mr.  Nolan.  Your  United  States  census  enumerators  could  not  get 
them.  I  will  tell  you  what  we  are  doing  in  California  and  show  you 
just  exactly  what  happened.  We  had  a  very  effective  way  of  getting 
a  Japanese  alien  census  in  our  State,  because  the  last  legislature 
passed  a  law  placing  a  tax  of  $10  a  year  on  all  aliens,  and  when  they 
started  to  collect  from  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  they  were  immedi- 
ately informed  by  their  representatives  not  to  pay  it  and  the  Chinese 
Oovernment  made  a  protest  to  the  State  Department,  and  they  are 
attacking  the  law  in  the  courts  of  California. 

The  Chairman.  They  protest  on  the  ground  of  the  constitutional 
guaranty  ? 

Mr.  Nolan.  Yes.  But  the  idea  behind  it  is  this:  Whenever  you 
get  a  man  to  set  out  to  collect  $10  from  each  individual  alien,  he  is 
going  to  get  a  pretty  accurate  census.  Every  man  has  to  have 
something  to  show  he  has  paid  his  poll  tax,  and  these  tax  gatherers 
would  have  pretty  nearly  gotten  every  Chinaman  and  Japanese  in 
California  and  we  would  have  had  a  census  of  them,  and  they  do  not 
want  that  taken. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  report  this  morning  shows  there  are  71,952 
Japanese  in  California  from  the  last  census,  and  you  will  remember 
that  our  own  men  said  there  were  many  of  these  Japanese  that  were 
not  taken  by  the  census  enumerators  because  of  their  evading  being 
enumerated. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  think  the  Japanese  Association  of  America  or  their 
subsidiary  organization  in  California,  you  will  find,  was  somewhat 
instrumental  in  getting  word  out  among  them,  as  far  as  possible,  not 
to  register  for  the  census. 

The  Chairman.  But  these  associations  took  their  own  census  of 
the  Japanese  in  America  and  they  did  it  at  the  instance  of  their  own 
Government,  Japan,  and  they  gave  out  their  own  census  figures. 

Mr.  Nolan.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  And  I  think  their  own  census  figures  of  Japanese 
in  the  United  States  is  larger  than  the  figures  given  in  the  United 
States  census. 

Mr.  Box.  And  it  just  shows  our  census  is  not  complete  and  makes 
us  dependent  on  theirs,  and  we  do  not  know  how  faithfully  they 
have  taken  theirs. 

The  Chairman.  I  believe  that  is  all,  Mr.  Nolan. 

Mr.  Nolan.  I  thank  the  committee  for  its  courtesy  in  hearing  me. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  would  like  to  ask  a  question.  Judge  Raker  raises  a 
constitutional  question  with  reference  to  this  resolution  and  I  won- 
dered if  any  proposed  contract  had  been  introduced  in  the  record — - 
that  is,  between  the  Chinamen  who  were  supposed  to  come  into 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  325 

Hawaii  and  the  persons  who  were  bringing  them  in— to  show  under 
what  terms  and  conditions  they  were  being  brought  ? 
Mr.  Nolan.  I  think  not. 

FUKTHEE  STATEMENT  OF  MR.  WALTER  F.  DILLINGHAM. 

The  Chairman.  Has  your  commission  any  form  of  contract  which 
it  proposes  to  enter  into  with  the  Chinese,  or  Chinese  labor  associ- 
ations, or  the  Chinese  Government. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have  no  such  form  of  contract  and  such  a 
contract  is  not  necessary  under  the  proposed  resolution.  I  have 
tried  to  cover  in  a  statement  I  have  here,  in  as  few  words  as  possible, 
the  points  that  have  come  up  in  connection  with  the  hearing,  in  the 
questions  that  have  been  asked  by  members  of  the  committee  of  the 
different  witnesses  here. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  copies  of  contracts  entered  into 
between  the  French  Government  and  the  Chinese  Government  with 
relation  to  laborers  during  the  period  of  the  war? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir;  we  have  not,  because  it  is  not  the  in- 
tention to  make  that  sort  of  a  contract  or  any  other  sort  of  a  contract. 
I  think  some  of  the  witnesses,  as  well  as  some  of  the  members  of  the 
committee,  are  laboring  under  a  misapprehension  as  to  the  workings 
of  this  proposed  resolution,  and  I  have  tried  to  cover  some  of  those 
points  in  a  short  statement  here,  and  this  can  be  further  developed  by 
discussion,  if  it  is  agreeable  for  me  to  make  this  statement. 

This  commission  has  endeavored  to  put  before  your  committee  a 
statement  of  the  industrial  conditions  in  Hawaii,  and  has  sought  to 
make  clear  that,  while  there  is  a  great  labor  shortage  in  our  agri- 
cultural industries,  the  question  is  far  greater  than  that  of  an  in- 
adequate supply  of  labor  to  maintain  our  industries  and,  by  the  same 
token,  there  is  a  much  bigger  question  before  us  than  any  mere 
economic  loss  resulting  from  lessening  production. 

The  history  of  our  attempts  to  encourage  and  bring  to  our  country 
labor  which  would  form  a  base  for  an  American  population  shows 
that,  up  to  the  present  time  and  under  the  immigration  laws  of 
America,  all  efforts  have  been  unsuccessful.  It  has  been  intimated 
before  this  committee  that  the  reason  that  labor  is  not  satisfied  to 
remain  in  the  fields  of  Hawaii  is  because  it  is  underpaid  and  not  well 
treated  or  has  been  underpaid  and  not  well  treated  in  the  past. 
Our  failure  to  keep  labor  in  our  agricultural  pursuits  that  would  be 
eligible  to  citizenship  is  due  rather  to  the  fact  that  it  has  been  suffici- 
ently well  paid  and  otherwise  provided  for  to  enable  it  to  accumulate 
such  savings  as  to  hasten  its  departure  from  the  less  desirable  field 
occupations. 

The  fact  that  California  offers  to  the  small  farmer  an  opportunity 
which  the  nature  of  our  industry  does  not  permit  in  Hawaii  draws 
away  the  labor  which  we  have  at  such  great  expense  endeavored  to 
hold  in  our  fields.  The  planting  interests  of  the  islands  have  required 
of  their  labor  only  what  is  properly  expected  of  the  workers  in  any 
similar  enterprise,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  farm  laborers  in 
Hawaii  work  shorter  hours  than  do  any  like  laborers  on  the  farms 
of  the  American  mainland. 

Bearing  in  mind  that  we  must  produce  sugar  in  competition  with 
other  tropical  countries,  we  cite  the  fact  that  the  class  of  labor  in 


326  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

question  is  better  paid,  housed,  and  cared  for  in  the  fields  of  the 
Territory  than  in  any  Uke  tropical  country  in  the  v/orld,  as  is  borne 
out  by  iGovernment  reports  and  investigations.  As  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  our  labor  has  been  well  paid,  over  and  above  living  costs, 
we  invite  your  attention  to  the  large  sums  of  money  which  are  annu- 
ally sent  to  Japan  by  the  laboring  community,  amounting  to 
$17,000,000,000  in  the  year  1920. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  sent  to  Japan  and  not  carried  to  Japan? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  sent;  it  is  a  matter  of  exchange. 

The  Chairman.  Therefore  it  is  a  matter  of  record  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  is  a  matter  of  record. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  question  before  this  committee  is 
merely  one  of  providing  for  the  continued  miaintenance  of  our  volume 
of  production  or  of  sustaining  the  profits  on  our  invested  'capital. 
The  question  is  rather  one  that  goes  to  the  very  foundation  of  main- 
taining our  whole  business  structure  and  involves  the  continued  em- 
ployment of  mechanics  in  our  industrial  and  repair  plants  in  the 
cities.  Mechanics  of  long  experience  in  the  islands  appreciate  this 
fact,  and  it  is  with  surprise  that  we  find  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  opposed  to  a  remedy  for  our  situation  which,  unless  secured, 
will  certainly  result  in  loss  of  employment  to  the  very  men  the  Federa- 
tion claims  to  represent.  It  is  a  matter  of  particular  surprise  that 
organizations  of  laborers,  beyond  any  other  persons,  should  oppose 
this  legislation,  and  our  surprise  is  the  greater  because  of  the  fact 
that  resident  citizen  mechanics  and  group  laborers,  such  as  stevedores 
and  teamsters,  take  the  opposite  position  and  support  the  proposed 
resolution. 

The  stevedores'  union  is  the  largest  labor  organization  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  excepting  only  the  Japanese  National  Federation 
of  Labor,  and  the  teamsters'  union  is  nearly  as  large.  These  two 
unions  represent  more  laboring  men  than  are  included  in  all  of  the 
branches  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  Hawaii;  and,  further- 
more, they  represent  that  class  of  citizen  labor  that  has  been  longest 
resident  in  the  Territory  and  is  most  familiar  with  conditions  there. 
I  present  to  the  committee  the  indorsements  of  these  two  large  unions. 

I  have  here,  under  date  of  May  26,  a  cablegram  addressed  to 
Charles  Chillingsworth,  New  Willard  Hotel,  Washington; 

At  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Hawaiian  Stevedores '  Association  a  motion  was 
unanimously  passed  favoring  immigration.  The  members  also  voted  that  you  repre- 
sent them  at  such  hearings  as  may  be  held. 

McGuiRE,  President. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  members  are  there  in  that  stevedores^ 
association  1 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  not  the  exact  number,  but  I  am  advised 
there  were  about  1,000  to  1,200. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  their  nationahty? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  As  I  understand  it,  they  are  all  citizens,  or| 
eligible  to  become  citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  part  or  portion  would  you  say  were  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have  with  us  here  Senator  Wise,  who  was 
president  of  the  stevedores'  union  for,  I  think,  two  or  three  years,! 
and  perhaps  he  can  answer  that  question  directly.  I  have  not  the 
figure.     Senator  Wise,  are  you  prepared  to  make  a  statement  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  They  are  all  citizens. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  327 

The  Chairman.  Including  how  many  native  Hawaiians  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  There  are  about  800  to  1,000  Hawaiians  and  about  200 
others. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  here,  under  date  of  May  29,  addressed  to 
Walter  Dillingham,  New  Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  the  following 
cablegram : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  directors  of  the  Teamsters '  Union  it  was  agreed  to  indorse  the 
proposal  to  amend  the  immigration  laws  to  allow  Chinese  to  come  to  Hawaii  as  agri- 
culturists so  as  to  relieve  the  labor  shortage. 

M.    T.    ROBELLO, 

President  Teamsters^  Union. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  know  how  many  men  there  are  in  the  team- 
sters' union  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  advised  there  are  between  three  and  four 
hundred.  I  will  have  to  call  on  Senator  Wise  again  to  verify  that 
statement. 

Mr.  Wise.  That  is  the  correct  number. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  been  advised  that  more  than  90  citizen 
laborers  and  mechanics  have  individually  addressed  personal  letters 
to  this  commission,  indorsing  the  proposed  legislation.  These  letters 
began  to  be  received  almost  immediately  after  it  was  known  that 
organized  labor  had  opposed  the  legislation  in  question.  I  refer  to 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  central  committee's  resolution, 
of  Honolulu. 

With  your  permission,  I  would  like  to  read  some  representative 
letters  from  mechanics  and  artisans  of  m.any  years  of  residence  in 
Hawaii,  who  are  thoroughly  conversant  with  conditions  throughout 
the  industries  of  the  Territory.  I  would  not  ask  to  have  the  record 
burdened  with  letters  along  the  same  line,  but  there  are  some  here 
of  particular  interest  and,  if  the  committee  would  like  to  hear  them, 
I  would  be  very  glad  to  read  them.  They  come  from  mechanics  of 
prominence  in  the  islands  and  men  who  have  been  there  for  a  long 
period  of  years. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  Mr.  Dillingham  might  read  some  of  these, 
or  extracts,  and  insert  them  in  the  record. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  This  first  letter  was  handed  to  me  the  day  before 
I  left  home  and  is  signed  by  one  of  the  best  citizens,  I  think,  that  we 
have  in  Hawaii,  a  man  by  the  name  of  John  A.  Hughes,  an  Irishman. 
[Reading:] 

As  a  workingman  who  has  the  interest  of  American  workingmen  at  heart  and  as 
a  citizen  who  prizes  his  citizenship  higher  than  St.  Paul,  I  wish  you  success  in  your 
mission  to  Washington  to  secure  for  the  agricultural  interests  of  this  Territory  25,000 
Chinese  laborers. 

I  have  resided  in  this  Territory  32  years,  being  engaged  by  the  late  B.  F.  Dilling- 
ham in  San  Francisco  to  build  cars  for  his  railroad.  I  am  still  building  cars  for  the 
same  railroad.  During  those  years  I  have  consistently  worked  for  the  Americani- 
zation of  the  isla.nds,  helped  to  organize  the  Republican  Party,  was  a  member  of 
its  first  executive  committee  and  served  one  term  in  the  legislature. 

I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  in  Chinese  labor  for  our  sugar  plantations  and  pineapple 
canneries  because  the  very  life  of  those  industries  depend  on  this  labor,  and  the 
commercial  and  business  life  of  the  Territory  depends  absolutely  on  these  industries. 

To  say  that  white  men  can  or  Vvdll  Y\^ork  on  the  torrid  sugar  plantations  cutting  and 
loading  cane  is  an  absurdity.  The  time  is  past,  if  it  ever  was,  when  he  would  do 
it.  It  is  contrary  to  nature's  laws  for  white  men  to  toil  at  hard,  laborious  work  under 
an  equatorial  sun;  even  the  Japanese  quit  at  the  earliest  j)Ossible  tim.e. 


328  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAIL 

I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  in  Chinese  labor,  because  from  a,  national  and  business 
point  of  view  it  is  wrong  to  allow  Japanese  nationals  to  hold  by  the  throat — and  can 
throttle  at  any  moment — the  business  and  commercial  life  of  an  American  Territory. 

I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  Chinese  labor  here  because,  in  the  world's  chaotic  state, 
China  is  our  loyal  friend.  Our  Chinese  business  men  are  honest  and  progressive 
and  there  is  no  more  loyal  and  patriotic  American  than  our  Chinese-American. 
Thirty  thousand  Chinese  will  help,  not  hinder,  the  Americanization  of  this  Territory, 
because  they  are  honest  and  industrious  workers  and  because  they  will  squeeze  out 
an  un-American  and  undesirable  element. 

There  is  no  one  longs  more  ardently  for  the  day  to  come  when  over  our  great  land 
all  will  be  good  and  loyal  citizens,  all  shall  live  in  peace  and  prosperity.  To  bring 
about  this  condition  Hawaii,  if  allowed,  will  surely  do  her  part.  She  can  not,  how- 
ever, do  it  if  she  is  made  a  desert  of,  and  a  refusal  of  your  request  by  Congress  would 
tend  to  that  result. 

Yours,  very  truly,  John  A.  Hughes, 

Here  is  a  letter  that  was  handed  to  me  on  the  steamer,  on  our  way 
up  from  Honolulu: 

Honolulu,  H.  T.,   May  3,  1921. 
Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairmari  the  Hawaii  Emergency  Labor  Commission,  Honolulu,  H.  T. 

Dear  Sir:  As  a  mechanical  engineer  and  a  resident  of  Hawaii  for  nearly  40  years,. 
I  am  very  much  interested  in  the  objects  of  your  mission  to  Washington  in  an  effort 
to  secure  Chinese  labor  for  agricultural  purposes.  I  beg  to  state  that  my  experience 
with  this  class  of  labor  while  acting  in  an  official  capacity  on  sugar  plantations  30 
years  ago,  was  eminently  satisfactory  for  industry  and  reliability,  and  such  few  of 
them  as  have  remained  on  the  plantations  that  I  have  knowledge  of  are  still  giving 
good  service  there. 

Since  the  introduction  of  Japanese  labor  in  the  Islands  I  have  noted  with  regret 
and  alarm  the  steady  decrease  in  the  number  of  American  mechanics  which  I  believe- 
is  largelv  due  to  the  intense  competition  which  they  have  to  meet  from  semiskilled 
mechanics  who  originally  came  to  Hawaii  for  agricultural  purposes  and  whose  mode  of 
living  makes  it  impossible  for  any  white  mechanic  to  compete  with  them;  and,  when 
we  had  Chinese  labor  on  the  plantations,  such  conditions  as  these  did  not  exist. 

I  have  noted  in  the  past  few  years  that  these  semiskilled  Japanese  artisans  have  been 
leaving  the  agricultural  districts  and  taking  up  their  residence  in  the  towns  to  such  an. 
extent  that  at  the  present  time  agricultural  industries  of  Hawaii  are  suffering  from  a 
shortage  of  labor. 

As  an  American  citizen  and  a  permanent  resident  of  Hawaii,  I  am  vitally  interested 
in  all  that  concerns  the  prosperity  of  the  Islands;  and  I  view  the  present  situation 
with  some  alarm  as  the  outlook  seems  to  indicate  that,  owing  to  the  foregoing  mentioned 
conditions,  the  situation  will  get  worse  instead  of  better,  and  I  firmly  believe  that  a. 
large  majoritv  of  the  reputable  American  citizen  residents  of  Hawaii  would  gladly 
welcome  the  reintroduction  of  Chinese  labor  for  agricultural  purposes  which  would 
tend  to  alleviate  our  present  industrial  conditions  and  stabilize  the  prosperity  of  the 
Islands.  In  closing,  I  desire  to  say,  without  bias  or  prejudice,  that  many  of  us  con- 
sider that,  owing  to  their  intense  nationalistic  characteristics  and  dual  citizenship, 
the  ever-increasing  population  of  native-born  Japanese  are  a  distinct  and  serious 
menace  to  the  Americanization  of  the  Hawaiian  lalands. 

Hoping  that  the  special  labor  commission  will  be  successful  in  their  efforts,  I  am, 
Resper-tfully,  yours, 

H.  G.  WooTTEN,  Engineer. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  ask  you  about  a  paragraph  m  the  reso- 
lutions adopted  by  the  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu,  as  follows : 

We  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  under  the  organic  act  it  is  required  that  an 
industrial  survey  of  the  Territory  be  held  every  five  years,  and  we  are  advised  that 
1921  is  the  year  in  which  this  survey  falls  due.  Any  further  action  as  the  legislature 
contemplates  in  this  matter  should  be  deferred  until  after  the  report  of  a  competent 
and  impartial  commission  such  as  would  be  appointed  under  the  Federal  Department 
of  I^abor. 

I  suppose  they  mean  to  prepare  that  industrial  survey.  The 
resolution  continues : 

If  such  report  shows  the  actual  shortage  of  labor  which  is  now  claimed,  then  it  will 
be  time  to  think  of  devising  some  adequate  and  satisfactory  remedy. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  329 

Have  you  anything  to  say  in  regard  to  that  suggestion? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  United  States  Government,  I  understand, 
has  made  no  arrangement  for  the  survey  of  the  industrial  conditions 
of  Hawaii  for  this  year.  I  have  not  discussed  the  matter  with  the 
Secretary  of  Labor,  but  my  understanding  is  that  they  do  not  feel 
disposed  to  spend  money  to  investigate  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii. 
They  state  that  they  are  more  familiar  with  the  labor  conditions  in 
Hawaii  than  with  those  in  any  other  section  of  the  United  vStates; 
that  if  they  can  raise  the  money  they  would  like  to  spend  it  in 
investigating  labor  conditions  in  Porto  Rico,  because  they  know 
practically  nothing  of  the  labor  conditions  in  that  country. 

The  Chairman.  Did  we  not  have  a  statement  made  here  the  other 
.day  in  connection  with  the  report  of  1915  to  the  effect  that  the 
issuance  of  that  report  was  mandatory  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  was  my  understanding  of  it,  and  that  was 
the  last  report  that  has  been  made. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  section  16  of  the  organic  act. 

The  Chairman.  Without  objection,  I  will  have  the  clerk  of  the 
committee  make  an  official  inquir}^  of  the  Secretary  of  Labor  in 
reference  to  the  next  report  of  the  labor  survey. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  would  like  to  state  that  under  the  resolution 
the  obligation  is  on  the  Secretary  of  Labor  to  meet  the  situation. 
The  obligation  is  certainly  implied  by  the  statement  that  he  should 
ascertain,  of  his  own  knowledge,  whether  or  not  there  is  a  shortage 
or  a  need  of  immigration  to  meet  the  situation  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  to  say,  if  this  resolution  should  be  passed 
by  Congress,  it  would  call  upon  the  Secretary  to  make  such  an 
inquiry  preparatory  to  authorizing  this  action  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Then,  following  from  that  and  your  statement  that 
that  sort  of  action  was  not  contemplated,  who  w^ould  make  the 
arrangement  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  will  cover  that  a  little  further  along  in  my 
statement. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  connection  with  these  letters  you  have  read  to  the 
committee,  particularly  the  letter  from  John  A.  Hughes  addressed 
to  you  under  date  of  Honolulu,  T.  H.,  May  3,  1921 — your  commission 
has  examined  this  letter  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  commission  has 
examined  it.  The  records  of  the  commission  are  before  its  members, 
and  they  have  all  had  an  opportunity  to  study  these  records,  and  I 
assume  they  have  done  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  wanted  to  know^  whether  your  commission  generally 
approves  what  Mr.  Hughes  said  in  this  letter. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  speaking  only  for  myself,  but  I  know  that 
the  commission  approves  of  the  resolution  as  it  has  been  submitted. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  not  what  I  am  asking,  Mr.  Dillingham. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  understand  what  you  are  asking  me,  and  that 
is  whether  or  not  we  approve  the  sentiments  of  that  letter  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  approve  of  the  sentiments  of  that  letter, 

Mr.  Raker.  You  said  you  had  a  separate  view.  Do  you  approve, 
generally,  the  viewpoint  presented  by  Mr.  Hughes  in  this  letter  ? 


330  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  you  will  ask  me  directly  what  I  approve  of, 
I  will  be  glad  to  answer  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  asking  you  the  question. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  letter  covers  a  good  many  points.  The 
general  tenor  of  the  letter  is  to  Americanize  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 
I  absolutely  approve  of  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  this  letter  I  find  the  following  paragraph: 

I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  in  Chinese  labor,  because  from  a  national  and  business 
point  of  view  it  is  -wrong  to  allow  Japanese  nationals  to  hold  by  the- throat — and  can 
throttle  at  any  moment — the  business  and  commercial  life  of  an  American  Territory  . 

Does  the  commission  approve  that  statement  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  commission  does  not  approve  of  a  condition 
which  gives  to  any  alien  nationality  the  control  of  our  industrial  or 
other  conditions  in  the  islands. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  a  clean-cut  statement  by  Mr.  Hughes.  Does 
your  commission  generally  approve  the  views  as  expressed  in  that 
paragraph  by  Mr.  Hughes  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  You  are  trying  to  pin  me  down  to  a  detailed 
expression  of  where  the  commission  stands  on  this  matter. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  I  am  not  trying  to  pin  you  down. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  are  on  record  as  to  where  we  stand  with 
regard  to  this  proposition  and  vv^e  will  be  further  on  record  when  I 
finish  my  statement  to  the  committee  this  morning.  I  have  tried  to 
answer  your  question  and  do  not  want  to  quibble  with  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know  you  w^ould  not  do  that.  It  would  be  far  from 
both  of  us  to  do  it  at  any  time. 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  cut  out  the  quibbling  and  get  along. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  not  any  quibbling  in  this.  This  is  funda- 
mental. This  paragraph  contains  two  fundamental  propositions,  and 
I  wanted  to  know  from  Mr.  Dillingham — -because  he  is  a  keen,  capable, 
clear-headed  fellow — whether  or  not  the  commission  generally  approve 
the  views  as  expressed  in  that  paragraph.  That  is  all.  You  would 
not  like  to  answer,  Mr.  Dillingham  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  consider  I  have  answered  your  question,  Judge. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  all  right. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  one  of  those  letters  it  is  stated  that  the  people  are 
leaving  the  fields  and  coming  into  the  cities  or  villages  and  competing 
with  mechanics.  Why  would  it  not  be  a  further  inducement  if  you 
bring  in  a  large  number  of  Chinese  and  take  them  from  the  field  to 
compete  further  with  the  mechanics  ?  Would  it  not  have  a  tendency 
to  injure  the  work  of  the  mechanics  if  you  had  an  overabundance  of 
laborers  and  not  a  sufficient  amount  of  work? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  field  laborer  is  not  a  mechanic,  but  the 
system  which  has  been  in  force  has  provided  for  a  sort  of  promotion, 
so  that  a  field  laborer  feels  by  making  himself  of  value  to  the  planta- 
tion he  has  a  chance  to  rise  to  the  skilled  positions.  When  he  is 
graduated,  if  you  like,  from  a  course  of  training  at  the  pumps,  in  the 
mills,  wherever  it  may  be,  he  comes  to  the  city  and  sets  up  in  the 
contracting  business  or  building  business  or  as  an  automobile  me- 
chanic. 

The  shortage  with  us  has  never  been  a  shortage  of  mechanics,  but 
a  shortage  of  men  to  do  the  heavy  field  work.  That  work  is  not  con- 
sidered desirable  by  any  race  or  nationality  of  people  we  have  been 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  331 

able  to  bring  to  the  islands  longer  than  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
carry  on.  Directly  they  are  financially  in  a  position  to  move  into 
some  other  position,  they  move  away. 

Mr.  Cable.  Would  not  more  labor  have  a  tendency  to  crowd  them 
in  competition  with  American  citizens  ? 

'Mr.  Dillingham.  If  we  were  bringing  in  labor  t  t  :  ood  our  market, 
the  result  which  you  suggest  might  happen.  There  is  no  intention  of 
bringing  in  an  oversupply  of  labor.  We  believe  there  is  a  shortage 
there,  and  despite  any  statement  made  to  discredit  that  belief,  the 
fact  remains  that  our  sugar  crops,  which  usually  are  harvested  by  the 
middle  of  the  year,  will  not  be  harvested  and  the  sugar  will  not  be 
made,  and  the  work  of  the  mills  com.pleted  until  the  end  of  the  year. 
That  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  strike  of  1920.  That  is  a  manu- 
facturing proposition,  and  the  harvesting  is  a  proposition  of  1921. 

Mr.  Raker.  May  I  ask  you  one  question  that  is  in  my  mind.  I  am 
wondering,  Mr.  Dillingham,  if  the  labor  shortage  situation  there  could 
not  be  remedied,  as  in  other  places  in  the  United  States,  if  there  is  any 
shortage  in  common  labor,  in  this  way:  Where  the  labor  is  hard, 
heavy  work,  if  we  would  just  reverse  our  policy  and  pay  this  labor 
such  a  high  remuneration  as  to  make  it  attractive  to  everybody  to  go 
into  it,  would  not  that  remedy  the  situation  ?  Then  let  the  consumer 
pay  the  difference,  instead  of  making  the  easier  jobs  the  higher  paid 
jobs  and  paying  the  heavy  labor  more  wages,  putting  the  higher 
wages  on  heavy  labor  and  letting  the  consuming  public  pay  for  it  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Judge  Raker,  you  have  touched  on  a  big  theory. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  amount  of  money  would  induce  you  or  me  to 
go  into  the  canebrake,  and  no  amount  of  money  would  keep  us  in  the 
canebrake  for  any  length  of  time.  So  far  as  paying  wages  which 
would  induce  labor  which  can  do  the  work  to  go  into  the  field  and  stay 
in  the  field,  letting  the  consumer  pay  for  it,  we  are  to-day  raising 
sugar  under  wage  rates,  which  apparently  are  considered  low,  at  a 
cost  considerably  in  excess  of  the  market  price  of  sugar  to-day.  If 
you  add  to  that  field  cost  the  amount  of  money  sufficient  to  make  it 
attractive,  sale  at  the  price  fixed — say  by  a  trust  or  a  refinery,  or 
anything  you  like — would  mean  certain  ruin. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  often  wonder  about  this  proposition.  I  see  that  the 
teamster  gets  much  more  than  the  man  who  throws  dirt  in  his  Vv^agon. 
If  we  reverse  that  policy  and  pay  twice  as  much  to  the  man  who 
throws  the  dirt  in  the  wagon  and  the  teamster  the  same  as  he  gets 
now,  would  not  that  reverse  the  demand  for  the  jobs  where  men  get 
the  large  wages  ? 

The  Chairman.  You  ought  to  talk  that  over  with  the  socialists. 
The  plumber  gets  more  pay  than  the  clerk  in  a  dry  goods  store,  but 
your  daughter  and  my  daughter  will  marry  the  clerk  getting  the 
small  pay  in  preference  to  the  plumber  getting  the  higher  wages. 
Those  are  problems  of  societ}-  which  you  can  discuss  from  now  until 
next  Christmas  and  yet  not  solve  the  labor  problem  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  defer  to  the  chairman's  statement  in  regard  to 
that.  I  have  observed  this  proposition  a  little,  and  I  want  to  tell 
you  there  is  more  truth  than  poetry  in  it.  The  men  doing  the  hard 
jobs  .ought  to  get  more  wages,  all  over  the  United  States,  every- 
where. The  other  fellow  who  is  doing  the  lighter  work  should  get 
a  little  less,  and  if  it  costs  a  little  more  to  the  consumer,  it  will  be  a 
benefit  to  the  fello.w  who  is  now  getting  less  remuneration  and  it 


332  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

will  give  him  an  opportunity  to  have  some  recreation  or  pleasure 
after  he  gets  through  with  his  work. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  My  attention  has  just  been  called  to  the  state- 
ment that  Mr.  Wooten,  who  signed  one  of  the  letters  I  have  just 
read,  was  the  president  of  the  marine  engineers'  organization,  and 
it  was  his  organization  that  protested  against  the  admission  of  the 
Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  information  in  regard  to  the 
application  of  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  to  be  admitted 
into  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  statement  was  made  by  a  witness  here  the 
other  day  that  an  attempt  was  made  for  an  affiliation,  but  it  was 
turned  down  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  know  that  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor,  at 
the  instance  of  Mr.  Tyson,  who  was  mentioned  by  a  witness  yester- 
day, did  apply  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  for  affiliation. 
The  marine  engineers,  of  which  organization  Mr.  Wooten  is  the 
president,  protested  by  resolution  against  the  admission  of  that 
Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  into  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  At  the  last  national  convention  of  the  Ameri- 
can Legion  in  Minneapolis  the  following  resolution  was  passed,  in- 
dorsing in  effect  the  plan  now  proposed  in  the  joint  resolution  before 
this  committee  to  diversify  the  oriental  population  of  the  Territory : 

Whereas  the  complete  and  speedy  Americanization  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  of 
A'ital  importance  to  the  Territory  and  to  the  United  States;  and 

Whereas  the  American  Legion,  Department  of  Hawaii,  aided  by  many  other  agencies. 
is  making  every  effort  to  bring  such  Americanization  about;  and 

Whereas  the  peaple  of  Hawaii,  for  the  best  interests  of  the  Nation,  are  willing  to  join 
with  other  parts  of  the  country  in  closing  the  doors  to  further  Japanese  immigration 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  islands  make  a  supply  of  labor 
adapted  for  work  under  the  climatic  and  other  conditions  peculiar  to  the  islands 
essential  to  the  continued  contribution  of  Hawaii  to  the  Nation's  food  supply  and 
resources:  Therefore  be  it 
Resolved  by  the  American  Legion,  in  national  convention  assembled,  That  Congress  be 

urged  to  make  an  impartial  investigation  of  the  labor  needs  of  Hawaii  with  the  view  to 

possible  modifications  of  policy  which  shall  result  in  a  larger  population  of  distinctly 

American  origin  and  a  diversification  of  alien  pppulation  with  a  view  to  military,  social, 

and  economic  safety;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  work  of  the  American  Legion,  Department  of  Hawaii,  in  securing 

the  cooperation  of  employers  in  Hawaii  to  the  end  that  citizens  be  given  preference  in 

employment  when  otherwise  fitted,  is  indorsed;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  efforts  of  the  American  Legion,  Department  of  Hawaii,  to  sec  ur(; 

national  legislation  requiring  the  use  of  citizen  labor  on  Government  work  is  indorse.! 

and  Congress  is  urged  to  pass  such  legislation. 

While  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  may  have  done  much 
to  improve  labor  conditions  in  this  country,  no  credit  of  any  kind  is 
due  it  for  the  development  of  American  interests  in  the  islands,  from 
the  start  of  American  industry  there  to  the  present  day.  That 
Hawaii  stands  to-day  as  an  AmxCrican  Territory,  controlled  by 
American  citizens,  with  as  high  a  standard  of  living  among  its  citi- 
zen population  as  is  found  in  any  part  of  the  United  States  and  a 
higher  standard  of  living  among  its  oreintals  than  is  found  in  any 
tropical  country  in  the  world,  is  due  in  no  respect  whatever  to  the 
efforts  of  organized  labor. 

To  control  the  interests  of  the  Territory  for  Americans,  and  recog- 
nizing the  growing  power  of  the  Japanese  through  their  numerical 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IlST   HAWAII.  333 

preponderances  and  consequent  control,  the  American  citizens  who 
have  directed  the  destinies  of  the  Territory  for  the  past  century, 
have  endeavored,  during  the  past  two  years,  to  curb  the  Hcense  of 
the  Japanese  foreign-hmguage  press  and  to  regulate  the  Japanese 
foreign-language  schools.  In  this  endeavor,  these  American  citizens 
have  been  opposed  in  their  efforts  not  only  by  the  Japanese  but  by 
the  members  and  organizations  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Wallace,  on  behalf  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  has 
stated  a  formal  opposition  to  this  resolution;  but  neither  he  nor  the 
organization  which  he  represents  has  suggested  any  affirmative  plan 
for  meeting  the  positive  situation  which  exists.  I  can  not  over- 
emphasize to  this  committee  the  fact  that  it  is  a  situation  and  not  a 
theory  that  confronts  us.  If  this  situation  is  allowed  merely  to  drift, 
it  is  answering  itself  by  the  laws  of  mathematics. 

Mr.  Raker.  Why  is  it  that  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  two  years 
ago  did  not  pass  a  bill  which  was  then  pending  before  it  requiring 
American  school  teachers  to  teach  in  Hawaii,  but  let  that  bill  be 
killed? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know.  Two  years  ago  I  was  here  in 
Washington.  I  was  not  in  Hawaii  during  the  session  of  the  legis- 
lature and  I  do  not  remember  any  of  the  discussions  in  connection 
with  that. 

The  Chairman.  The  bill  was  to  require  American  teachers  in  alien 
schools,  was  it  not,  or  was  it  in  public  schools  1 

Mr.  Raker.  In  public  schools. 

Mr.  Irwin.  They  have  since  passed  the  bill. 

Mr.  Weeber.  At  a  special  session.  Senator  Wise  is  here,  and  he 
can  answer  your  question. 

Mr.  Wise.  They  got  word  from  the  State  Department  to  stop  that. 

The  Chairman.  To  stop  what? 

Mr.  Wise.  To  stop  the  passage  of  that  law  introduced  at  that 
session. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  the  bill  provide  for  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  It  provided  for  the  elimination  of  the  foreign-language 
schools. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  was  at  the  time  Mr.  Wilson  was  in 
France. 

The  Chairman.  The  bill  called  for  the  elimination  of  foreign- 
language  schools  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Was  there  any  bill  to  eliminate  alien  teachers  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  That,  as  modified,  passed  at  the  last  session. 

The  Chairman.  Did  that  refer  to  the  public  schools  of  Hawaii  or 
to  the  foreign-language  schools  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  It  refers  to  the  foreign-language  schools  alone.  The 
public  schools  all  have  American  citizen  teachers. 

Mr.  Irwin.  No  teachers  but  American  teachers  can  teach  in  the 
public  schools. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  the  bill  that  prohibited  the  foreign-language 
schools  from  going  on  was  held  up  by  reason  of  the  request  of  the 
State  Department? 

Mr.  Wise.  The  State  Department. 

Mr.  Raker.  At  Washington  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes. 


334  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  is  no  answer  for  Mr.  Wallace  to  say  that  he 
will  shoulder  a  gun  and  fight  if  necessary.  We  maintain  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  Congress  to  see  that  American  citizens  are  not  compelled 
to  take  up  arms  to  meet  any  situation  due  to  the  domination  of  any 
single  alien  group  in  Hawaii,  when  that  situation  can  be  met  and 
solved  by  peaceful  economic  methods. 

The  suggestion  that  the  proposed  voluntarily  enlisted  laborers 
would  be  bondsmen  or  slaves  is  made  only  for  effect.  Any  fair- 
minded  study  of  the  proposed  plan  of  relief  will  demonstrate  be3^ond 
question  that  it  m.eans  and  entails  neither  bondage  nor  slavery  nor 
coercive  labor.  It  is  our  bona  fide  intention  to  secure  labor  from  any 
practicable  source.  So  far  as  the  Chinese  are  concerned,  alien  Chinese 
are  nov/  permitted  to  enter  the  United  States  under  certain  restric- 
tions. For  example,  they  are  permitted  to  enter  the  United  States 
to-day  to  attend  educational  institutions  or  for  purposes  of  traveling. 
In  either  case,  they  are  obliged  to  return  to  their  own  country  as  soon 
as  the  object  of  their  entry  is  accomplished.  Under  the  proposed 
legislation  now  before  this  committee,  this  right  of  entry  is  extended 
to  other  Chinese  v/ith  suitable  restrictions  applying  to  that  class,  and 
there  is  no  more  of  a  burden  on  this  proposed  class  than  exists  at  the 
present  time  with  respect  to  the  classes  of  Chinese  who  are  now 
permitted  to  enter  the  country  under  restrictions. 

It  must  be  clearly  understood  that  this  resolution  does  not  propose 
or  contemplate  the  entry  of  contract  labor,  but  provides  simply  for 
the  granting  of  permission  by  the  Department  of  Labor  for  the  admis- 
sion of  laborers  otherwise  debarred,  to  enter  the  United  States  to 
engage  in  agricultural  pursuits  at  the  prevailing  wage  rates.  There 
is  no  obligation,  implied  or  otherwise,  upon  this  Government  to  enter 
into  negotiations  with  any  other  government  or  individuals  as  to  the 
fixing  of  wage  rates  or  the  making  of  wage  contracts.  After  entry 
into  the  country  the  laborers  in  question  are  free  to  move  from  one 
plantation  to  another  and  from  one  island  of  the  Territory  to  another,, 
so  long  as  they  continue  to  employ  themselves  in  agricultural  pursuits. 

Your  attention  has  been  called  to  an  actupd  shortage  of  labor  in  the 
fields  of  the  Territory,  and  the  intention  of  this  proposed  legislation, 
and  its  only  reason  or  purpose  is  the  necessity  of  supplying  labor  to 
meet  this  actual  numerical  shortage.  The  resolution  is  distinctly  not 
designed,  nor  would  the  Department  of  Labor  permit  it  to  be  used, 
to  create  an  oversupply  of  labor,  looking  to  the  reduction  of  the- 
prevailing  wage  scales.  It  would  be  distinctly  against  the  interests 
of  the  Territory  to  have  an  oversupply  of  labor,  for  there  is  no  oppor- 
tunity for  such  labor  to  migrate  from  one  place  of  seasonal  employ- 
ment to  another,  as  is  possible  and  practiced  on  the  mainland.  The 
nature  of  the  industries  of  Hawaii  furnishes  an  opportunity  for  con- 
tinuous employment  the  year  round,  so  that  no  enforced  idleness  iS' 
■ever  occasioned  by  the  absence  of  vfork  to  be  done. 

As  a  very  probable  medium  for  the  handling  of  the  details  of  this- 
proposed  immigration,  the  Territorial  laws  now  provide  for  a  board  of 
immigration,  v/ith  authority  to  handle  just  such  situations  as-  would 
be  created  by  the  resolution  under  consideration.  Under  this  Ter- 
ritorial law  boards  of  immigration  have  handlcvd  European  immi- 
grants to  the  Territory  in  large  numbers  and  have  not  only  brought, 
them  to  the  Territory,  but  have  also  attended  to  their  distribution. 
throughout  the  various  islands. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  385 

At  this  point,  we  wish  to  say  that  this  commission  has  no  objection 
to  amendments  to  the  resolution  in  question  with  a  view  specifically 
to  placing  a  part  of  the  responsibility  on  the  Territorial  government 
or  requiring  the  Territory  to  provide  funds  for  carrying  the  measure 
into  effect,  should  the  committee  consider  amendments  along  these 
lines  either  necessary  or  desirable. 

As  this  is  a  proposition  of  enlisted  labor  volunteering  to  be  em- 
ployed under  certain  restrictions  and  conditions  known  to  it  in 
advance,  a  very  proper  requirement  would  be  that  only  young  men, 
or  men  between  the  ages,  say,  of  18  or  20  and  25  years,  be  admitted 
under  the  plan  in  question.  These  ages  correspond  with  the  age  of 
young  men  in  this  country  who  are  attending  technical  and  other 
schools  and  who  have  not  yet  acquired  families  with  the  accompany- 
ing responsibilities.  Should  such  young  men  be  admitted  to  the 
Territory,  they  would  there  be  afforded  an  opportunity  to  acquire 
an  industrial  education  in  practical  methods'of  agriculture,  sanitation, 
and  modern  scientific  m.ethods  of  farming.  That  employment  in  the 
fields  of  the  Territory  constitutes  a  real  education  of  great  practical 
value  to  the  laborer  is  amply  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  Japanese 
and  Filipinos  who  have  returned  from  Hawaii  to  their  own  countries 
are  to-day  recognized  as  a  prominent  and  invaluable  factor  in  de- 
veloping the  agriculture  of  their  own  countries. 

As  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  Territory  of  Havv^aii  is  maintained 
on  a  high  plane  of  live  and  let  live,  we  cite  the  fact  that  the  wage 
scale  for  the  islands  and  the  freedom  and  opportunities  of  employ- 
ment are  such  that  there  is  not  a  single  poorhouse  in  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii,  and  that  vagrancy  and  poverty  are  practically  unknown. 
Under  a  system  inaugurated  a  few  years  ago  all  of  our  eleemosynary 
institutions  are  provided  for  from  funds  raised  annually  by  voluntary 
subscriptions.  The  welfare  fund  for  this  purpose  amounted  to 
$375,000  in  1921.  This  fund  is  expended  and, used  for  maintaining 
hospitals,  social  settlements,  open-air  camps,  and  general  welfare 
organizations,  and  it  is  seldom  if  ever  necessary  to  use  a  part  of  this 
fund  for  the  mere  financial  relief  of  the  destitute. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  labor  immigration  experiments  of  the 
past  50  years  have  been  generally  unsuccessful,  it  has  been  clearly 
brought  out  in  this  hearing  tiiat  Hawaii  is  willing  and  anxious  to 
continue  such  experiments  with  a  view  to  the  development  of  a 
permanent  Caucasian  population.  The  people  of  the  Territory  still 
hope  and  beheve,  despite  the  discouragement  of  past  failures,  that  a 
solution  can  be  worked  out  in  time,  and  we  therefore  urge  that,  in 
the  preparation  of  a  permanent  immigration  policy,  due  consideration 
be  given  to  the  problems  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  Those  problems 
require  relief  of  a  widely  different  nature.  The  first  problem  is  the 
solution  of  the  present  grave  labor  shortage  constituting  a  crisis 
which  threatens  the  very  existence  of  the  industries  of  the  Territory 
and  even  of  the  Territor}^  itself.  The  second  problem  is  the  determi- 
nation of  a  permanent  immigration  policy  which  will  at  once  permit 
the  creation  of  a  white  Caucasian  base  for  the  population  of  the 
Territory  and  effectively  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  a  labor 
shortage  hereafter. 

For  the  relief  of  the  present  situation,  a  rotation  of  immigration 
is  proposed  to  the  end  that  Hawaii  may  now  secure  adequate  labor 
that  will  solve  her  instant  emergency  problem.     Since  this  immigra- 


336  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IIsT   HAWAII. 

tion  is  to  be  rotated  and  thereby  prevented  from  becoming  a  part  of 
the  Territory's  permanent  population,  the  first  and  the  only  consider- 
ation in  determining  upon  the  nature  of  the  immigrants  is  whether 
or  not  they  can  and  will  work  in  the  tropical  fields  of  the  country  so 
efficiently  as  to  permit  the  continued  operation  and  control  of  our 
agricultural  industries  by  and  for  Americans. 

The  second  problem  of  a  permanent  immigration  policy  will  need 
no  solution  unless  and  until  the  present  emergency  has  passed;  for,  if 
that  emergency  continue  unrelieved,  the  industrial  and  political 
control  of  the  Territory  will  pass  into  alien  hands,  and  the  country 
cease  to  remain  an  American  community.  The  solution  of  these 
two  problems,  the  one  emergency  and  the  other  permanent  must  be 
founded  upon  a  frank  differentiation  between  labor  intended  to 
relieve  the  present  crises  and  labor  intended  for  a  permanent  popu- 
lation. For  the  former,  Hawaii  needs  the  most  efficient  labor  avail- 
able, regardless  of  race  or  color;  for  the  latter,  she  needs  a  carfully 
selected  agricultural  people  who  can  continue  her  industries,  be 
assimilated  into  her  population,  and  constitute  the  base  on  which 
to  build  a  body  politic  essentially  American. 

Gentlemen,  this  committee  has  a  responsibility  to  meet  the  prob- 
lem of  how  to  continue  Hawaii  as  an  American  Territory.  To  take 
no  action  at  all  is  to  answer  that  she  shall  speedily  come  under  the 
economic  and  the  political  control  of  an  alien  race.  To  postpone 
action  exaggerates  and  makes  more  diffident  the  later  adjustment 
and  solution  of  the  problem,  and  such  adjustment  is  so  necessary 
that  now  or  later  it  can  not  be  escaped.  To  refuse  to  provide  a 
remedy  for  the  present  predicament  of  the  isolated  Territory  of 
Hawaii,  simply  because  the  method  of  remedy  proposed  may  not 
be  adaptable  to  mainland  conditions  or  because  that  method  is  new 
in  principle,  is  not  solving  our  problem  or  meeting  the  responsibility 
which  is  vested  in  your  committee. 

Mr.  Cable.  Suppose  this  resolution  goes  through  as  it  is  drawn, 
and  you  were  back  in  Hawaii.  How  would  you  proceed  to  get  this 
labor?  Would  you  send  men  to  China,  or  what  method  would  you 
pursue  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Many  of  the  details  for  carrying  out  this  plan, 
of  necessity,  would  have  to  be  provided  by  the  Department  of  Labor. 
The  burden  would  be  upon  the  Territory  to  show  to  the  Department 
of  Labor,  and  it  would  be  upon  the  Department  of  Labor  to  ascer- 
tain, the  exact  conditions  in  Hawaii.  If  it  were  possible  to  meet 
our  situation  by  bringing  in  others  than  Chinese,  for  the  sake  of  keep- 
ing away  from  the  prejudice  that  is  against  the  Chinese  in  this  country, 
we  would  be  glad  to  bring  in  some  other  people.  If,  howeyer,  it  is 
impossible  to  bring  people  in  from  any  other  source,  we  will  be  glad 
to  bring  the  Chinese  in. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  would  have  to  pay  their  boat  fare  down  there, 
would  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Cable.  About  how  much  would  that  be  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  recall  what  the  new  rates  are  from 
China  to  Hawaii,  but  Mr.  Mead,  who  knows  the  rates • 

Mr.  Cable  (interposing) .  Approximately  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  should  say  from  $50  to  $75. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  rate  is  $65. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  337 

Mr.  Cable.  Then  they  would  come  to  Hawaii  and  work  for  a  month 
and  become  dissatisfied  and  refuse  to  work  any  longer.  What  would 
you  then  do  with  them  ? 

Mr.  DiLLiNGHAM.f  ^According  to  law,  they  would  be  deportable,  just 
as  a  man  who  comes  here  from  southern  Europe  and  stays  for  a  month 
and  breaks  any  law  of  this  country  is  deportable. 

Mr.  Cable.  Who  would  pay  that  expense? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  expense  would  have  to  be  borne,  probably, 
by  the  unfortunate  who  paid  his  fare  over.  The  burden  would  have 
to  be  placed  somewhere  to  assure  to  the  Government  his  return  at  the 
completion  of  his  time  of  work. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  it  your  understanding  that  this  fare  on  the  boat  both 
ways  would  be  deducted  from  the  amount  he  earned  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  would  be  a  matter  of  negotiation  between 
the  interests  doing  the  employing  there,  the  Territorial  board  of  immi- 
gration supervising  the  arrangements  made  by  the  planters,  who 
entered  into  negotiations  with  agents  in  China.  Under  existing  law 
the  Chinese  Government  requires  that  the  form  of  the  arrangement  be 
approved  by  the  Chinese  Government  before  any  of  her  citizens  can 
leave  for  foreign  lands.  We  have  such  a  territorial  board  of  immi- 
gration, but  it  is  unable  to  function  owing  to  present  immigration 
laws. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  that  form  of  arrangement  in  writing  anywhere  where 
we  could  get  a  copy  of  it  ?  Have  you  seen  one,  or  do  you  know  the 
contents  of  it  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No;  I  do  not. 

The  Chairman.  Have  the  members  of  your  commission  talked 
with  any  diplomatic  or  consular  officer  of  the  Chinese  Government  in 
relation  to  this  matter  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  If  that  fare  was  deducted  from  the  amount  of  wages, 
you  would  get  him  down  there  and  he  would  have  to  stick  some  time 
before  he  got  a  nickel  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  the  Chinese  Government  is  making  arrange- 
ments such  as  suggested  with  Hawaii,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that 
protection  of  the  individuals  will  be  covered  in  such  arrangements. 

The  Chairman.  The  Chinese  Government  could  not  make  any 
arrangements  with  the  Territory  of  Hawaii ;  they  would  have  to  make 
such  arrangements  with  the  State  Department. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir;  the  arrangement  is  made  with  the 
approval  of  our  Government,  under  a  permit  granted  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  to  import  a  certain  number  of  Chinese  for  a  limited 
period  of  time,  as  provided  in  this  resolution. 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  see  about  that.  We  have  the  laws  requiring 
all  Chinese  coming  to  the  United  States  to  carry  passports  from  their 
Government,  and  those  passports  have  to  be  vised  by  our  consular 
agents. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  The  State  Department  certainly  would  be  notified 
by  the  consular  agents  of  people  coming  in  under  these  arrangements  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  would  be  notified  that,  under  this  law, 
authority  was  given  by  the  Secretary  of  Labor  for  the  admission  of  a 
certain  number  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  and  passports  would  be 
issued  under  those  conditions. 
56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 9 


?? 


338  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  I  understand  that  the  Chinese  Government,  as  a 
Government,  makes  an  arrangement  with  another  Government  to 
transport  those  of  her  nationals  to  the  other  country  for  labor  ? 

The  Chairman.  It  has  done  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  was  during  the  war.  Now,  I  would  like  to  have 
the  facts  about  that. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  are  sending  labor,  as  I  understand  it,  to  the 
Malay  Peninsula  and  other  parts  of  the  world  where  labor  is  required, 
but  they  are  putting  a  very  much  more  careful  check  on  that;  they 
are  having  a  more  paternal  eye  on  that  arrangement  with  labor  to 
insure  their  labor. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  details  of  the  provisions  of  those 
agreements  under  which  certain  money  is  sent  home  for  the  support 
of  the  families,  or  in  reference  to  the  amount  of  money  required  to  be 
deposited  by  the  companies  who  employ  the  coolie  labor  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have  not  gone  into  the  details  of  any  such 
arrangement  as  that. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  anything  about  it  by  hearsay,  as  to 
how  it  is  done  in  other  countries  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  a  letter  which  was  forwarded  to  me  since 
my  arrival  here.  It  is  very  brief  and  I  could  not  offer  it  as  an 
exhaustive  report  on  the  arrangement.  I  will  give  it  to  you  for  what 
it  may  be  worth. 

The  Chairman.  Is  it  a  personal  letter  or  a  business  letter  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  is  a  personal  letter;  it  is  headed  ^'Personal 
It  is  not  the  disposition  of  this  commission,  however,  to  hold  back 
any  information  that  we  have,  whether  it  is  personal  or  otherwise, 
which  bears  on  this  subject.  I  do  not  wish  to  betray  any  confidence, 
but  I  feel  sure  that  the  addressee  is  interested,  as  we  all  are,  only  in 
meeting  the  situation  in  Hawaii,  as  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he 
has  sent  me  this  letter,  which  says : 

With  reference  to  our  conversation  on  the  question  of  Chinese  labor  for  Hawaii, 
I  wish  to  state  that  it  would  be  the  best  thing  for  the  islands  if  the  planters  can  get 
Congress  to  pass  a  special  act  allowing  a  certain  number  of  laborers  to  enter  the  Ter- 
ritory for  the  plantations.  This  is,  of  course,  a  matter  to  be  taken  up  on  the  other 
side,  but  as  regards  the  procedure  that  has  to  be  gone  through  in  order  to  secure  the 
labor  at  this  end,  I  would  briefly  summarize  as  follows: 

First  of  all,  I  would  suggest  that  the  employment  of  laborers  from  the  Swatow 
district,  which  supplied  over  90  per  cent  of  the  farm  laborers  of  the  Straits  Settle- 
ments and  the  Federated  Malay  States,  be  considered,  and  these  are  by  far  superior 
in  physique  and  working  capacity  to  the  men  from  the  Heung  Shan  and  Sun  Ning 
districts  that  have  before  gone  into  Hawaii. 

Since  there  is  a  law  passed  by  the  Chinese  Government  prohibiting  contract  labor 
to  go  abroad,  the  question  of  securing  the  laborers  in  large  numbers  has  to  be  solved, 
and  the  solution  lies  in  that  satisfactory  arrangements  will  have  to  be  made  with  the 
Chinese  Government  whereby  the  emigrants  will  be  sufficiently  protected  before 
the  sanction  can  be  obtained.  This  has  been  the  case  with  thousands  of  IsiBorers 
that  were  sent  to  ^he  Straits  Settlements,  Samoa,  and  Nauru  Islands,  and  in  every 
instance  a  contract  was  made  between  the  Chinese  Government,  representing  the 
laborers,  and  the  foreign  consul,  representing  the  emploj^ers  of  laborers. 

The  gist  of  such  a  contract  generally  embraces  the  fixed  terms  of  employment,  the 
wages,  and  the  supplies  the  men  are  to  receive.  At  the  present  time  thirty  Mexican 
dollars  per  month  should  be  satisfactory  to  the  men,  and  on  this  basis  thousands  and 
thousands  of  men  can  be  obtained. 

Among  the  other  terms  of  the  contract,  the  stipulations  that  sufficient  medical 
assistance  should  be  rendered  the  men  by  the  employers  in  case  of  sickness,  healthy 
q^uarters  should  be  provided,  and  the  number  of  holidays  in  the  year  are  also  men- 
tioned. Furthermore,  on  every  batch  of  laborers  sent  numbering  500  or  so,  a  sum  of, 
sav  $5^000  or  so.  is  required  to  be  deposited  by  the  employers  with  the  Chinese  Gov- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII,  339 

ernment  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  charitable  aids  or  making  compensation  to  any 
of  the  said  laborers  should  they  return  home  sick  or  disabled. 

The  above  are,  roughly,  the  conditions  under  which  Chinese  labor  can  be  obtained 
and,  to  my  mind,  should  not  be  difficult  to  follow. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  a  letter  written  by  a  representative  of  any 
company  which  acts  as  a  go-between  with  the  Chinese  Government 
and  those  who  would  contract  for  Chinese  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know;  I  can  not  tell  you  about  that. 
I  knew  the  writer.  I  remember  him — or  I  think  I  do — as  a  very 
small  boy.  He  has  been  in  China  for  several  years  and  has  been 
quite  a  factor  in  connection  with  the  transfer  of  the  Government 
from  an  empire  to  a  republic. 

The  Chairman.  Without  objection,  the  clerk  of  the  committee 
will  be  asked  to  call  on  the  Library  of  Congress  for  copies  of  the  laws 
passed  by  the  Chinese  Government  prohibiting  the  immigration  of 
contract  labor  mentioned  in  this  letter. 

Have  you  any  letters  from  any  concern  in  China  that  might  act 
as  an  agent  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir. 

[Note. — The  Library  of  Congress  was  unable  to  find  the  informa- 
tion desired.] 

ADDITIONAL  STATEMENT  OF  MR.  ROYAL  D.   MEAD. 

Mr.  Mead.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  make  a  statement  in  response  to 
the  suggestion  made  by  Kepresentative  Nolan,  that  the  trust,  or  the 
American  Sugar  Refining  Co.,  the  so-called  trust,  buys  Hawaiian 
sugar  ? 

The  Chairman.  You  may  proceed. 

Mr.  Mead.  For  many  years  the  American  Sugar  Refining  Co.  has 
not  purchased  1  pound  of  Hawaiian  sugar.  The  Hawaiian  sugar  has 
been  refined  principally  by  the  refinery  of  the  sugar  planters  in  Cali- 
fornia called  the  California-Hawaiian  Sugar  Refining  Co.,  at  Crockett, 
Calif.  This  year,  however,  a  quantity  of  sugar  will  be  sent  to  the 
eastern  refineries,  and  the  American  Sugar  Refining  Co.  has  pur- 
chased, I  understand,  70,000  tons  of  that  sugar.  But  since  1909  up 
to  this  time  there  has  not  been  a  pound  sold  to  the  American  Sugar 
Refming  Co. 

The  Chairman.  I  take  it  that  the  sugar  business  has  fat  years  and 
lean  years  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  has.  Furthermore  we  contend  that  the  price  we 
receive  for  sugar  has  been  fixed  on  the  basis  of  supply  and  demand 
and  not  by  any  refinery. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  had  quite  a  number  of  fat  years  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  had  a  fat  year  last  year,  but  the  United  States 
Government  took  a  large  part  of  that  profit  in  excess  profits  and 
income  taxes. 

The  Chairman.  The  fact  that  the  Government  has  taken  away 
some  of  your  profits  in  excess  profit  taxes  and  income  taxes,  does  not 
put  you  in  any  different  position  from  any  other  corporation  which 
makes  money  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  but  it  does  place  us  at  a  distinct  disadvantage  with 
the  Porto  Rican'and  Philippine  producers  who  do  not  have  that  tax 
to  pay. 


340  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  When  was  the  last  year  when  you  had  any  lull 
in  the  sugar  business,  v/hich  you  might  call  a  lean  year  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Previous  to  the  war,  in  1914,  the  price  of  sugar  had 
gone  down  below  3  cents,  and  we  were  facing  then  a  very  bad  year. 
Since  that  time  our  profits  have  been  fairly  good. 

The  Chairman.  The  sugar  market  is  getting  back  to  normal  now, 
is  it  not? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  not  now.  I  do  not  believe  it  will  be  back  to  normal 
for  several  years — -not  until  the  present  tremendous  production  has 
decreased.     There  is  a  very  large  oversupply. 

(Thereupon,  the  committee  went  into  executive  session,  after 
which  it  adjourned  to  meet  to-morrow,  Saturday,  June  25,  1921,  at 
10.30  o'clock  a.  m.) 

Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Saturday,  June  25,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  Has  the  commission  anything  further  to  present 
this  morning,  Mr.  Dillingham  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir;  I  v/ould  like  for  Mr.  Mead  to  present 
some  extracts  from  reports  which  were  not  put  in  the  record  the  other 
day. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Mead,  you  may  proceed. 

ADDITIONAL  STATEMENT  OF  MR.  EOYAL  D.  MEAD. 

Mr.  Mead.  Mr.  Chairman,  there  are  tw^o  reports  upon  labor  condi- 
tions in  Hawaii  particularly  which  I  want  to  refer  to,  the  two  latest 
reports,  1911  and  1915,  made  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor.  The  1915  report  is  Bulletin  No.  94  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Labor  on  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii,  and  I  am  reading 
from  page  694. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  report  of  1914? 

Mr.  Mead.  1911.  It  is  a  bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor 
No.  94,  and  I  am  reading  from  page  694.  This  report  you  will  bear 
in  mind  was  made  in  1911,  and  the  idea  of  reading  from  this  one  first 
is  to  show  the  progressive  improvement  of  labor  conditions  on  the 
sugar  plantations  in  Hawaii. 

But  no  unbiased  observer  would  question  that  the  mass  of  working  people  on 
Hawaii  plantations  are  now  better  off  than  ever  before.  Their  wages  are  higher, 
their  housing  better,  their  standard  of  living  higher,  their  opportunities  for  advance- 
ment broader.  Moreover,  public  opinion  in  the  islands  and  the  sentiment  of  plan- 
tation managers  and  overseers  as  a  class  are  predominantly  in  favor  of  the  changes 
in  administering  labor  that  have  occurred,  and  sympathetic  with  the  progress  made 
by  plantation  workers  under  the  new  system. 

Nevertheless,  room  still  remains  for  improvement  in  plantation  labor  conditions — 
a  remark  that  applies  equally  to  mainland  occupations.  While  five  years  have  seen 
a  betterment  of  plantation  housing  and  camp  sanitation,  and  in  many  places  within 
another  half  decade  every  married  couple  will  occupy  a  detached  cottage  and  gar- 
den, yet  the  substitution  of  new  residences  and  the  introduction  of  improved  sani- 
tation take  time,  and  occasion  expense  that  in  any  business  enterprise  will  be  dis- 
tributed over  several  years.  It  appears  to  be  the  rule  that  bad  housing,  poor  sanita- 
tion, and  overcrowding  are  more  common  in  privately  owned  tenements  outside  the 


I 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  341 

plantation  limits  than  upon  the  plantations  themselves.  The  rate  of  wages  obviously 
does  not  permit  plantation  laborers  to  adopt  the  standard  of  living  enjoyed  by  white 
laborers  in  the  United  States;  nor  can  wages  be  raised  immediately  ito  such  a  rate. 
There  are  no  relial)le  means  of  knowing  whether,  taking  into  account  cost  of  living 
as  well  as  actual  wages,  the  economic  condition  of  Hawaiian  workers  is  improving 
faster  or  slower  than  the  condition  of  workers  upon  the  Pacific  coast.  But  there  is 
no  immediate  prospect  that  conditions  in  these  two  places  will  be  equalized.  The 
differences  of  industries,  traditions,  and  race  are  too  great. 

However,  a  comparison  of  Hawaiian  conditions  with  those  of  California  is  hardly  a 
fair  one.  More  properly  Hawaii  should  be  compared  with  other  tropical  and  insular 
countries,  having  similar  industries.  Yet  this  comparison  must  be  conditioned  by 
important  distinctions.  Without  attempting  either  to  confirm  or  deny  a  casual 
relation  between  the  two  facts,  there  is  no  cane-producing  country  in  the  world, 
outside  the  American  tariff  area,  where  sugar  cane  is  so  highly  protected  as  in  Hawaii. 
There  is  no  important  sugar-cane  region  except  Queensland  and  Cuba  where  the 
rate  of  wages  is  so  high  for  common  field  labor  as  in  Hawaii.  The  condition  of  labor 
in  Hawaii  is  better  than  in  Madeira  and  the  Azores — white  labor  countries- — for  the 
Territory  is  now  drawing  its  main  sujjply  of  immigrants  from  those  islands.  Wages 
are  higher  than  in  Porto  Pvico,  and  the  material  euAdronment  of  labor  is  better  than  in 
most  parts  of  the  West  Indies. 

Furthermore,  the  autonomy  of  industry,  which  reflects  itself  directly  in  the  general 
Welfare  of  workers,  is  probably  greater  in  Hawaii  than  in  any  other  tropical  country. 
Hawaii  is  not  and  never  has  been  a  colony. 

There  is  more  along  the  same  Hne  but  that  is  a  general  summing 
up,  as  I  understand  it,  of  the  conclusions  of  the  investigators  at  that 
time.  This  report  I  believe  was  made  by  Dr.  Victor  Clark — or 
rather,  by  the  chief  of  the  bureau  who. was  then  Dr.  Neill,  assisted 
by  Dr.  Clark. 

Mr.  Raker.  Where  was  Neill  from  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  what  his  State  was,  but  he  was  then 
chief  of  the  Department  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  was  the  other  gentlemen  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Victor  S.  Clark. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  you  do  not  know  where  he  was  from  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Clark  at  that  time  had  a  dual  employment.  I  believe 
he  was  employed  by  the  Carnegie  Institute  and  also  did  this  special 
work  for  the  Department  of  Labor.  It  may  be  that  also  in  1911  or 
after  this  report  was  made,  I  think  he  took  employment  under  the 
Territory  as  superintendent  of  immigration.  At  any  rate,  it  was  on 
or  about  that  time. 

Now,  the  report  of  1915  appears  in  Senate  Document  No.  432, 
Sixty-fourth  Congress,  first  session,  ^^  Labor  Conditions  in*  Hawaii." 

believe  it  was  also  published  as  a  bulletin  of  the  Labor  Department 
but  it  comes  to  me  in  this  form.     I  am  reading  from  page  10: 

A  large  oriental  population  and  a  tropical  climate  make  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii 
different  from  those  on  the  mainland  of  the  United  States.  But  there  is  probably 
no  other  tropical  country  except  northern  Queensland  where  average  earnings  and  the 
standard  of  living  of  workers  are  as  high  as  in  the  islands.  Cuban  plantation  hands 
receive  more  pay  jjer  day  for  part  of  the  3^ear,  but  employment  at  these  wages  is  not 
80  continuous  as  in  Hawaii,  while  housing  and  sanitary  conditions  for  ordinary  laborers 
are  below  the  Hawaiian  standard.  However,  Tv'ages  in  the  Territory  are  lower,  and 
the  opportunit}-  for  a  common  laborer  to  advance  is  less  than  in  California. 

Page  35: 

Considering  the  demands  of  the  climate,  plantation  workers  are  better  housed  than 
many  rural  laborers,  mine  workers,  and  unskilled  citv  workmen  on  the  rnainland. 
However,  when  new  laborers  from  the  Orient  are  introduced,  with  low  standards  of 
living  and  primitive  notions  of  hygiene,  they  invariably  deteriorate  the  quarters 
where  they  are  placed.  The  recent  large  immigration  of  Filipinos  has  had  this  effect. 
As  they  are  mostly  single  they  are  often  placed  in  long  tenements  or  barracks,  and  some 


342  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

buildings  of  this  type — which  it  was  hoped  had  been  abolished  from  plantation  camps- 
have  been  erected  for  them. 

And  they  are  being  abolished,  I  will  say.  The  question  of  barracks  | 
for  single  men  is  something  we  all  frown  upon,  and  just  as  rapidly  as 
possible  they  are  being  eliminated;  but  I  have  gone  into  camps  where 
they  have  put  Filipinos  and  others  into  very  nice  houses  and  you  would 
almost  weep  to  see  the  way  they  have  abused  those  good  quarters, 
and  my  advice  would  be  against  the  putting  of  Porto  Ricans,  who 
have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  sanitation,  in  new  houses.  They  ought 
to  be  given  first  an  opportunity  of  learning  something  in  regard  to 
sanitation  and  the  care  of  their  houses  before  they  are  given  the  type 
of  houses  now  being  erected  for  ordinary  laborers. 

Page  39: 

Several  facts  indicate  that  plantation  laborers  receive  more  than  a  subsistence  wage* 
The  Japanese,  including  those  not  on  plantations,  send  more  than  .$1,000,000  annually 
to  their  home  country  through  the  post  office,  and  are  said  to  transmit  a  still  larger  sum 
through  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank,  which  has  a  branch  in  Honolulu. 

Page  58 — this  is  headed,  ^'The  question  of  the  Asiatic": 

This  is  the  main  question  in  Hawaii  from  all  standpoints.  The  population  is  more 
largely  Asiatic  now  than  ever  before,  and  that  element  is  growing  relatively  faster 
than  the  rest  of  the  people.  The  Japanese  multiply  through  a  high  birth  rate  and  the 
importation  of  picture  brides.  The  planters'  associations  have  brought  in  more  Fili- 
pinos since  1909  than  the  entire  north  European  and  American  population  of  the 
Territory.  The  Japanese  women  who  come  to  Hawaii  under  the  peculiar  arrangement 
mentioned  engage  in  field  work.  Their  principal  occupation,  however,  is  the  bearing 
of  children.  They  and  their  children  are  not  as  yet  self-supporting,  so  that  the  family 
expenditures  have  thus  been  enhanced.  These  importations  have  not  thus  far  acted 
to  depress  wages  of  male  workers.  There  are  about  14  adult  men  among  the  Filipinos 
for  every  3  women  and  children,  and  their  importation  has  probably  helped  to  lower 
wages  or  at  least  to  prevent  them  from  rising. 

In  which  conclusion  the  gentlemen  is  entirely  wrong  because  wages 
have  been  continually  on  the  increase. 

Mr.  Raker.  Before  I  forget  it,  since  the  claimed  landing  of  picture 
brides  on  the  mainland  during  the  year  1920,  after  August,  have 
there  not  been  picture  brides  coming  to  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  that  regulation  or  restriction  did  not  apply  to 
Hawaii.     I  do  not  know  why,  but  it  did  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  any  idea  of  the  number  that  have  come  to 
Hawaii  ?   ' 

Mr.  Mead.  I  have  not  the  figures;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Weeber.  I  can  tell  you  the  number  that  came  in  from  1910  to 
1920,  but  not  by  separate  years.  The  total  was  10,617  in  that 
decade. 

Mr.  Raker.  Picture  brides. 

Mr.  Weeber.  Picture  brides  admitted  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
from  1910  to  1920. 

Mr.  Raker.  Could  you  give  the  committee  the  approximate 
number  that  came  in  in  1920  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Six  hundred  and  seventy-six  picture  brides  were  ad 
mitted  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  in  1920. 

The  Chairman.  Just  at  that  point,  did  I  understand  you  to  say 
that  the  order  of  the  Japanese  Government  forbidding  the  entry  oi 
picture  brides  into  the  United  States  did  not  apply  to  Hawaii  s 

Mr.  Mead.  It  did  not  apply  to  Hawaii. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  343 

Mr.  Kaker.  And  those  that  came  in  in  1920,  after  August,  and 
those  that  are  coming  in  since  August,  1920,  up  until  the  present  time 
and  bear  children  in  Hawaii,  those  children  will  be  American  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Children  born  there  will  be  American  citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  and  can  come  on  to  the  continental  United  States 
at  their  pleasure. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  can,  as  I  understand  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  being  American  citizens,  property  in  California 
could  be  deeded  to  them  although  they  resided  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  yes.  They  are  American  citizens  born  in  Hawaii, 
and  their  citizenship  extends  everywhere  through  continental -United 
States,  naturally.  There  is  a  significant  thing,  though,  in  connection 
with  the  children  of  Japanese  born  in  Hawaii.  I  have  followed  the 
istatistics  of  arrivals  and  departures  of  steerage  passengers  at  Hono- 
lulu for  a  great  many  years,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  for  20  years 
past  and  more  the  number  of  Japanese  children  leaving  the  Territory 
and  going  to  Japan  has  exceeded  by  four  to  one  the  number  of  chil- 
dren coming  from  Japan  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  but 

Mr.  Mead  (continuing).  In  other  words,  the  Japanese  who  have 
children  in  Hawaii  send  their  children  back  to  Japan  after  they  have 
reached  a  certain  age.  Just  what  that  age  is  I  do  not  know,  but  they 
send  them  back  to  Japan  to  acquire  their  education  in  Japan. 

Mr.  Raker.  Exactly;  and  they  get  a  Japanese  education,  and  all 
the  boys  who  are  American  citizens  married  in  Japan  would  be  en- 
titled to  reenter  Hawaii  as  well  as  the  mainland. 

Mr.  Mead.  Exactly. 

Mr.  Raker.  With  their  brides,  which  would  be  proper  under  the 
law  because  they  would  be  American  citizens;  and  the  girls  or  the 
young  ladies  go  there  for  an  education  and  stay  until  they  graduate 
and  then  can  come  back  whenever  they  see  fit  to  do  so. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  when  they  come  back,  but  it  is  signifi- 
cant that  even  though  they  are  born  in  Hawaii  and  born  into  Ameri- 
can citizenship,  it  is  apparent  that  they  send  them  back  to  Japan  to 
acquire  a  Japanese  education. 

Mr.  Raker.  From  your  observation,  is  not  that  the  condition  with 
reference  to  those  born  on  the  mainland  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  so  much  about  those  born  on  the  main- 
land, but  I  know  about  those  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  they  not  send  them  back  to  Japan  for  their  early 
education  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Just  as  an  individual  instance  of  that,  I  have  had  a 
Japanese  working  for  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters  Association  since 
1901.  He  married  in  Hawaii;  in  fact,  he  has  married  there  twice, 
his  first  wife  having  died.  He  has  eight  children.  So  far  as  I  know, 
this  young  man  has  as  nearly  imbibed  the  ideas  of  Americanism,  per- 
haps, or  Americanization,  as  any  Japanese  I  know  of  there.  He  is 
associated  with  white  people  in  his  work  and  has  always  been  very 
loyal  to  me.  Just  previous  to  my  coming  away  from  Honolulu,  this 
man  came  to  me  and  said,  ''I  want  a  vacation  to  go  back  to  Japan," 
and  I  said,  '^Why?  What  are  you  going  back  to  Japan  for?"  He 
said,  ''I  want  to  take  my  children  to  Japan.  I  want  to  educate  them 
as  Japanese.     I  do  not  want  them  to  grow  up  as  Americans." 


344 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 


Now,  that  is  an  individual  instance.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is 
pecuhar  or  anything  of  the  kind,  but  there  is  a  boy  I  would  trust. 
I  would  certainly  trust  him  where  I  would  not  trust  any  other 
Japanese,  but  he  wants  his  youngsters  to  grow  up  as  Japanese  and 
not  as  Americans.  - 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Mead,  have  you  folks  any  statistics  here  to  show 
the  number,  if  any,  of  American-born  Japanese  who  have  become 
expatriated  or  who  have  requested  expatriation  from  their  own 
country?  - 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  I  have  not.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  commis- 
sion has  those  figures  or  not. 

The  Chairman.  Before  we  get  to  those  figures,  Mr.  Weeber  has  here 
a  table  of  aliens  admitted  to  and  departing  from  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii  between  the  years  1910  and  1920,  inclusive,  by  nationalities. 
I  think  it  would  be  well  to  have  that  inserted,  and  without  objection, 
it  will  be  so  ordered. 

(The  statement  referred  to  follows :) 

Aliens  admitted  to  and  departing  from  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  between  the  years  1910  and 

1920,  inclusive. 


Race  of  people. 

1910 

* 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

OU. 

African  (black) 

1 

6 

1 

1 

2 

1 

Armenian 

1 

2 

1 

91 

Bohemian.. 

1 

i 

Bulgarian 

Chinese 

478 

130 

370 

114 
3 

253 

143 

230 

129 

198 

Ill  ■ 

.183' 

Croatian  and  Slovenian 

Cuban .  . 

Dutch  and  Flemish 

East  Indian 

3 

227 
46 



'"19 

1 
70 
67 

5 

2 

6 
6 

81 
1 
3 

19 
1 
1 
8 
2 
4,062 

45 

X 

""49' 

2 

2 

66 

1 
'"46" 

4 

1 

46 

...... 

41 

English 

32 

73 
1 
2 

23 
1 

35 
2 

5 
-    1 

Finnish  . 

French 

2 
57 

6 

3 
13 

1 
1,239 

2 
12 

i'632' 

106 

4 
1 

5 
20 
1 
1 
3 

2 
1,883 

8 

1 

5 

25 

3 
16 

216 
32 

"'2i' 
1 

1 
20 

2 

3,817 

92 

6 
6 

.      6 

2 
17 

1 

2 
■      •'.  1- 
......  ^ 

German . 

Greek 

Hebrew 

Irish ■ 

10 

3 

3 

1 

215 

30 

i 
2,625 

-6 

'"M 

■'.   37" 

Italian 

Japanese ; 

912 
32 

2.816 
17 

617 
40 

Korean 

Mexican 

Pacific  Islander 

1 

3 

228 

'"15 

1 
17 
13 

'1 

',     V 

.-•■'  2 
32 

'""96 
2 
■  .   24  - 

•    ■ 

Pohsh 

12 

864 

6 

548 

1 
3 

7 
1,114 

2 

Portuguese...     .              .  . 

33 

2. 
1 
6 
1 
31 

Rumanian  . 

Russian 

1,  542 

3 

58 

4 
3 
6 

202 

1 

64 

7 
2 
15 
9 
3 

234 

6 

65 

23 

4 

16 

99 

7 
73 

90 

1 

17 

14 

3 

54 

-119 

1 

30 

Scandinavian 

Scotch ^ 

Slovak 

Spanish 

1 

868 

2,156 

2 

1,043 

3 

1,362 

49 

3 

.  :3i'- 

Turkish 

5 
1 

1 

Welsh 

3 

1 

3 

2 

1 

1 ' 

West  Indian 

Other  peoples 

1 

4 

1 

1 

3 

Total 

4,186 

2,267 

3,886 

1,421 

6,654 

907 

5,837 

682 

5,622 

747 

2,934„ 

561 

LABOR  PEOBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 


345 


Aliens  admitted  to  and  departing  from  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  between  the  years  1910 

and  1920,  mc^tiswe— Continued. 


Race  of  people.           ) 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919 

1920 

Net. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

Loss. 

Gain. 

African  (black) 

1 

1 

4 

Armenian 

1 

Bohemian 

1 

Bulgarian  

1 

Chinese. 

119 

104 

141 

Ill 

101 

209 

72 

26G 

107 

345 

1,489 

Croatian  and  Slovenian . 

3 

Cuban 

1 

2 

i 

Dutch  and  Flemish 

East  Indian 

2 
1 

76 

1 

3 

i 

23 

5 

1 

29 

307 

English 

29 

71 
5 
2 

16 
4 
4 
6 

28 

35 

48 

33 

128 

38 

340 

Finnish 

5 

French 

16 

22 

2 

1 

18 

2 
1 

1 
2 

3 

2 

3 
1 

1 
1 

...... 

""is" 

20 

German. . 

151 

Greek 

1 

Hebrew 

2 

14 

2 

2,138 

45 

13 

Irish 

5 

8 

2 

5 

'  5 

2,384 

66 

1 

"'i74' 
14 

3 

73 

Italian 

13 

Japanese . .  

2,797 
80 

58 
24 

3,178 
116 

84 
34 

2,856 

78 

249 
57 

229 

7 

""I' 

25,409 
219 

Korean 

Mexican 

Pacific  islander 

2 

2 

1 
1 
1 

2 

JNjUsh....                           .   . 

4 
2 

i 

39 

46 

Portuguese. . 

81 

6 

12 

.  3 

2,558 

Rumanian ...        

1 

Russian 

12 

8 
29, 

2 

2 

22 

9 

8 

30 

65 
■'"12" 

6 

6 

13 

61 

2 

25 

5 

2 

22 

8 

"'io' 

16 

5 

114 

14 

1,650 

Scandinavian 

33 

20 

""9' 

356 

Slovak 

Spanish 

63 

4 

25 

...... 

18 

5,243 

Spanish-Am  erican 

2 
1 

1 

-     4 

Syrian 

1 

Turkish. ... 

5 

Welsh  .. 

1 

2 

1 

1 

...... 

1 

12 

West  Indian 

Other  peoples 

1 

2 

1 

Total...  . 

3,194 

394 

3,607 

405 

3,100 

674 

2,619 

511 

2,578 

659 

34,989 

'Mr.  Raker.  And  although  it  may  be  shown  by  that  table  that  a 
large  number  of  Japanese  had  expatriated  themselves  from  the 
tiawaiian  Islands,  there  is  nothing  to  show  but  what  those  young 
m^n  and  women  going  to  Japan  to  receive  their  education,  after  they 
have  stayed  there  from  5  to  10  or  12  years,  return  to  the  United 
'.  States. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  think  that  table  shows  anything  of  the  kind. 
-  The  Chairman.  It  does  not  show  expatriation.  It  shows  arrivals 
and  departures. 

.'Mr.  Eaker.  But  I  say  that  if  the  departures  shown  were  fairly 
large,  it  would  be  no  indication  that  they  were  returning  in  order  to 
remain  there. 

,  Mr.  Mead.  Not  at  all;  but  the  figures  for  many  years  past  show  that 
with  the  exception  of  Japanese  women  coming  to  Hawaii,  the  de- 
partures of  Japanese  men  and  the  departures  of  Japanese  children 
irom  Hawaii  to  Japan  are  far  in  excess  of  the  arrivals  of  Japanese 
men  and  Japanese  children.  The  only  excess  of  arrivals  over  de- 
partures among  the  Japanese  is  among  the  Japanese  women  and 
there  are  not  and  have  not  been  coming  into  Hawaii  for  a  long  period 
as  many  Japanese  men  as  have  gone  out,  or  as  many  Japanese  children 
as  have  gone  out. 


346  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  how  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Japanese  for  the  last  10  years  has  increased 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing).  The  birth  rate,  of  course,  is  very  high. 
The  birth  rate  of  the  Japanese  is  very  high  and  this  excess  of  depar- 
tures does  not  at  all  make  up  for  the  very  high  birth  rates.  These 
are  simply  figures  of  arrivals  and  departures  of  steerage  passengers 
there. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Mead,  this  question  may  have  been  asked  you  before, 
but  unfortunately  I  have  two  hearings  going  on  that  I  am  trying  to 
follow  and  I  can  only  appear  here  occasionally.  Has  the  question 
been  asked  or  answered  about  the  plan  of  the  Japanese  as  to  adoption. 
Have  they  adopted  that  plan  of  the  Japanese  in  the  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing) .  I  have  not  heard  of  anything  of  that  kind 
in  Hawaii.  It  may  be  so,  but  I  have  not  heard  of  it  at  all,  and  I 
think  I  would  have  heard  of  it  if  it  was  going  on. 

This  report  continues  at  page  59: 

Economic  competition,  however,  does  not  account  for  the  displacement  of  whites 
by  Asiatics  so  much  as  social  repulsion.  Both  races  instinctively  withdraw  from 
each  other  in  response  to  impulses  that  are  hard  to  analyze.  Nevertheless  these 
age-old  barriers  between  the  West  and  the  East  should  not  blind  us  to  the  rights 
acquired  by  oriental  residents  in  Hawaii.  They  came  at  the  invitation  of  the  former 
Government  and  were  there  when  we  took  the  country,  or  have  come  with  our  con- 
sent since  it  was  in  our  possession.  We  have  by  our  laws  changed  them  from  inden- 
tured laborers,  who  might  be  deported  at  our  behest,  into  life  residents  and  fathers 
of  future  citizens.  Unless  we  abolish  representative  government  in  Hawaii,  their 
children,  mostly  Japanese,  will  soon  be  able  if  they  are  so  disposed  to  dominate  the 
country  politically.  We  shall  then  have  the  choice  of  either  denying  our  most  typi- 
cal institutions  to  one  of  our  own  Territories,  or  of  giving  over  the  control  of  one  of 
our  most  important  oversea  military  possessions  into  the  hands  of  an  Asiatic  voting 
population. 

Moreover,  the  political  influence  of  these  people,  whose  Americanization  is  still 
in  question,  will  be  reenforced  by  their  growing  economic  influence. 

Then  there  is  a  discussion  about  their  going  into  various  busi- 
nesses and  intrenching  themselves  in  all  lines  of  occupation  and 
then  a  discussion  of  the  Japanese  language  schools,  which  I  will 
not  readv 

Mr.  Raker.  We  have  a  very  extensive  resume  of  the  Japanese 
language  schools  and  a  survey  of  education  in  Hawaii  issued  by 
the  Department  of  Labor  in  Bulletin  No.  16  of  1920.  It  would  be 
worth  while  for  the  committee  and  the  Members  of  Congress  to  be 
familiar  with  that  report. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  might  read  an  extract  from  this  report  along  the 
line  of  what  I  have  just  stated  regarding  the  Japanese  children 
going  back  to  be  educated.     It  appears  on  page  60: 

A  very  large  number  of  Japanese  children  are  sent  back  to  Japan  as  soon  as  they  are 
able  to  leave  their  parents,  to  be  educated  and  to  be  trained  in  the  traditions,  religion, 
and  history  of  Japan,  in  order  that  they  may  not  lose  their  loyalty  to  that  country. 

On  page  65  is  a  review  and  the  conclusions  on  labor  conditions: 

Labor  conditions  in  Hawaii  are  better  than  in  most  tropical  countries  and.  in  some 
ways  are  better  than  in  many  mainland  communities.  The  struggle  for  existence 
is  not  severe.  Except  early  in  1914,  when  abnormally  low-sugar  prices  and  the 
prospective  removal  of  the  duty  on  that  article  enforced  stringent  economy  in  plan- 
tation management,  agricultural  workers  have  never  faced  involuntary  unemj)loy- 
ment.    From  an  oriental  standpoint,  labor  conditions  are  excellent. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  347 

And  then  they  discuss  that  proposition  further: 

Most  of  the  betterment  of  labor  conditions  during  the  past  15  years  has  not  been 
at  the  instance  of  the  laborers  themselves.  It  has  been  partly  forced  from  employers 
by  their  competition  among  themselves  for  labor. 

Then,  going  on  in  regard  to  this  situation,  on  page  67 : 

There  is  no  reason  for  an  alarmist  attitude  toward  the  Japanese.  Those  in  Hawaii 
are  not  unmindful  that  some  mischance  may  in  the  future  disturb  the  friendly 
relations  between  their  country  and  our  own;  but  they  do  not  court  such  an  event. 

This  report,  as  you  recall,  was  published  in  1915. 

They  (the  Japanese)  maintain  their  national  characteristics  and  allegiance  very 
stubbornly  and  transmit  them  to  their  children  born  in  Hawaii.  Their  Americaniza- 
tion is  as  yet  on  the  surface;  it  has  not  touched  their  hearts.  Nor  is  there  much  reason 
why  it  should.  They  are  discriminated  against  in  the  matter  of  citizenship  and  are 
separated  by  social  and  linguistic  barriers  from  the  white  population. 

The  Chairman.  At  the  time  that  was  written  there  had  been  no 
Japanese  labor  organization  formed  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  was  in  1909,  when  they  carried  on  a  strike,  a 
Japanese  organization,  yes;  but  it  did  not  last  very  long. 

Mr.  Raker.  When  that  was  written  and  before  it  was  printed  I 
called  it  to  the  attention  of  this  committee — that  is,  the  conditions 
there — and  requested  that  some  action  be  taken  whereby  the  condi- 
tions might  be  molhfied  and  that  Hawaii  might  be  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  look  after  her  future  interests,  but  the  authorities  then, 
and  the  American  Congress  then,  gave  a  deaf  ear  to  the  conditions 
in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  What  time  was  that? 

Mr.  Raker.  Following  that  report. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  plan  offered  by  you? 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  I  do  not  want  to  take  up  the  time  of  the  com- 
mittee to  state  all  of  the  plans,  but  the  first  plan  was  to  prohibit  the 
importation  or  the  immigration  of  Japanese  to  Hawaii,  through 
picture  brides  and  otherwise,  as  well  as  to  the  continental  United 
States.  That  was  in  1915,  a  little  over  five  years  ago,  and  pretty 
nearly  six. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  will  read  from  page  68: 

Necessary  encouragement  should  be  given  to  the  immigration  of  Europeans.  The 
Portuguese  have  proved  suitable  settlers  for  Hawaii.  People  of  Iberian  stock  readily 
become  Americans  in  habits  and  spirit.  They  are  frugal  and  industrious  and  they 
thrive  in  the  Hawaiian  climate.  On  account  of  the  remoteness  of  the  Territory 
from  Europe,  they  can  attract  immigrants  in  competition  with  nearer  countries  only 
by  paying  their  passage,  and  the  law  permits  the  Government  to  do  this. 

The  law  does  not  permit  it  now,  that  provision  having  been  taken 
out  of  the  law. 

But  many  Europeans  use  this  Government  assistance  to  get  cheaply  to  California, 
a  fact  that  has  discouraged  the  policy  of  thus  building  up  a  citizen  population.  It 
is  maintained  by  some  that  immigrants  whose  passage  to  Hawaii  has  been  paid  by 
the  local  Government  should  be  required  to  repay  their  passage  money  if  they  leave 
the  Territory  for  the  mainland  within  three  years. 

I  do  not  know  how  that  would  ever  be  accomplished,  but  there  is 
just  that  suggestion.  To  end  that  particular  part  of  the  discussion 
this  report  says : 

The  Federal  Government,  in  every  policy  affecting  the  Territory,  should  strive  to 
foster  such  a  community. 


348  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

That  is,  a  community  of  white  stock.  Those  are  about  the  only 
extracts  that  I  care  to  read  out  of  these  reports.  Both  of  these 
reports,  especially  the  report  of  1916,  which  is  not  very  long,  would 
well  repay  a  careful  reading.  There  are  other  statements  which  I 
could  read  but  I  do  not  want  to  burden  the  record. 

Mr.  Raker.  Going  back  not  only  to  labor  conditions  but  to 
economic  conditions,  all  of  the  Japanese  that  are  American  citizens 
would  be  entitled  to  purchase  any  business  that  might  be  on  the 
Islands. 

Mr.  Mead.  Oh,  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  then  call  in  their  relatives  and  friends  to  assist 
them  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  I  assume  that  could  follow. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  up  to  the  present  time  is  there  any  law  prohibiting 
a  Japanese  from  purchasing  property  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Not  that  I  know  of. 

Mr.  Raker.  Either  land  or  otherwise  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  if  they  have  the  money  and  the  desire  there  are 
enough  Japanese  to  purchase  not  only  the  sugar  plantations  but  other 
industries  in  Hawaii  and  run  them  as  American  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  If  they  had  the  money  perhaps  they  might  make  an 
attempt  to  purchase  the  sugar  plantations,  but  I  do  not  think  they 
would  ever  get  very  far. 

Mr.  Raker.  Why  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Because  the  people  out  there  are  patriotic  Americans 
and  they  are  not  going  to  sell  their  lands  to  the  Japanese ;  they  are 
not  going  to  sell  their  plantation  lands  to  aliens. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  do  not  get  the  necessary  labor  and  the  Japan- 
ese being  there  in  the  large  number  they  are,  having  refused  to  work 
on  the  plantations  and  having  induced  others  to  refuse  to  work  on 
the  plantations,  the  sugar  plantations  can  not  prosper  or  do  business 
and  would  be  running  a  losing  business  all  the  time,  so  that  it  would 
look  feasible  that  if  the  Japanese  had  the  money  they  would  be  in  a 
position  to  acquire  the  property  and  then  put  their  own  people  at  work. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  agree  to  that  for  a  minute.     I  believe  that  the 

great  majority  of  the  plantation  owners  in  Hawaii  would  rather  see 

/their  fields  dried  up  and  turned  into  absolutel}^  arid  areas  than  to 

I  have  that  country  turned  over  to  the  Japanese,  either  through  their 

'  purchase  of  the  lands  or  otherwise.     That  is  what  I  think  of  the  white 

people  of  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  mean  that  the  condition  is  such  that  because 
of  a  nationality  they  would  refuse  to  sell  to  an  American  citizen  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  not  say  they  would  refuse  to  sell  to  American 
citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  mean,  Japanese  American  citizens. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  would  not  refuse  to  sell  to  you,  no,  sir;  they  would 
be  glad  to  have  you  come  out  there  and  buy  all  the  sugar  land  you 
could  afford  to  buy. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  would  be  very  little. 

Mr.  Mead.  But  so  far  as  allowing  the  Japanese  to  get  a  foothold 

there  I  am  very  confident,  sir,  that  it  could  never  be  done.     You 

;  must  remember  that  the  holdings  of  the  stock  of  the  plantations  in 

':  Hawaii  are  by  people  who  are  Americans  or  those  who  are  white 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  349 

American  citizens,  and  that  they  are  living  there.  They  have  their/ 
homes  there,  and  they  propose  to  have  that  country  a  white  American' 
country. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  you  intend  to  convey  to  the  committee 
the  idea  that  the  conditions  are  such,  by  virtue  of  the  large  number 
of  nationals  of  Japan,  whether  aliens  or  citizens,  that  unless  some- 
thing is  done  to  give  the  people  there  who  are  engaged  in  business — 
that  is,  the  white  American  citizens — an  opportunity  to  conduct 
their  business,  that  they  will  either  go  bankrupt  or 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing).  Yes,  sir;  I  think  the  people  of  Hawaii  are 
entitled  to  that  relief.  I  think  they  are  not  only  entitled  to  that 
relief  from  an  economic  standpoint  but  from  the  standpoint  that 
Hawaii  is  a  military  outpost  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is  a  mighty 
important  post;  I  do  not  think  that  most  people  realize  how  very 
important  it  is  and  that  the  people  out  there  are  trying  their  very 
hardest  to  build  up  a  population  that  will  be  loyal  to  the  United 
States  in  case  of  any  trouble. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  the  Japanese  population  is  so  large  and  it  continues 
to  increase  to  such  an  extent  that  they  could  take  possession  of  the 
islands,  what  good  would  it  do  to  us  to  hold  them  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  What  good  would  it  do  us  to  have  other  labor  there 
that  would  offset  that  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  what  good  would  it  do  us  to  hold  it  as  a  military 
outpost  if  the  population  of  a  particular  nationality  is  so  strong  that 
overnight  they  could  take  possession  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  overnight  they  are  not  going  to  take  possession 
in  a  military  way. 

The  Chairman.  You  figure  it  will  be  done  by  what  is  termed  in 
Cajifornia  '^peaceful  penetration"  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Possibly. 

The  Chairman.  Is  it  not  true  that  there  are  20,000  Japanese 
children  attending  Japanese  schools  and  being  taught  by  Japanese 
teachers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  I  stated  the  other  day  that  when  it  comes  to  a? 
point  where  the  political  aspect  of  things  shows  that  the  Japanese; 
have  or  will  shortly  obtain  control  of  the  electorate  that  you  gen- 1 
tlemen  here  in  Congress  are  going  to  see  that  some  provision  is  made  \ 
whereby  a  commission  form  of  government  is  put  into  effect  out  there.  I 
That  is  my  belief. 

The  Chairman.  Rather  a  military  government  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  A  commission  form  of  government,  the  commission 
being  composed  largely  of  military  or  naval  men. 

The  Chairman.  How  many  Japanese  newspapers  are  in  the  islands, 
if  you  know? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  how  many  there  are  all  over  the  islands, 
but  there  are  five  or  six  in  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Johnson.  Including  some  daily  papers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Have  they  fought  the  plantation  owners? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  are  very  rabid  and  say  all  sorts  of  things. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  University  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  an  educational  institution  conducted  by  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii,  and  it  has.  I  believe,  assistance  from  the  Federal 


350  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Government.  It  used  to  be  an  agricultural  college  but  has  been 
turned  into  a  university. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  maintained  by  the  Territory  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir.  I  do  not  know  positively  whether  it  receives 
Federal  aid  or  not. 

Mr.  Wise.  $50,000  a  year'. 

The  Chairman.  Do  Japanese  pupils  go  there  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  pupils  of  all  nationalities. 

The  Chairman.  They  go  there  whether  they  are  citizens  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Are  there  any  alien  teachers  in  that  university  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  there  are  one  or  two.  I  think  they  have  a 
Japanese  professor  of  Japanese  art  and  literature,  and  a  Chinese  pro- 
fessor of  art  and  literature. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  Prof.  Harada  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  I  know  him. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  his  chair  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  He  has  charge  of  Japanese  art  and  literature. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  remember  his  address  before  the  Japanese 
business  men  of  Honolulu  on  January  13,  1921,  in  which  he  said: 

The  complete  solution  of  the  Japanese  question  will  never  be  reached  until  Ameri- 
can-born Japanese  exert  their  influence  in  political  circles. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  was  not  there  at  that  time,  but  I  read  that  address  in 
one  of  the  newspapers. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  presumed  to  be  a  fair  report  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  That  might  mean  that  the  American-born  Japa- 
nese would  act  as  Americans  ?  " 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Or  they  could  act  in  the  capacity  of  their  other 
citizenship. 

Mr.  Mead.  Exactly. 

The  Chairman.  Getting  right  down  to  the  nub  of  the  thing,  do 
you  think  it  would  be  advisable  for  Congress  to  undertake  to  cure 
one  oriental  sore  by  the  development  of  another  oriental  sore? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  admit  for  a  moment  that  the  admission  of 
Chinese  to  Hawaii  would  form  an  oriental  sore. 

The  Chairman.  Did  any  one  think,  when  the  first  500  Japanese 
came  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  or  the  first  1,000  came  to  the  State  of 
Washington  or  to  the  State  of  California,  that  we  would  have  this 
oriental  problem,  acute  as  it  is,  both  in  Hawaii  and  in  the  United 
States? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  have  had  Japanese  and  we  have  had  Chinese  in 
Hawaii,  so  that  we  have  had  a  chance  to  compare  the  nationalities. 
The  Chinese  mix  and  intermarry  with  other  races,  and  the  offspring 
of  Chinese  and  Hawaiians  or  Chinese  and  other  races  is  splendid.  : 
Some  of  those  are  the  equal  of  anything  we  have  in  Hawaii,  so  far  i 
as  their  loyalty  and  so  far  as  their  general  citizenship  are  concerned,  j 
But  the  Japanese  do  not  intermarry  with  any  other  nationality  j 
nor  do  they  mix  with  any  other  nationality. 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  see  about  that.     The  Chinese  never  brought  [ 
their  women  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  in  any  numbers? 

Mr.  Mead.  Not  in  any  numbers;  no,  sir. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  351 

The  Chairman.  Therefore,  by  the  very  nature  of  things,  they 
intermarried. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  and  very  largely  with  the  Hawaiians. 

The  Chairman.  The  Japanese,  on  the  contrary,  having  devised 
the  picture  bride  scheme,  have  brought  their  women  there  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  although  for  many  years  there  were  no  picture 
brides  coming  to  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  the  incentive  to  intermingle  or  intermarry 
is  not  so  great? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  not  say  the  incentive,  but  I  would  say  that 
the  Japanese  do  not  want  to  mix  w^ith  any  other  nationality;  they 
would  rather  remain  unmarried  than  to  marry  anybody  outside  of 
their  own. 

The  Chairman.  The  American  citizens  who  went  out  to  the  Pacific 
Northwest,  following  the  strike  of  gold  in  California  in  1849,  did  not 
want  to  marry  the  Indian  women  out  there,  but  some  of  them  did. 

Mr.  Raker.  Only  a  few  of  them. 

^Ir.  Mead.  The  Japanese  do  not  want  to  and  they  have  not.  I 
believe  I  could  count  on  the  fingers  of  both  hands  the  marriages  of 
Japanese  to  people  of  other  nationalities. 

The  Chairman.  In  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  Hawaii.  Out  in  the  Orient,  of  course,  you  will 
find  a  great  many  men  who  have  married  Japanese  women,  but  you 
do  not  find  it  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  So  you  think  the  Chinese  could  come  in  in  any 
considerable  number  and  not  in  any  way  create  a  possible  future 
trouble  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Absolutely;  they  would  create  no  trouble  at  all. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  the  Japanese  are  there  in  such  numbers  and  by 
reason  of  their  work  and  labor  and  accumulation  of  all  the  finances 
of  the  various  businesses  of  the  country,  it  is  bound  to  reduce  the 
rest  of  the  community  to  a  sort  of  reliance  on  them  for  finances, 
is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  believe  we  would  ever  reach  that  stage. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  a  way  it  is  getting  that  way  now,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No.  I  would  not  say  that  you  would  ever  reach  or 
even  approach  the  stage  where  we  would  rely  upon  the  Japanese  for 
the  financing  of  any  operation  of  any  kind. 

Mr'.  Raker.  If  you  brought  in  30,000  Chinese  to  take  the  places 
of  the  Japanese  who  have  been  working  not  only  in  the  sugar- 
cane industry  but  in  the  pineapple  industry,  the  rice  industry  and 
other  agricultural  industries,  so  as  to  displace  the  Japanese  labor, 
the  Japanese  would  have  to  go  into  something  else,  would  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  understand  that  it  is  the  intention  to  bring 
in  Chinese  or  any  other  labor  to  displace  any  of  the  people  who  are 
now  working.  But  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor  out  there;  they  have 
not  enough  labor  to  do  the  agricultural  work  that  is  necessary  to 
be  done,  and  the  proposition  is  to  bring  in  some  nationality,  other 
than  Japanese,  naturally,  to  fill  up  the  hole  which  now  exists  in  the 
labor  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  put  it  this  way,  then :  The  Japanese  have 
already  struck,  or  had  a  strike  in  1920,  and  some  of  them  did  not 
go  back.  Suppose  that  more  should  strike,  and  that  there  was 
practically  no  labor  for  these  agricultural  industries,  and  you  should 


352  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

bring  in  30,000  Chinese  to  take  their  places.     That  would  leave  the 
Japanese  without  any  employment,  would  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  if  they  all  went  out  on  a  strike  and  did  not 
come  back 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  assuming  that  to  be  the  condition.  Would  not 
that  create  an  acute  condition  as  between  the  two  races,  the  Japanese 
and  the  Chinese,  the  Japanese,  on  the  one  hand,  having  thirty  or 
forty  thousand  laboring  in  the  fields,  getting  a  good  wage,  and  having 
fairly  good  conditions  surrounding  them  as  to  housing,  etc.,  and  the 
Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  being  out  of  employment. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  can  imagine  that  condition  on  a  theoretical  questioii 
of  that  kind;  that  is,  if  all  the  Japanese  on  the  plantations  went' out 
on  a  strike  and  were  absolutely  loafing  and  doing  nothing,  and  you 
should  bring  in  30,000  Chinese  and  put  them  in  the  places  that  those 
Japanese  had  previously  occupied,  you  might  have  racial  trouble, 
but  that  is  a  purely  theoretical  situation  which  will  never  arise, 
because  if  the  Japanese  all  go  out  on  a  strike  and  will  not  work  on 
the  plantations  they  will  not  be  able  to  find  employment,  and  most 
of  them  will  have  to  go  back  to  Japan,  because  they  have  got  to 
work  to  live. 

The  Chairman.  This  last  strike  was  won  by  which  side  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  By  the  planters. 

The  Chairman.  After  a  delay  of  how  long  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  About  six  months. 

The  Chairman.  Then  the  Japanese  returned  to  their  work  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  At  the  old  scale  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  returned  at  the  old  scale  and  thereafter  the 
wages  were  raised  50  per  cent.  The  bonus  was  reduced  but  the 
basic  wage  was  increased. 

The  Chairman.  That  had  the  tendency  of  getting  away  from  the 
trouble  with  this  excessive  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  cost  of  that  strike  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  Federation  published  figures  whereby 
.•they  claimed  that  they  had  received  in  donations  from  other  Japan- 
\/ese  throughout  the  Territory,  Japanese  laborers  and  others,  $900,000. 
My  own  information  is  that  they  received  an  amount  considerably 
in  excess  of  that.  The  cost  to  the  Hawaiian  sugar  planters  in  providing 
strike  breakers  and  in  damage  to  their  crops  approximated,  I  believe, 
$12,000,000,  although  I  may  be  mistaken  as  to  that  amount.  The 
figures  were  finally  compiled  after  I  left  there  and  I  have  not  them 
with  me,  but  I  tliink  that  was  the  cost.  One  of  our  large  expenses 
in  that  connection  was  the  insuring  of  the  growing  cane  crop  of  1920. 
They  were  firing  the  fields;  they  would  go  along,  apparently,  in 
automobiles  with  bombs  and  throw  them  over  into  the  fields  in 
different  sections  of  the  plantations,  where  the  fields  adjoined  the 
public  roads.  We  had  very  serious  fires,  so  we  insured  that  crop. 
It  was  the  first  time  that  I  know  of — I  never  heard  of  it  before— 
where  any  such  insurance  had  been  taken  out  on  such  a  large  scale. 
The  fields  were  insured  for  $15,000,000. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  became  more  than  a  general  strike,  then. 

Mr.  Mead.  It  was  a  strike  on  all  but  one  of  the  plantations  on  the 
island  of  Oahu. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  353 

Mr.  Raker.  I  say,  that  strike  assumed  proportions  beyond  just  a 
refusal  of  laborers  to  work. 

Mr.  Mead.  Absolutely;  it  assumed  a  national  movement  among 
the  Japanese. 

f  Mr.  Raker.  It  assumed  such  proportions  that  those  who  struck, 
and  their  sympathizers  and  friends,  prepared  to  destroy  the  property 
of  the  owners. 

Mr.  Mead.  It  did. 

Mr.  Raker.  Were  there  many  instances  of  that  kind  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  there  were  quite  a  number  of  fires;  for  a  while  we 
had  a  fire  every  night. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  did  you  keep  down  serious  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  really  getting  into  a  conflict  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  had  conflicts  with  them,  but  there  were  no  riots  or 
anything  of  the  kind,  although  we  had  a  pretty  serious  time. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Where  did  you  get  the  strike  breakers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  got  them  out  of  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Maloney.  From  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Principally  around  Honolulu.  We  had  a  strike  in  1909 
which  was  also  serious  for  a  while,  and  at  that  time  we  found  that  the 
Hawaiians  were  the  most  loyal  and  most  efficient  help,  and  we 
recruited  at  that  time  somewhere  around  3,000  Hawaiians,  stevedores 
and  the  like,  who  were  working  around  Honolulu.  In  1920  they 
came  right  to  the  fore,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  Hawaiians  in  and 
around  Honolulu,  and  many  coming  down  from  the  other  islands,  I  do 
not  know  what  we  would  have  done.     They  saved  the  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  answered  my  question  of  a  moment  ago  in  a  very 
pleasant  and  nice  way;  there  is  no  complaint  on  my  part,  but  still  it 
leaves  something  hazy  in  my  mind.  How  could  you  accuse  these 
strikers  of  throwing  bombs  and  setting  the  fires  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  How  could  we  accuse  them  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  Everybody  knew  it  must  be  them  because  we  never  had 
fires  down  there,  cane  fires,  except  accidental  fires  such  as  might  be 
caused  by  the  passing  of  a  locomotive.     They  had  never  occurred. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  you  knew  those  people  were  setting  fire  to  planta- 
tions, what  did  you  do  with  them — what  actually  occurred  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  what  actually  occurred  was  this:  We  established 
patrols — automobile  patrols — through  the  plantations.  The  planta- 
tions are  pretty  well  divided  up  by  roads,  pretty  fair  roads,  and  we 
had  patrols  going  around  all  night  long,  and  at  one  time,  when  it  got 
so  bad,  the  sheriff  stationed  guards  at  points  along  the  public  roads, 
just  before  they  reached  the  plantations,  and  at  intermediate  points, 
and  every  automobile  that  came  along  after  dark  was  stopped  and 
examined  to  see  whether  there  were  any  bombs  or  anything  in  the 
cars  with  which  to  start  fires.  While  that  was  going  on,  we  had  no 
fires. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  the  attitude  of  the  strikers  and  their  friends 
and  sympathizers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  attitude  of  the  strikers  themselves  was  very,  very 
good  indeed,  and  there  were  no  riots  of  any  kind.  There  were  a  few 
hotheads  among  them  who  caused  considerable  trouble,  but  I  would 
not  want  to  say  that  it  was  any  Japanese  plantation  man  or  ex- 

56754— 21— SER  7.  pt  1 ^10 


354  LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

plantation  man  who  set  fire  to  the  fields;  I  would  not  want  to  say 
that,  but  I  do  say — and  I  believe  I  am  right — -that  those  fires  were 
caused  by  Japanese. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  it  your  intention  to  convey  to  the  committee  the 
idea  that  that  was  sympathized  in  by  the  Japanese  as  a  national 
people  or  as  a  race  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  my  feeling. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  you  get  any  result  from  the  Japanese  consul  ? 
Is  there  one  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  you  get  any  favorable  assistance  from  him  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No;  we  did  not.  The  Japanese  consul  called  together 
or  secured  a  committee  of  Japanese  business  men  to  act  and  to  advise 
the  calling  off  of  the  strike,  knowing  that  the  planters  would  never 
give  in;  but  their  conferences  did  not  amount  to  anything;  that  is, 
their  committee  did  not  amount  to  anything  and  they  did  nothing. 
They  tried  to  do  something  but  the  Japanese  would  not  listen  to 
them.  It  is  called  to  my  attention  that  during  these  strike  troubles 
the  National  Guard  of  Hawaii  was  gotten  in  readiness  to  act  imme- 
diately. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  strong  is  your  National  Guard  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  a  pretty  strong  guard;  I  do  not  know  just  what  the 
force  is  now,  but  during  the  war  we  supplied'  more  men  through  the 
National  Guard  to  the  national  forces,  in  proportion  to  our  popula- 
tion, than  any  other  community  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  asked  one  gentleman  about  this,  and  it  might  have 
been  you.  We  have  been  a  little  tedious  in  this  matter,  at  least  I 
guess  I  have,  but  you  will  have  to  forgive  me.  Has  any  consider- 
able number  of  the  men  who  were  working  in  1920  and  on  up  to  1921 
left  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  You  mean  the  men  who  went  on  strike  in  1920? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  a  great  many  of  the  plantation  laborers  who  were 
working  in  1920  have  left  the  islands.  The  bonus  in  1920  was  so 
very  large  and  the  earnings  of  the  plantation  laborers  were  so  enor- 
mous that  a  great  many  of  them — Japanese,  Portuguese,  Spanish, 
Filipinos,  and  others — left  the  plantations;  in  the  case  of  the  Portu- 
guese and  Spanish  to  go  to  California;  in  the  case  of  the  Filipinos  to 
return  to  the  Philippine  Islands  and  to  go  to  the  coast;  and  in  the 
case  of  the  Japanese  to  go  to  Japan.  Hordes  of  them  went  away, 
and  the  steamers  were  not  anywhere  near  able  to  take  care  of  the 
people  who  wanted  to  go;  they  had  to  wait  for  months  to  get  trans- 
portation, so  many  of  them  wanted  to  go.  I  know  that  very  well, 
because  our  office  in  Honolulu  handles  the  departure  of  Filipinos. 
We  try  to  keep  a  record  of  those  who  are  going  away  very  largely 
with  the  idea  of  seeing  how  much  money  they  have  and  how  pros- 
perous they  have  been,  and  they  book  their  passages  back  home 
tlirough  our  office.  We  had  no  objection  to  their  going,  because  if 
they  wanted  to  go  we  could  not  stop  them,  but  knowing  we  had  that 
condition  v/e  wanted  to  know,  as  far  as  we  could  know,  what  was 
going  on,  and  they  just  crowded  in  at  Honolulu  to  get  passage  back 
home. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  there  any  considerable  number  that  came  to  thej 
slands  in  1920  and  1921  who  were  not  there  before?  ' 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  355 

Mr.  Mead.  Do  you  mean  Filipinos? 

Mr.  Raker.  Of  any  nationality  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  the  Filipino  immigration  has  been  continuous 
since  1909.     They  have  come  in  right  along. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  there  any  idle  men  in  Hawaii  now  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  have  not  been  out  there  at  all  since  November. 

Mr.  Raker.  Unemployed  men  is  what  I  mean. 

Mr.  Mead.  If  there  is  any  man  in  Hawaii  who  is  now  without 
employment,  it  is  his  own  fault.  There  is  no  unemployment.  You 
can  not  say  that  at  any  time  there  is  unemployment  in  Hawaii. 
There  is  no  such  thing  there.  There  are  no  idle  men  except  men 
who  wish  to  be  idle. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  not  exactly  what  I  mean,  i  got  word  from 
home  the  other  day  that  there  were  60  or  70  idle  men  in  that  small 
community  of  a  few  thousand  population.  The  farmers  could  use 
them,  but  they  will  not  work  on  the  farms.  Are  there  any  of  that 
kind  of  men  in  Hawaii,  or  men  who  are  idle  because  they  will  not 
work  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  I  do  not  think  that  that  condition  exists  in 
Hawaii  as  it  does  in  the  States, 

Mr.  Dillingham.  In  April  the  statement  was  made  that  it  was 
impossible  to  get  common  labor  for  work  on  the  railroad,  in  double- 
tracking  15  miles  of  railroad.  That  statement  was  challenged  by 
the  Central  Council  of  Labor,  and  I  said  to  them,  '^Send  me  200  men 
on  Monday  morning,  and  I  will  put  them  to  work."  The  answer  was, 
'^  We  are  not  a  labor  bureau."  The  offer  was  $3.25  per  day,  which 
was  the  prevailing  wage  for  common  labor.  Whether  that  has  any 
bearing  upon  the  subject  or  not,  I  do  not  know,  but  I  offer  that  as 
evidence. 

Mr.  Cable.  Was  that  this  year? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir;  that  was  this  year,  on  the  29th  of  April. 

Mr.  Maloney.  At  what  time  did  you  leave  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  On  the  4th  of  May. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Mead,  do  you  believe  that  better  conditions  would 
prevail  with  regard  to  labor  if  you  should  have  a  higher  basic  wage 
instead  of  the  present  system  of  paying  a  certain  amount  per  month 
and  then  a  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  I  do  not.  I  think  that  our  system,  with  a 
comparatively  low  basic  wage,  but  a  wage  which  gives  a  man  a  fair 
living  and  a  bonus  is  the  best  system.  We  have  found  on  the  plan- 
tations, and  I  believe  that  nearly  all  of  the  employers  of  unskilled 
labor  there  have  found,  that  the  higher  the  basic  wage  is,  the  lower 
the  turnout  and  the  less  efficiency  you  will  have.  I  am  talking  now 
of  unskilled  men.  That  is  especially  true  with  us,  where  they  have 
nothing  to  buy  except  their  food  and  their  clothes,  and  where  they 
are  given  everything  else.  They  will  work  a  certain  number  of 
days  or  enough  to  provide  them  with  food  and  some  of  the  other 
things,  such  as  money  to  spend  on  luxuries  or  a  little  money  to  go  to 
a  movie,  or  something  of  that  kind.  The  higher  you  make  that  basic 
wage  the  less  turnout  you  will  get.  There  will  be  a  greater  decrease 
in  efficiency.  There  is  no  question  about  that.  We  have  worked  it 
out,  and  we  know  that  to  be  the  fact.  Our  bonus  system  aims  to 
get  a  turnout  of  20  days'  labor.     The  laborer  is  given  a  basic  wage 


356  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

that  is  enough  to  guarantee  him  a  living,  and  then  he  is  given  a  bonus 
which  is  based  upon  a  20-day  turnout.  We  find  that  by  that  system 
we  get  better  results  than  if  we  had  a  higher  basic  wage. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know;  but  the  ordinary  American  citizen  will  not 
work  on  that  basis  that  you  have  of  giving  a  certain  living  wage  and 
then  a  bonus,  because  he  has  got  to  gamble  with  the  future.  He  can 
not  wait  for  6  months  or  18  months  for  his  bonus. 

Mr.  Mead.  He  does  not  have  to  wait  that  long  because  the  bonus  is 
paid  every  month.  If  he  works  for  that  period  of  time,  his  bonus  will 
be  in  his  pay  envelope  for  that  month. 

Mr.  Raker.  Why  is  it  now  that  you  have  not  taken  American  labor 
for  your  skilled  jobs,  such  as  engineers,  drivers,  mechanics,  car- 
penters, etc.  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  there  has  been  a  great  improvement  along  that 
line. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know;  but  in  the  last  10  years  you  have  had  Japan- 
ese doing  that  skilled  work.  Just  tell  the  committee  why  you  have 
not  given  those  positions  to  American  skilled  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Well,  the  basic  reasons  for  it  are  very  much  the  same  as 
the  reasons  why  the  Japanese  have  gained  control  in  many  of  your 
orchards  and  other  agricultural  lands  in  California.  He  will  work  for 
you;  he  will  be  more  industrious,  and  he  will  be  always  and  eternally 
on  the  job.  He  ingratiates  himself  in  that  way  so  that  he  holds  the 
job.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  Japanese  by  reason  of  their  steadiness, 
their  industry,  and  by  their  aggressiveness,  you  might  say,  come  in 
and  work  out  other  people.  He  has  largely  worked  the  Hawaiian  out 
of  nearly  every  job  in  Hawaii.  He  controls  the  fishing  industry  and 
controls  a  great  many  minor  trades,  the  building  trades,  and  that  sort 
of  thing.  He  does  it  by  reason  of  that  virtue  of  working  all  the  time 
and  being  eternally  on  the  job,  just  as  he  has  got  control  of  many 
orchards  out  in  California.     He  works  the  other  men  out. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  that  condition  continues  long  enough,  as  it  has 
already  started  in  Hawaii,  it  will  not  be  many  years  until  he  has 
worked  out  all  of  the  white  people. 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  because  in  Hawaii  they  realize  that  condition, 
and  there  has  been  an  improvement  in  that  situation.  If  you  go  into 
the  plantation  statistics,  you  will  see  that  the  percentage  of  white 
skilled  laborers  has  increased  right  along. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Japanese  laborer  works 
more  cheaply  and  lives  more  cheaply  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  He  works  more  cheaply,  lives  more  cheaply,  is  more 
aggressive,  and  is  always  on  the  job. 

The  Chairman.  The  loss  in  wages  during  that  strike  amounted  to 
what  sum? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know,  but  it  was  a  very  large  sum.  I  do  not 
know  whether  the  figures  are  accurate  or  not,  but  I  think  at  one 
time  I  estimated  the  figure  as  high  as  $4,000,000.  That  is  what  I 
figured  they  had  lost  in  wages. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Is  that  included  in  the  $12,000,000  of  loss? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  was  the  Japanese  loss. 

The  Chairman.  While  that  strike  was  in  progress  did  the  planta- 
tion people  pay  their  bookkeepers,  storekeepers,  and  other  help  ? 
The  strike  was  entirely  by  field  labor. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  357 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir.  All  the  Japanese,  with  few  exceptions,  on  the 
plantations  of  Oahu  but  one  struck.  All  of  them  went  on  the  strike, 
both  skilled  and  unskilled  men.  Men  receiving  as  high  as  $5  per 
day  went  on  the  strike. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  the  workers  of  other  nationalities  go  out  on  the 
strike  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  the  beginning  the  Filipinos  went  out.  They  had  a 
leader  who  was  controlled  by  the  Japanese,  and  he  induced  them  to 
go  on  strike,  but  they  were  not  on  the  strike  very  long. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  it  not  really  true  that  it  is  a  case  of  the  survival  of 
the  class  that  works  the  longest  and  the  hardest  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  our  labor  situation  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  that  in  all  labor  situations  it  is  a  question  of  the 
survival  of  the  man  who  works  longest  and  hardest  and  of  the  man 
who  is  always  on  the  job.  The  man  who  is  always  on  the  job  will 
hold  the  job. 

Mr.  Raker.  Applying  that  rule  and  going  right  on  as  you  have 
been  going  in  Hawaii  in  the  matter  of  the  Japanese,  they  will  soon 
have  the  upper  hand. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  would  and  could  if  the  employers  wanted  to  give 
them  the  upper  hand. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  ask  you  one  other  question:  Have  you 
knowledge  of  any  effort  being  made  by  any  Japanese  corporations, 
banks,  or  other  Japanese  interests  seeking  to  acquire  plantations  in 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  the  first  that  I  heard  of  that  was  from  Mr 
Dillingham's  testimony.  , 

The  Chairman.  How  many  Japanese  banks  are  there  in  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  is  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank  and  the  Pacific 
Bank.     I  think  there  are  four  or  five  altogether. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  conducted  under  any  form  of  Federal  or 
Territorial  supervision  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  about  that.  They  have  a  Territorial 
banking  law  in  Hawaii,  but  I  am  not  familiar  with  it. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  whether  the  books  of  those  banks  are 
kept  in  the  English  language  or  in  the  Japanese  language  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  should  say  offhand  that  they  were  kept  in  the  Japanese 
language. 

The  Chairman.  Does  any  other  member  of  the  committee  desire  to 
ask  any  questions  now  ? 

Mr.  Box.  What  is  the  population  of  the  city  of  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  85,000.  There  are  some  figures  in  Thrum's  Annual 
for  1921  showing  that  there  has  been  quite  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  Americans  on  the  plantations  and  in  the  number  of  Hawaiians  and 
of  white  laborers,  generally  speaking.  That  appears  on  page  17  of 
the  Annual  for  1921. 

The  Chairman.  Without  objection,  that  matter  may  be  inserted  in 
the  record.  You  understand  that  the  secretary  will  receive  any 
tables  or  statistics  that  you  desire  to  present,  and  they  will  appear 
as  an  appendix  to  the  hearing. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  raise  rice  in  Hawaii,  do  you  not? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 


358  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  designated  that  as  one  of  the  agricultural 
products  that  is  being  seriously  handicapped  by  virtue  of  the  labor 
situation. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  commission  has  stated  that,  yes  sir;  and  it  is  a 
fact. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  total  value  of  the  rice  crop  last  year,  or  for  1919, 
was  more  than  it  had  been  in  any  year  before  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  can  not  state  that  from  my  own  knowledge. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  find  that  that  is  true. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  agricultural  products  in  1919  and  1920  had  very 
high  valuations. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  amount  of  rice  pro- 
duced. 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  nothing  at  all.  For  instance,  in  1920,  we  were 
getting  as  high  as  from  15  to  23  cents  for  our  sugar,  while  in  the 
previous  year  we  were  getting,  under  Federal  control,  a  little  over 
7  cents  for  sugar,  but  I  think  that  the  crop  of  that  year  was  greater 
in  tonnage  than  the  crop  for  1920. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  was  getting  at  was  just  to  show  that,  although 
there  might  have  been  some  decrease  in  production  or  in  quantity, 
the  price  in  1919  was  considerably  over  that  of  1909. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir.  The  war  prices  in  1919  were  fixed  by  the 
Government. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  find  that  in  1909  you  had  9,423  acres  in  rice,  and  in 
1919  you  had  5,801  acres. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  know  nothing  about  the  accuracy  of  those  figures, 
but  I  presume  they  are  correct.  I  know  that  rice  production  has 
gone  down. 

Mr.  Raker.  These  figures  are  taken  from  a  census  bulletin. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Chinese  are  the  ones  that  cultivate  the  rice  fields 
there. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  value  in  1909  was  $1,068,239,  while  the  value  of 
the  1919  crop  was  $1,577,421,  or  an  increase  in  value  of  47.7  per  cent. 

Mr.  Mead.  In  1909,  I  might  say  that  rice  was  selling  for  from  $3 
to  $3.50  per  bag,  while  in  1919,  I  believe  it  was  selling  for  anywhere 
from  $6  to  $9  per  bag.    Those  figures  are  very  conservative. 

Mr.  Raker.  Practically  all  of  the  rice  used  by  the  Japanese  in 
Hawaii  is  imported  from  Japan,  is  it  not? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  a  great  deal  of  it  is  imported  from  Japan. 
Also,  a  great  deal  of  it  comes  from  California.  That  is  what  they  call 
Japanese  seed  rice.  I  believe  that  during  the  high  prices  last  year, 
Japanese  on  the  plantations  used  a  great  deal  of  that  California 
Japanese  rice. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  buy  Japanese  rice  in  California  and  ship  it  to 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  raised  in  California.  The  prices  were  up  so  high, 
and  there  was  an  embargo  placed  on  rice  by  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment, so  they  bought  a  great  deal  of  California  rice. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  understand  that  there  are  quite  a  number  of 
Japanese  in  California  producing  rice  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  did  not  know  that  they  were  producing  rice. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  they  are,  quite  extensively.  There  are  a  good 
many  other  things  that  the  Japanese  use  out  there  that  they  import 
from  their  own  country. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  359 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  fish,  soy,  and  a  whole  lot  of  thmgs.  That 
consists  particularly  of  Japanese  food,  or  things  not  raised  in  Hawaii, 
or  things  not  raised  anywhere  outside  of  Japan. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  also  clothing? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  think  they  import  a  great  deal  of  clothing. 
They  may,  but  offhand,  I  would  say  no. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  thought  you  knew,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  most  of 
the  Japanese  in  Hawaii  used  Japanese  silks  and  other  dress  materials, 
both  for  men  and  women  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  sort  of  clothing  of  the  better  grades;  yes,  sir.  It 
is  very  likely  that  they  do  import  those  better  grades  of  clothing;  but 
as  for  working  clothes,  I  do  not  believe  they  come  from  Japan.  I  may 
be  wrong,  but  I  should  say  they  come  from  the  States.  I  would  not 
want  to  state  definitely,  but  you  can  see  all  kinds  of  brands  of  Ameri- 
can-made clothes  in  the  stores  and  for  sale  to  these  Japanese  workers. 

Mr.  Raker.  As  I  gather  from  these  letters,  it  is  your  desire  and 
your  belief  that  practically  the  only  labor  that  may  be  secured  is 
Chinese  labor  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  am  not  a  member  of  the  commission  and  I  am  not 
speaking  for  the  commission  or  for  those  who  sent  the  commission 
here,  but  if  you  are  asking  my  own  personal  opinion  on  the  matter  I 
would  say  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  resolution  here  provides  that  they  shall  come  in 
and  be  under  some  supervision  for  particular  kinds  of  work.  If  they 
fail  or  neglect  to  do  that  kind  of  work,  they  can  be  arrested  and 
deported,  or  at  the  end  of  the  period  of  five  years,  or  whatever  the 
limitation  may  be,  they  could  be  or  should  be  deported.  Is  that 
your  understanding  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  theory,  as  the  law  reads,  or  as  the  proposed  resolu- 
tion reads,  that  would  be  the  exact  effect,  as  I  understand  it,  of  this 
resolution.  However,  in  practice  that  would  never  occur.  You  are 
dealing  with  a  people  who  are  industrious;  you  are  dealing  with  a 
people  who  want  to  work,  and  with  a  people  who  want  to  send  money 
back  to  their  children  and  their  families  in  China.  I  would  be  almost 
willing  to  guarantee  that  if  you  got  5,000  or  25,000  Chinese  under 
such  a  resolution  as  this,  you  would  not  have  to  deport  a  man  until 
his   term  of  contract  or  service  was  up. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know,  but  what  I  am  trying  to  get  at  is  the  fact 
that,  irrespective  of  what  his  desires  would  be,  he  would  be  in  the 
status  or  condition  of  being  liable  to  arrest  and  deportation  under 
those  conditions. 

Mr.  Mead.  If  I  understand  the  matter,  that  would  be  the  case;  yes, 
sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Of  course,  he  would  not  have  his  free  will  or  volition 
to  come  and  go  as  he  pleased. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  understand  that  the  law  goes  that  far;  no,  sir. 
As  I  have  read  the  resolution — I  have  not  studied  it  carefully,  but  as  I 
^  understand  it,  he  can  engage  in  any  kind  of  agricultural  work.  He 
does  not  have  to  engage  in  work  upon  any  sugar  plantation  or  rice 
plantation,  but  he  can  engage  in  any  agricultural  work.  For  instance, 
he  can  raise  vegetables  for  the  market,  or  he  can  do  any  kind  of 
agricultural  work. 


I 


360  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  if  he,  while  raising  agricultural  products,  Com- 
mences to  put  up  a  stand  in  the  city  or  to  peddle  articles,  he  would 
be  subject  to  deportation? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  so  I  understand, 

Mr.  Raker.  If  he  went  into  any  other  lines  of  business,  he  would 
be  subject  to  deportation? 

Mr.  Mead.  So  I  understand;  yes,  sir.  There  may  be  defects  in 
this  emergency  resolution.  That  is  true  of  any  emergency  legisla- 
tion. Your  emergency  tariff  has  its  defects  and  everything  in  the 
nature  of  emergency  legislation  has  its  defects — we  must  admit  it. 
However,  that  kind  of  legislation  is  to  meet  an  emergency,  and  such 
legislation  is  passed  with  the  idea  of  affording  immediate  relief,  and 
with  the  idea  of  getting  along  as  best  you  can  under  the  best  legisla- 
tion you  can  pass  immediately.  That,  as  I  understand  it,  is  the 
reason  for  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Box.  I  notice  that  the  United  States  census  shows  the  Japanese 
population  to  be  about  109,000  in  Hawaii,  and  that  the  Japanese 
Association  in  the  island  make  their  population  in  Hawaii  about 
114,000,  while  some  sort  of  survey  made  by  somebody  else,  or,  per- 
haps, by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  or  by  the  business  interests, 
makes  the  population  about  120,000.  That  bears  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  situation  in  California. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  any  reason  to  believe  that  the  Japanese  try 
to  make  their  number  in  Hawaii  to  appear  less  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  I  would  not  say  that. 

Mr.  Box.  How  do  you  account  for  that  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  say  from  my  knowledge  of  the  way  the  United 
States  census  people  go  about  their  business— and  I  say  that  without 
intending  any  criticism  at  all,  because  they  have  a  limited  time  in 
which  to  do  their  work — that  I  believe  pretty  nearly  all  of  the  census 
statistics  are  under  the  actual  population.  I  would  say  that  the 
figures  secured  by  the  Japanese  consul  will  be  a  little  more  accurate 
than  any  of  the  others. 

Mr.  Box.  Would  you  estimate  that  the  Japanese  population,  then, 
is  about  114,000  or  115,000? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  be  willing  to  take  his  figures  in  preference  to 
the  census  figures. 

Mr.  Box.  I  notice  some  other  corroborative  circumstances,  and 
from  what  I  see  I  would  say  that  too. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  consul  or  the  Japanese  Government  has 
a  very  extensive  system  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Box.  I  do  not  think  that  they  would  overstate  it. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  consul  admitted  at  one  time  that  they 
had  500  agents  throughout  the  islands.     It  was  a  pubhc  statement. 

The  Chairman.  Is  Mr.  Wallace,  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  present?  An  opportunity  is  now  offered  Mr.  Wallace  to 
present  the  statement  that  he  expected  to  present  on  the  receipt  of 
documents  from  Denver.  Mr.  Wallace  does  not  appear  to  be  present. 
Mr.  Paul  Scharrenberg,  representing  the  California  State  Federation 
of  Labor,  is  here,  and  we  will  be  pleased  to  hear  him. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  361 

STATEMENT   OF  MR.   PAUL  SCHARREl^BEEG,   COMMISSIOHER 
OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CALIF. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  com- 
mittee, I  am  not  here  as  a  member  of  the  commission  of  immigration 
and  housing.  I  am  the  secretary  of  the  California  State  Federation 
of  Labor.     I  have  some  other  business  here  in  Washington. 

The  question  which  has  been  discussed  before  your  committee  is  of 
very  vital  interest  to  the  working  people  of  California.  Everything 
thai  affects  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  in  so  far  as  labor  is  concerned,  has 
a  direct  reflection  in  California.  Whenever  the  people  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  have  imported  laborers,  no  matter  where  they 
came  from,  we  have  always  had  a  backwash  in  California,  particu- 
larly in  San  Francisco.  For  example,  the  records  of  the  Associated 
Charities  in  San  Francisco  show  that  they  give  more  aid  to  Porto 
Ricans  who  have  come  to  San  Francisco  via  the  Flawaiian  Islands 
than  any  other  nationality.  So  you  see  that  the  efforts  of  the  planters 
to  secure  labor  bring  to  California  som^e  very  undesirable  people, 
people  v/ho  are  not  able  or  willing  to  work  and  who  become  a  charge 
and  burden  on  California. 

The  Chairman.  That  applies  to  any  country  which  has  an  outpost 
with  which  it  does  business  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  belicve  so. 

The  CHA.IRMAN.  California  has  the  Hawaiian  Islands  as  one  of  its 
sources  of  business  and  revenue,  just  like  Washington  has  Alaska  as 
one  of  its  sources  of  revenue,  and  necessarily  the  poverty  of  Alaska, 
the  unfortunates,  and  the  criminal,  are  always  thrown  back  on  the 
State  of  Washington.     That  is  one  of  the  conditions  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  belicvc  that  is  true.  I  merely  said  this  to 
show  that  the  workers  of  California  are  particularly  interested  in  the 
discussion  before  the  committee.  The  workers  of  California  are 
interested  in  the  prosperity  and  success  of  Hawaii,  too. 

The  Chairman.  Surely.  There  is  the  business  that  California 
sends  out  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands ;  I  presume  your  fruits  go  there  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Much  of  the  sugar  goes  to  San  Francisco  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Ycs,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Their  meats  go  out  there? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  There  is  no  doubt  of  that. 

The  Chairman.  There  are  two  sides  to  that  question? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Yes,  sir.  Nevertheless,  if  we  did  not  have 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  we  would  not  have  that  problem  in  our  country 
to  which  I  have  referred. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  true.  Nor  would  you  have  the  sugar 
business  which  has  been  the  base  of  some  very  big  activities  in  San 
Francisco  and  California. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  California  is  very  rich  and  prosperous  and  I 
believe  could  get  along  without  any  outpost.  Is  not  that  right. 
Judge  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  desire  to  enter  a  protest 
against  the  importation  of  laborers  from  any  country  who  are  to  be 
held  in  a  state  of  peonage.  That  is  the  main  and  sole  purpose  of  ap- 
pearing here  on  the  witness  3tand.     If  it  is  necessary  to  import 


362  LABOR   PROBLEMS   i:N^    HAWAIL 

workers  to  Hawaii  to  live  in  peonage,  then,  by  a  mere  sequence  of 
logic,  it  is  also  necessary  to  import  them  into  California  and  other 
States  of  our  country,  because  we  all  have  the  same  problem  when  it 
is  difficult  to  get  labor  to  work  at  any  wage.  We  are  in  competition 
with  other  States  and  we  are  in  competition  with  other  nations. 
That  problem  always  will  be  with  us.  Therefore,  we  want  to  pro- 
vide against  any  modification  of  any  law  which  will  enable  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  or  the  people  in  the  islands  to  bring  in  laborers 
from  any  country  to  be  held  in  peonage. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Scharrenberg,  your  organization  and  those  of  us 
who  have  had  some  knowledge  for  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  this 
question  that  is  now  affecting  Hawaii,  have  been  trying  to  get  it  be- 
fore the  people  of  California  right  along  every  year  ? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  instead  of  getting  results,  it  has  been  getting  more 
acute  and  the  real  facts  have  not  gotten  before  the  American  people 
so  that  they  might  know  just  what  would  come,  as  it  has  already  come 
to  Hawaii,  to  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  if  it  continues,  and 
the  longer  it  continues  the  worse  it  gets  ? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  Yes;  it  seems  so. 

The  Chairman.  The  facts  have  been  presented  over  and  over  again  ? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  Yes;  I  am  quite  sure. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  additional  facts  to  present? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  No. 

Mr.  Johnson.  Plave  you  any  facts  to  base  your  opinion  upon? 

Mr.  Raker.  Only  those  which  we  gathered  last  year.  That  was  the 
first  time,  and  the  report  on  it  has  not  yet  been  made  even  to  Congress 
or  the  Members  of  the  House,  and  the  American  people  have  not 
become  familiar  with  the  work  of  this  committee  last  year.  I  con- 
sider the  work  of  this  committee  is  one  of  the  additions  to  the  benefit 
of  the  American  people,  conducted  by  our  honorable  chairman  in  a 
judicial  and  proper  way.  That  was  the  first  time  that  the  subject  had 
an  opportunity  to  be  really  fairly  and  properly  presented,  but  we  have 
not  given  that  to  the  House  nor  to  the  country. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  other  statement  to  make  ? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  No,  sir;  I  have  none. 

Mr.  Cable.  May  I  ask  at  whose  request  you  are  here? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  At  no  one's  request.  I  am  here  in  Washington 
on  some  other  business.  I  have  been  in  conference  with  some  of  the 
gentlemen  on  the  commission,  President  Gompers  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.     I  subsequently  met  Mr.  Dillingham. 

Mr.  Cable.  Did  you  receive  word  or  instructions  from  anyone  to 
come  here  and  testify  ? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  No.'  I  stated  specifically  that  I  am  not  here 
representing  the  immigration  and  housing  commission.  I  know  their 
attitude  and  their  views  on  this  question.  I  have  been  their  secretary 
for  13  years. 

Mr.  Cable.  Did  they  give  you  specific  instructions  to  come  here 
and  testify? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  No. 

The  Chairman.  No;  he  said  that  in  the  beginning.  He  is  here  in 
accordance  with  his  rights  and  I  asked  him  myself  if  he  cared  to  make 
a  statement. 


p 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  363 

Mr.  Cable.  Oh;  I  see. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  am  authorized  to  represent  the  Federation 
of  Labor  of  the  State  of  Cahfornia  on  all  questions  and  matters. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  just  wondered  whether  it  was  due  to  any  previous 
arrangement  ? 

Mr.  SCHARRENBERG.  No. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  your  previous  business  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  was  a  sailor. 

The  Chairman.  A  member  of  what  union  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  The  sailors'  union  on  the  Pacific  coast.  My 
wife  was  born  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  I  am  very  much  interested 
in  the  subject. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  been  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  many 
times  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  No^  sir;  not  many  times.  The  last  time  was 
20  years  ago. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  the  witness  a  few 
questions  ? 

The  Chairman.  We  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  you  do  so. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  should  like  to  ask  you  whether  or  not  you  con- 
sider, from  what  you  have  heard  about  the  situation  in  discussion, 
that  we  are  facing  an  acute  situation  in  the  islands,  particularly  in 
connection  with  the  Japanese  numerical  control  feature  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Yes;  I  believe  the  situation  has  been  ex- 
tremely dangerous  or  acute,  as  you  say,  for  some  years. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Do  you  think  it  would  be  an  advantage  or  disad- 
vantage to  California  to  have  the  industries  of  the  islands  reduced 
materially  in  size  or  wiped  out  altogether  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  It  would  be  a  disadvantage,  speaking  com- 
mercially. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Do  3^ou  think  there  is  any  advantage  in  having 
Hawaii  as  an  outpost  on  the  Pacific  coast,  as  a  military  outpost  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  think  it  would  be  a  disadvantage  to  turn 
that  over  to  anyone  else,  but  I  also  think  some  other  arrangement 
could  be  made  than  the  solution  you  have  of  the  importation  of  peon 
labor  there. 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  favor  an  amendment  to  the  present 
immigration  law  by  which  the  literacy  test  might  be  waived  for  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Personally,  I  would. 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  be  in  favor  of  lifting  the  literacy  test  in 
order  to  secure  Mexican  labor  in  Texas,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Did  they  not  do  that  during  the  war? 

The  Chairman.  Not  by  law.  Would  you  be  in  favor  of  lifting  the 
literacy  test  by  special  act  of  Congress  for  the  intensive  gardeners  of 
Florida  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  would  havc  to  know  the  conditions  pre- 
vailing there. 

The  Chairman.  Last  autumn  there  was  a  shortage  of  seasonal 
labor. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  A  mere  shortage  would  not  be  sufficient,  in 
my  judgment,  to  waive  the  literacy  test;  there  would  have  to  be  an 
acute  situation  as  they  had  in  the  southvfest  States. 

The  Chairman.  But  as  an  absolute  necessity  you  would  favor  it  ? 


364  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  They  are  short  of  seasonal  labor  in  Kansas  right 
now.  Would  you  favor  permitting  Mexicans  to  come  in  and  take 
care  of  that  situation  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  No,  sir.  In  California  we  are  always  short  at 
certain  times  of  the  year  and  we  have  too  many  in  other  portions  of 
the -year. 

The  Chairman.  You  will  be  short  of  cantaloupe  pickers  in  about  a 
week  ? 

^r.  ScHARRENBERG.  For  a  very  brief  period. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  that  the  effort  to  organize  the  itiner- 
ant labor  on  the  Pacific  coast  will  be  successful  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  think  that  we  could  work  out  a  system,*  if 
there  was  a  responsible  organization,  to  shift  this  group  of  migratory 
workers  from  one  section  of  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  other  and  keep 
them  employed  practically  9  or  10  months  out  of  the  year,  but  as  it  is 
they  are  unorganized,  they  are  simply  traveling  groups,  and  while  the 
people  in  the  northern  section  of  California  want  migratory  workers, 
in  the  southern  section  there  are  too  many,  because  of  lack  of  organi- 
zation and  system. 

Mr.  Box.  I  have  recently  read  in  a  work  dealing  with  the  Japanese 
question  in  America  that  they  have  just  such  an  organization  as  that 
which  handles  their  labor  in  California.     Do  you  know  about  that  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  The  Japanese  in  California  have  a  very 
effective  method  of  supplanting  the  white  American  laborers.  The 
method  is  of  no  advantage  to  the  farmer  of  California  or  anywhere,  but 
it  does  help  the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Box.  Are  they  able  to  supply  this  seasonal  labor  in  different 
parts  of  the  State  at  different  times  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Ycs,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  Can  we  learn  anything  from  them  in  that  regard  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  We  scem  to  be  very  slow  in  learning.  If  you 
own  a  ranch  near  Fresno  and  you  want  20  men  next  week  to  do  your 
picking,  you  must  have  them  or  you  will  be  sure  of  a  loss,  you  send  to 
town  for  20  white  men.  There  is  no  employment  agency  in  Fresno 
that  will  give  you  an  absolute  guaranty  that  he  will  have  20  men 
available  for  you  next  week,  but  you  can  go  to  a  Japanese  employment 
agent  and  he  will  listen  to  you  and  make  arrangements  about  the  terms 
and  then  he  will  say,  ^^  On  that  date  I  will  have  20  men  on  your  ranch, ^' 
and  they  will  be  there.  He  makes  it  his  business  to  corral  them  and  he 
sends  them  in  a  wagon  or  team  of  some  kind.  The  white  employment 
agent  gathers  up  the  drift  workers.  He  will  tell  them,  ^^  You  may  get 
a  job  on  such  and  such  a  place  on  Monday  morning."  As  a  result, 
many  of  the  farmers  in  California  have  as  self-protection  drifted  into 
the  Japanese  agency.  The  20  Japanese  workers  agree  to  work  for  $2 
a  day,  or  whatever  it  may  be.  They  work  one  or  two  days,  and  on  the 
third  day,  in  the  morning,  their  spokesman  comes  to  you  and  says, 
^^How  much  wages,  ^3  a  day?"  You  say,  ^'My  friend,  you  have 
agreed  to  work  for  $2  a  day."  ^^  Yes;  that  is  all  right,  but  to-morrow 
morning  $3?"  You  say,  ''AH  right,"  and  he  says,  ''Not  all  right," 
and  he  goes  and  then  you  will  find  yourself  high  and  dry.  The 
Japanese  will  never  come  back  that  season,  and  you  will  have  to  go 
around  and  look  for  white  men.  It  is  because  of  that  condition  that 
the  farming  population  of  California  has  turned  so  fiercely  against  the 


LABOR  PHOBLEMS  IE"   HAWAII.  365 

Japanese.  When  we  first  had  the  Japanese  they  were  welcome — they 
could  perform  all  sorts  of  things — but  when  they  started  in  to  be 
farmers,  then  the  agriculturists  went  against  them.  The  protest 
against  the  Japanese  comes  principally  from  the  agriculturalists. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  not  this  also  true:  To  go  back  10  years,  maybe  not 
that  far,  three  or  four  years;  there  would  be  white  labor  employed  at 
reasonably  high  wages,  and  they  would  then  go  and  get  a  Japanese 
at  considerably  less,  and  when  the  white  labor  was  gone  the  Japanese 
would  raise  his  wage  and  if  he  did  not  get  it  he  left  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Ycs,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  has  been  going  on  for  some  time.  He  would  first 
drive  out  the  white  labor  and  then  raise  the  price  and  even  if  you 
gave  the  price  he  would  go  off  with  his  entire  crew. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  From  your  knowledge  of  the  way  the  Japanese 
work  in  California,  and  I  assume  that  you  know  of  the  Japanese 
labor  situation  in  the  islands,  do  you  think  that  it  is  unlikely  that  the 
Japanese  will  pursue  the  same  policy  in  Hawaii  that  they  have  pur- 
sued in  California  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Unlikely  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  No ;  I  think  it  is  very  probable. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  we  have  that  serious  situation  in  Hawaii  and 
these  people  pursue  the  same  policy  there  as  in  California,  is  not  that 
an  extremely  bad  situation  that  we  are  facing  to-day  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Ycs,  sir;  I  think  you  are  ^^up  against  it" 
good  and  hard.  That  is  because  of  your  own  sins  in  the  past,  not 
you  individually,  but  the  planters  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  But,  while  we,  perhaps,  have  been  sinners,  we 
have  been  doing  penance  in  the  way  of  spending  a  large  amount  of 
money  in  an  effort  to  import  laborers  into  the  country  from  Europe; 
we  have  spent  millions  for  that.  You  have  been  put  to  expense  in 
California  through  the  drifting  of  this  labor  which  comes  from 
Hawaii  and  consequently  in  taking  care  of  the  derelicts  out  of  the 
number  that  want  employment  in  California. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  Ycs,  sir. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  You  do  not  think  that  we  have  ever  made  an 
effort  to  unload  on  you  any  labor  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  No,  sir;  I  think  they  come  as  a  natural  pro- 
cess, because  they  receive  better  treatment  and  wages  in  California 
than  they  do  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  If  a  workingman  can  get 
higher  wages  and  better  conditions  he  will  always  go. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  And  yet  the  fact  remains  that  your  town  was 
filled  up  with  men  out  of  work  seeking  aid  from  the  charities,  while 
we  in  Hawaii  had  no  charity  patients ;  we  have  work  for  all  of  the 
people  and  try  year  after  year  to  bring  more  into  the  country. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  While  we  have  no  more  subjects  of  charity 
in  California  than  in  any  other  State  of  the  Union,  yet  I  say  that  we 
have  a  larger  proportion  of  people  seeking  charity  coming  from 
Hawaii  than  from  any  other  part  of  the  country  in  San  Francisco. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have  shipped  back  from  California,  at  our 
expense,  a  large  number  of  charity  patients. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  did  hear  something  about  that,  but  it  must 
be  verified. 


366  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  DiLLiNGPiAM.  Yet  that  is  true.  Mr.  Mead  knows  something 
about  that. 

Mr.  Mead.  Quite  a  considerable  number.  The  Hawaiian  Terri- 
torial Immigration  Board/ with  its  own  funds,  sent  to  California  and 
repatriated  quite  a  considerable  number  of  people.  Substantially 
every  one  of  these  men  who  had  gone  from  Hawaii  to  California  has 
been  told  that  he  is  making  a  mistake  and  that  the  conditions  would 
not  be  as  good  in  California  as  in  Ilawaii,  but  nevertheless  many 
have  gone. 

Mr.  Box.  I  think  you  said  a  moment  ago  that  there  was  another 
and  better  remedy  than  that  proposed  here.  I  am  sure  the  committee 
will  be  interested  if  you  have  some  remedy  to  suggest  for  the  islands. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  If  the  living  conditions  in  the  islands  could 
be  so  arranged  that  a  farm  worker  could  have  a  little  place  for  himself 
that  normally  conforms  with  what  is  desired  by  the  American  farm 
workers,  I  can  see  no  reason  why  you  should  not  be  able,  by  the 
process  of  selection,  to  bring  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  a  population  of 
farm  workers. 

Mr.  Box.  From  what  country  would  you  suggest — any  particular 
country  ? 

Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  would  not  suggest  any  particular  country, 
but  I  still  believe  that  is  possible. 

Mr.  Rawlins.  In  1902  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  imported  15  Ameri- 
can farmers  into  Hawaii  and  tried  them  out  under  the  conditions 
that  the  gentleman  has  just  named,  giving  them  a  house  and  garden 
and  a  place  for  their  animals,  supplied  them  with  the  animals,  etc., 
and  at  the  end  of  a  year  there  v/as  not  a  family  left.  The  white  man 
will  not  work  in  the  cane  industry.  I  was  born  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  some  years  ago ;  I  am  an  attorney  there  and  have  studied  the 
conditions.  There  has  never  been  and  you  will  not  find  a  white  man 
who  will  go  into  the  cane  fields  and  do  the  work  required.  Later  on 
down  on  the  Island  of  Kauai  there  were  a  lot  of  Molokans,  who  were 
eligible  to  become  American  citizens,  living  in  Los  Angeles  and  San 
Francisco,  who  were  brought  there  and  they  were  put  in  the  fields 
and  they  could  not  stand  up  under  the  work.  I  think  Mr.  Dillingham 
can  verify  that.     That  was  back  in  1902. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  stockholders  of  the  Ewa  plantation  tried 
the  experiment  of  bringing  from  the  mainland  white  farmers,  the 
idea  being  to  eventually  divide  up  the  land  into  small  farms  for  the 
cultivation  of  sugar  cane,  which  the  plantation  would  purchase  and 
manufacture  into  sugar  at  its  mill.  The  results  of  this  experiment 
are  fully  set  forth  in  the  following  letters  of  Mr.  W.  J.  Lowrie,  who 
was  the  manager  of  the  Ev/a  plantation  when  the  experiment  was 
inaugurated,  and  of  Mr,  George  F.  Renton,  the  present  manager. 

Dear  Sir:  The  question  of  employing  white  labor  for  the  cultivation  of  sugar  cane 
has  received  considerable  and  careful  consideration  by  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  In 
the  early  part  of  1897,  Mr.  W.  N.  Armstrong  told  of  interviews  he  had  had  with  Mr. 
E.  L.  Fitzgerald,  Labor  Commissioner  for  the  kState  of  California,  and  he  was  invited 
to  a  meeting  of  the  directors  of  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.,  at  which  meeting  I,  as  manager, 
was  present;  the -results  of  which  meeting  may  best  be  told  by  quoting  the  following 
resolution  unanimously  passed : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.,  through  Mr.  W.  N.  Armstrong,  extend 
to  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  Labor  Commissioner  of  the  State  of  California,  an  invitation  to 
visit  Honolulu  and  the  Ewa  plantation  to  look  into  the  labor  conditions  existing  here, 
with  the  view  of  introducing  desirable  white  laborers  upon  the  plantation." 

Mr.  Fitzgerald  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  company,  arriving  here  in  the  islands 
shortly  afterwards.     He  was  furnished  with  every  opportunity  for  the  purpose  of 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   FIAWAII.  367 

obtaining  all  the  information  possible  on  the  subject,  not  only  from  a  practical  point 
of  view,  but  also  in  the  line  of  statistics,  and  before  his  return  to  California  was  able  to 
express  the  opinion  that  it  was  his  belief  that  white  labor  could  be  introduced  for  the 
cultivation  of  sugar  cane  on  our  plantation.  After  the  return  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald  to 
California  considerable  correspondence  was  conducted  with  him  on  the  subject,  and, 
acting  on  the  results  of  his  visit  to  the  islands  and  such  correspondence,  in  July,  1898, 
I  was  authorized  to  visit  California  for  the  purpose  of  securing  white  families  of  the 
farming  class  to  enter  upon  the  cultivation  of  sugar  cane  at  Ewa  plantation,  according 
to  the  general  terms  of  a  form  of  contract  that  I  had  drawn  up,  with  such  modifications 
as  might  be  considered  necessary. 

Accordingly  I  went  to  San  I'rancisco,  going  into  the  agricultural  districts  of  the 
State  in  the  interior,  particularly  to  Modesto,  Stanislaus  C'ounty.  On  reaching 
Modesto,  in  order  to  thoroughly  lay  before  the  people  the  conditions  as  they  existed 
pertaining  to  the  cultivation  of  sugar  cane,  I  engaged  a  hall,  inciting  the  people  from 
around  the  neighboring  districts  to  come  together  in  meetings,  \^  here  I  addressed 
them,  offering  them  all  the  information  possible  on  the  subject.  I  found  these  peo- 
ple very  anxious  and  willing  to  accept  the  propositions  offered  to  them  to  come  to 
Hawaii:  in  fact,  they  had  been  suffering  quite  severely  the  past  two  or  three  years 
with  their  crops  there,  owing  to  drought.  1'hese  people,  v*''hile  honest  and  hard- 
working farming  people,  were  actually  without  any  money  whatever,  owing  to  the 
losses  sustained,  undoubtedly,  by  them,  owing  to  the  drought.  In  order  to  assist 
them  in  getting  to  the  islands,  we  offered  and  did  pay  their  fares  to  San  Francisco, 
even  going  so  far  as  to  settle  up  some  indebtedness  owing  by  some  of  them  in  Modesto. 
They  were  all  furnished  with  transportation  from  San  J'rancisco  to  Honolulu,  and 
thence  to  the  plantation,  free  of  charge  to  themselves. 

As  the  result  of  my  visit  I  succeeded  in  selecting  personally  15  farmers,  10  of  whom 
were  single  men  and  5  married.  They  arrived  here  in  the  islands  during  September 
of  that  same  year,  being  engaged  under  the  general  following  conditions: 

They  were  to  cultivate  and  take  care  of  the  cane  from  the  time  it  received  its  first 
watering  up  to  maturity  and  v^ere  to  receive  therefor  one-sixth  of  the  actual  net  price 
realized  on  the  sale  of  the  sugar.  During  the  time  previous  to  settlement  with  them 
after  the  harvesting  of  each  crop  they  were  allowed  an  advance  of  §18  per  month. 
Further,  they  were  furnished,  free  of  charge  to  themselves,  houses,  fuel  and  water, 
and  medical  services;  they  were  also  allowed  to  have  a  small  piece  of  ground  sur- 
rounding their  houses,  on  which  to  cultivate  and  grow  for  themselves  vegetables  and 
other  articles  for  their  own  uses,  with  the  water  necessary  to  irrigate  same. 

Having  resigned  the  management  of  the  Ewa  plantation  in  November  of  that  same 
year,  for  further  information  as  to  the  results  obtained  with  these  farmers  I  will  have 
to  refer  you  to  the  present  management,  but  I  believe  that  all  have  left  the  planta 
tion,  with  rather  unsatisfactory  results  to  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co. 

One  can  see  from  the  foregoing  that  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  made  an  honest  and 
earnest  effort  to  introduce  white  labor,  especially  white  farmers,  for  the  piurpose  of 
cultivating  sugar  cane  on  their  plantation,  with  the  hope  that  the  same  would  prove 
successful,  and  that  in  the  future  we  could  get  large  numbers  of  American  farmers 
into  this  country,  and  we  can  not  help  but  admit  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  complete 
failure.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  did  not  send  a 
paid  agent  who  went  to  the  cities  on  the  mainland  to  try  this  experiment,  securing 
this  labor  from  the  cities;  on  the  contrary,  they  sent  me  as  manager,  and  I  did  go  to 
the  agricultural  districts  and  did  get  farmers. 

It  also  may  be  of  interest  in  this  connection  to  state  that  at  the  time  this  experi- 
ment was  undertaken  the  joint  commission  sent  here  by  Congress  to  report  upon  our 
conditions  (consisting  of  Senators  Cullom  and  Morgan  and  Representative  Hitt)  were 
very  much  interested  in  the  effort  and,  together  with  the  directors  of  the  Ewa  Plan- 
tation Co.,  were  in  hopes  that  it  would  tend  to  solve  the  labor  question  for  these 
islands. 

Yours,  truly, 

W.  J.  LOWRIE. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  December  17,  1901. 


HoNOULiULi,  Oahu,  December  19,  1901. 

Dear  Sir:  This  is  in  reply  to  your  request  for  information  concerning  the  experi- 
ment with  American  labor  in  the  cane  fields  on  this  estate. 

The  profit-sharing  company  on  the  Ewa  plantation,  known  as  the  California  Farm- 
ers' Colony,  consisted  at  the  outset  of  15  men,  5  of  whom  were  married.  These  farmers 
arrived  at  Ewa  in  October  and  November  of  1898. 


368 


LABOR  PEOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


For  their  transportation  from  San  Francisco  |1, 110.81  had  been  advanced  to  them; 
for  their  free  accommodation  nine  houses  each  containing  four  rooms  13  by  12  feet, 
exclusive  of  kitchen  and  pantry,  with  24  by  6  foot  verandas  front  and  back,  had  been 
erected;  for  their  convenience  water  was  piped  to  each  building,  gardens  were  allotted 
to  each  household,  and  a  fenced  pasture  of  17  acres  immediately  adjoining  the  house 
lots  was  set  aside  for  common  use.  Each  married  man  had  a  separate  house;  of  the 
single  men  six  occupied  two  rooms  each,  while  the  remaining  four  had  separate  apart- 
ments.    This  was  at  the  inception  of  the  experiment. 

After  a  few  m.ontbs  had  elapsed,  owing  to  departure,  each  single  man  had  two 
rooms;  and  before  eight  months  had  passed  each  farmer,  whether  married  or  other- 
wise, occupied  an  entire  house.  Thus  of  the  original  nine  there  remained  four  houses 
empty  and  to  spare. 

This  was  at  the  middle  of  the  experiment. 

They  were,  therefore,  housed  with  ample  accommodations  and  sufficient  comfort; 
fuel,  water,  and  medical  attendance  were  supplied  without  charge.  A  field  of  deep, 
rich  soil,  already  planted  with  seed  cane  and  "first  watered,"  was  allotted  to  them 
for  their  cultivation;  one  of  their  numib.er  was  selected  for  their  suboverseer  in  the 
distribution  of  irrigating  water;  and  they  commenced  work. 

The  following  is  a  record  of  the  time  each  man  stayed  on  the  estate,  and  the  reasons 
given  by  each  for  dissolving  his  connection  with  the  plantation: 


Num- 

Time 

ber 

worked 

of 

(in 

men. 

months). 

1 

1 

2 

7 

1 

7 

2 

8 

1 

8 

Reason  for  leaving. 


Wife  dissatisfied. 

Dissatisfied  and  quarreled  with 
the  rest. 

Dissatisfied  with  the  work. 
Do. 

Dissatisfied  with  the  work,  re- 
turned to  California. 


Num- 

Time 

ber 

worked 

of 

(in 

men. 

months). 

] 

9 

1 

12 

1 

12 

5 

16 

Reason  for  leaving. 


Wife  died  at  Portland,  Oreg. 

Illness. 

Ill  and  dissatisfied  with  the  work. 

Dissatisfied  with  the  work,  but 

stayed  until  crop  was  mature 

to  fulfill  agreement. 


Total,  15. 

General  average  of  time  at  the  plantation  10.6  months. 

From  the  first  there  was  dissension  among  themselves;  complaints  of  one  another, 
both  trivial  and  otherwise,  were  oi  frequent  occurrence;  extra  men  were  always 
needed  to  keep  their  field  in  order;  one  by  one  they  departed,  until  finally,  the  Cali- 
fornia Farmers'  Colony  dwindled  as  per  record  to  but  5  out  of  an  original  15.  Five 
remained,  but  they  remained  dissatisfied.  They  stayed  to  the  completion  of  maturity 
of  the  crop,  but  they  stayed  to  demonstrate  that  they  would  not  work  longer  at  the 
cultivation  of  cane.  They  had  done  fairly  well  financially;  they  each  had  received 
over  $40  per  month  of  labor  cash,  clear  of  rent,  firewood,  water  rates,  and  medical 
attendance;  they  had  received  in  fact,  more  than  the  plantation  could  afford  to  pay 
for  profitable  cultivation;  and  yet  these  five  men  refused  point  blank  and  without 
hesitation  to  entertain  a  similar  proposition  for  continuance  of  cane  field  work. 

The  work  was  distasteful  to  them  in  this  warm  climate;  the  irrigation,  being  light, 
was  least  disagreeable;  the  task  of  stripping,  with  the  necessary  bending  and  stooping, 
was  unfit  for  the  taller  Anglo-Saxon,  they  said,  and  should  be  relegated  to  Japanese, 
whereupon  they  flatly  refused  to  perform  the  work;  of  assisting  at  the  cutting  and 
loading  of  canes  during  harvest  they  would  have  none. 

To  sum  up:  The  plantation  cleared,  plowed,  furrowed,  ditched,  surveyed  for 
irrigation,  planted,  "first  watered"  the  field  for  the  California  farmers,  and  turned 
it  over  to  them.  At  the  proper  time  for  fertilizing  the  plantation  had  to  apply  fertilizer 
with  extra  labor;  stripped,  what  was  stripped,  with  extra  labor,  and  had  the  labor 
of  cutting  and  loading  the  canes  done  by  extra  labor. 

The  farmers  performed  but  one,  the  lightest  portion  of  the  work,  viz,  the  hoeing 
and  the  irrigating,  which  consists  in  the  removal  by  hoe  of  weeds  from  the  furrows 
and  the  turning  in  of  water  from  the  various  watercourses  into  the  furrows.  This, 
too,  was  not  performed  without  daily  assistance  of  extra  labor  by  the  plantation. 

1  do  not  think  that  any  of  these  men  have  complained  that  the  plantation  did  not 
fulfill  its  agreement  with  them.  One  farmer  returned  to  San  Francisco  shortly  after 
his  arrival  at  a  loss  of  $112.76  for  transportation  to  the  plantation;  the  one  whose  wife 
died  in  Oregon  was  given  a  liberal  estimate  of  his  share  when  he  went;  in  fact,  was 
given  all  he  asked  for;  the  two,  both  past  middle  age,  who  stayed  12  months,  received 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  369 

their  shares  of  profit  for  the  time  they  worked,  and  the  amount  due  them  was  given 
them.  Of  the  remainder  who  left,  the  profits  from  three  of  the  shares  were  turned 
over  to  the  five  who  remained  until  the  cane  had  matured. 

And  yet  the  experiment  was  a  failure  and  the  men  were  not  satisfied  to  remain. 

Mark  this  further:  Not  one  of  these  15  farmers  was  intemperate.  They  quarreled; 
they  were  dissatisfied;  the  work  was  menial,  was  laborious,  was  distasteful  to  white 
men;  but  while  a  few  were  not  as  industrious  as  they  might  have  been  they  were  all 
respectable,  law-abiding,  temperate  men.  If  they  had  been  otherwise,  vice  and 
intemperance  might  have  contributed  to  the  failure  of  the  colony  of  these  farmers. 
But  it  was  not  so.  And  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  American  farmers  will  not 
work  in  the  cultivation  of  Hawaiian  cane  fields. 

Here  was  an  experiment  entered  into  by  the  largest  and  most  fertile  plantation  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  under  a  directorate  composed  entirely  of  Americans,  and  its 
terms  carried  out  in  the  fields  under  management  of  Americans. 

It  was  the  aim  of  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.,  if  the  scheme  had  proved  successful,  to 
establish  further  colonies  of  American  farmers,  and  thus  obtain  a  source  of  labor  in 
the  United  States  from  which  to  draw,  which  labor  would  be  reliable,  would  be 
American  in  spirit,  and  thus  do  away  with  the  necessity  of  looking  entirely  to  the 
Orient. 

It  was  a  praiseworthy  effort,  but  it  was  utterly  fruitless  and  entirely  disappointing. 

It  is  unfortunate  to  have  to  say  that  the  experiment,  toward  which  the  whole  country 
looked  with  so  much  interest,  was  a  flat  failure.  Nevertheless  the  fact  remains,  and  I 
so  record  it,  for  looking  back  over  the  whole  situation  of  labor  in  Hawaii,  com^ 
prising  both  this  experiment  with  the  California  farmers  and  my  personal  experience 
of  24  years  on  sugar  plantations  with  white  men,  I  have  come  to  this  settled 
conclusion : 

That  Anglo-Saxons  can  perform  the  actual  labor  of  cultivation  on  sugar  plantations 
in  Hawaii  only  when  forced  by  necessity  to  do  so,  but  that  now  they  will  not. 

The  principal  objection  seems  to  be  to  perform  the  laborious  work  required  in  the 
cane  field  when  there  is  any  other  possible  opening  in  any  easier  occupation  in  other 
industries.  Another  objection  is  to  the  sort  of  pioneer  life  which  obtains  on  a  plan- 
tation when  compared  to  that  to  which  the  laborer  is  accustomed  on  the  mainland. 
It  is  probable,  also,  that  a  great  drawback  to  the  success  of  any  scheme  for  American 
farm  labor  here  in  Hawaii  lies  in  the  great  distance  this  Territory  is  from  the  main- 
land, and  the  difficulty  and  expense  this  distance  necessitates  in  getting  to  or  from 
Hawaii. 

The  geographical  drawback  mentioned  is  a  natural  one.     The  objections  mentioned 
above  are  also  natural  ones.     But  they  will  as  surely  kill  any  attempt  to  introduce 
American  farmers  here  as  labor  for  cane  fields  as  they  have  already  killed  the  Ewa 
Plantation  experiment. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Geo.  F.  Renton, 

Manager. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Scharrenberg,  from  your  knowledge  and  observa- 
tion of  labor  conditions  in  California  for  the  last  25  years,  if  the 
Chinese  are  admitted  to  Hawaii  for  the  sugar  plantations  will  not 
the  same  demand  be  made  for  Chinese  for  beet,  bean,  potato,  hops, 
and  other  like  industries  in  California  and  the  West  by  the  large 
concerns  ? 

Mr.  ScHARREBNERG.  That  is  precisely  what  I  had  in  mind,  Judge. 
If  this  committee  recommends  to  Congress  a  modification  of  the 
Chinese  exclusion  act  because  of  a  certain  emergency  existing  in  the 
islands,  then  this  committee  would  be  justified  in  making  a  similar 
recommendation  for  other  States  and  other  industries. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  they  will  be  here  knocking  at  the  doors  of  Con- 
gress for  that  same  condition,  will  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Scharrenberg.  I  am  afraid  they  will,  by  the  same  process  of 
logic  which  the  gentlemen  from  Hawaii  are  here  now,  that  you  must 
have  them  to  keep  your  industries  going. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Scharrenberg,  you  did  not  really  mean  that 
the  number  of  Portuguese  mendicants  or  dependents  reaching  Cali- 
fornia in  any  one  year  amounted  to  any  considerable  numbf^r  ^ 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 11 


3  Y  tf'  LfABO'll  ]^EOBLE!m:S  ••  rl^-  •  tt AiVAII.^ 

"  Mr.'SdHAfeii^^'feE^^     I  .tiid  riot  say  Portxiguesc/I  Vaid  Porto  Ricans,' 

The  Chairman.  I  beg  your  pardon,  Porto  Ricans.,  They  could  not 
have  ajnounted  to  an}^  considerable  number  in  any  one  year. 

Mr.  ScHARRENBEiiG.  No ;  but  proportionately  Speaking,  they  con- 
stitute a  very  serious  problem  to  our  organizations  dispensing 
charity.  ,.,,j  ;\,  ,^ 

The  Chairman.  San  ^Francisco  is  a  large  city  and  has  some  public 
charities  work  to  do  all  the  time.  Is  there  any  way  we  can  get 
statistics  as  to  the  number  of  people  taken  care  of  by  such  organ- 
izations ? 

]Vir.  ScHARRENBERG.  The  statistics  are  available  and  can  be  had. 

The  Chairman.  I  would  like  to  have  you  mail  those  to  the  com- 
mittee. 
.^, Mr.  ScHARRENBERG.  I  will  do  that  gladly. 

ADDITIOISrAL  STATEMENT  OF  MR.  ROYAL  D.  MEAD. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  Mr.  Mead  about  the 
question  raised  by  Mr.  Scharreriberg,  whether  he  can  recall — if  not  I 
have  it  in  the  record  somewhere— the  experiment  which  was  made 
by  the  Territoiy  to  give  homesteads  and  give  them  the  fee  to  the 
property  in  the  hope  of  anchoring  them  on  the  land? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  there  was  a  very  well  thought  out  experiment 
with  the  cooperation  of  the  Territory  and  the  cooperation  of  the 
planters  to  settle  Portuguese  or  Spanish  agricultural  people  upon  the 
plantation  property.  The  plantations  agreed  to  give  them  a  house 
and  an  acre  or  more  of  land,  or  as  much  as  they  could  conveniently, 
but  not  less  than  an  acre,  either  in  fee  or  for  the  term  of  the  lease  of 
the  land  which  was  held  by  the  plantation  employer,  and  I  think 
altogether  there  were  about  1,500  people  put  on  the  land  under  those 
conditions.  That  was  long  before  the  war.  The  house  given  was 
very  much  the  same  style  of  house  as  the  plantations  are  now  erecting, 
and  cost  the  plantations  in  the  vicinity  of  $800.  The  land  was  gooci, 
average  plantation  land.  It  was  not  waste  land.  They  were  not 
attempting  to  put  anything  over,  but  were  giving  them  land  that 
would  be  valuable — say,  $200  to  $250  an  acre — so  that  what  they 
were  giving  those  people  was  about  $1,000  worth  of  property. 

Mr.  Box.  What  was  the  character  of  the  house? 

Mr.  Mead.  Something  similar  to  what  you  will  find  in  these  Govern- 
ment reports — very  nice  little  bungalow  houses.  At  that  time  the 
wage  for  Portuguese  labor  was  $24.  They  agreed  to  pay  these  home- 
stead people  $22  per  month  for  three  years,  and  they  were  to  have  a 
deed  to  their  property  at  the  end  of  three  years.  As  I  say,  they 
settled  about  1,500  people  there  under  such  an  arrangement,  and 
before  a  year  was  up  I  do  not  believe  any  of  those  homesteaders  were 
on  the  land,  other  than  as  ordinary  laborers. 

Mr.  Raker.  May  I  ask  you  this  question:  Is  it  not  a  fact,  and  has 
it  not  been  demonstrated  for  hundreds  of  years,  that  where  there  is 
a  large  number  of  one  nationalit}^  working,  particularly  of  the  colored 
race,  when  you  bring  the  white  man  in  competition  with  them  to  do 
the  same  kind  of  common  labor,  that  not  only  he  himself ,  but  his  wife, 
and  children  as  they  grow  up,  rebel  against  that,  and  in  fact  would 
rather  go  hungry  than  do  that  work  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII^  3!71" 

-■  ■'-  •■  k'^  i  ( I 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  I  think  that  is  absolutely  true;  but  you  must  re-, 
member  that  that  statement  does  not  apply  so  far  as  the  Portuguese' 
are  concerned.  We  have  had  Portuguese  out  there  in  Hawaii  since 
before  I  was  born,  and  they  have  been  on  the  plantations  and  have 
worked  as  plantation  hands,  and  have  made  very  good  people.  That 
is  the  reason,  in  mentioning  European  immigration,  I  have  always, 
spoken  of  Portuguese  immigration,  because  they  have  done  so  well. 
The  second  generation  of  Portuguese  brought  to  Hawaii  are  remark- 
ably fine  people,  and  they  very  largely  form  our  skilled  or  semi- 
skilled laboring  force;  they  are  mighty  nice  people — just  as  good 
people  as  you  would  want  to  find  anywhere. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.    Chairman,    may    I    ask    Judge    Eaker    ii, 
question? 

The  Chairman.  Certainly. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  we  are  all  in  agreement  as  to  this  prop- 
osition of  mixing  the  white  man  and  the  oriental  in  the  fields.  We 
are  not  starting  a  new  project  in  Hawaii.  We  are  establishing  large 
industries  and  there  is  unquestionably  a  preponderance  of  oriental 
<  unskilled  labor  on  the  ground.  We  are  here  to  seek  relief  from  that 
I  situation.  Is  it  possible  to  get  the  relief  by  attempting  to  wedge  in  a 
white  population  into  the  conditions  which  exist  there  today  and  save 
the  situation? 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  sir,  that  is  what  I  have  been  thinking  about 
ever  since  this  matter  was  started.  If  there  is  any  possible  way  to 
do  it,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  would  like  to  see  it  done. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  And  I  agree  with  you,  if  there  is  any  way,  and  I 
offer  in  evidence  the  history,  and  I  would  like  to  have  put  in  the  rec- 
ord, a  brief  history  made  up  by  Mr.  Lydecker,  who  is  in  charge  of 
the  Government  archives,  and  who  has  made  a  study  of  the  history 
of  the  attempts  to  bring  in  peoples  from  all  over  the  world,  to  show 
that  a  conscientious  effort  has  been  made.  We  are  not  licked  to- 
day but  we  are  badly  pressed,  and  that  constitutes  the  emergency. 
It  is  to  tide  over  this  emergency,  in  the  hope  that  when  your  per- 
manent immigration  policy  is  established  for  the  United  States,  you 
will  put  into  it  a  provision  which  will  make  possible  a  further 
effort  to  get  Americans,  or  those  eligible  to  become  white  American 
citizens,  on  to  our  soil  and  hold  them  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  would  like  to  ask  that  that  be  published  in  the 
record . 

The  Chairman.  The  commission  already  has  authority  to  intro- 
duce either  into  the  body  of  the  report  of  the  hearings  or  as  appen- 
dices any  matter  which  they  are  prepared  to  furnish  and  desire  to 
put  in. 

Mr.  Raker.  May  I  ask  Mr.  Dillingham  one  further  question: 
Mr.  Dillingham,  will  you  submit  following  this  statement,  irrespective 
of  what  the  policy  might  be  as  to  general  immigration  in  the  future 
for  the  United  States,  to  the  end  that  it  might  be  put  in  condition  to' 
treat  this  country  properly,  and  those  that  ought  to  come  here 
properly — eliminating  that  now  from  the  proposition — submit  some 
proposed  concrete  plan  of  immigration  applying  solely  and  entirely 
to  Hawaii.     Can  you  and  will  you  do  that  for  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know  the  extent,  Judge  Raker,  of  the 
authority  which  we  have  as  a  commission  representing  the  labor 


372  LABOR  PROBLEMS  11^   HAWAII. 

emergency,  but  I  can  tell  you  this,  that  the  men  who  have  the  inter- 
ests not  only  of  the  Territory  but  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole  at 
heart  are  studying  and  planning  and  working  in  an  effort  to  submit 
to  Congress,  in  time  to  be  included  in  the  next  immigration  bill,  a 
plan  which  would  give  promise  of  the  results  which  we  are  all  anxious 
to  see  achieved. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  not  submit  that  as  a  concrete  proposition 
applying  to  Hawaii  alone,  and  if  you  do  not  desire  to  do  that  as  a 
commission,  submit  it  as  your  own  individual  thought,  because  you 
have  given  this  subject  very  careful  and  painstaking  and  honest 
consideration.  For  the  benefit  of  the  committee,  can  you  not  do 
that,  and  are  you  not  prepared  to  do  that  now  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  not  prepared  at  the  moment.  It  is  a  big 
subject,  as  you  recognize,  of  course.  I  will  be  very  glad  to  offer  any 
suggestions  that  I  can  bring  together  looking  to  that  end.  It  would 
have  to  be  understood,  however,  that  this  was  given  to  you  purely 
as  a  personal  suggestion. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  all,  Mr.  Chairman,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned. 

(The  committee  thereupon  adjourned  until  Monday,  June  27,  1921, 
at  10  o'clock  a.  m.) 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Monday,  June  27,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Wallace,  representing  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  is  again  present  to  place  before  the  committee  some 
information  received  from  the  Federation  of  Labor  at  Denver,  and 
also  a  cablegram  from  Honolulu,  and  to  give  further  evidence. 

STATEMEITT  OF  MR.  EDGAR  WALLACE,  LEGISLATIVE 
REPRESENTATIVE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF 
LABOR. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr,  Chairman,  this  matter  from  Denver,  as  I  stated 
to  you,  is  here  and  it  is  rather  voluminous.  I  can  read  as  much  of 
it  as  you  wish  me  to  read.  It  comes  direct  from  labor  men  on  the 
island.  The  first  is  a  communication  dated  November  18,  1920, 
addressed  to  Mr.  Samuel  Gompers,  president  of  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor,  and  reads  as  follows : 

Dear  Sir  and  Brother:  Certain  conditions  arising  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
make  it  imperative  that  the  grand  officers  of  the  federation  be  apprised,  with  a  view 
of  eliminating  through  the  proper  channels,  the  possibility  of  their  development. 

I  have  been  advised  that  with  the  change  of  administration  in  this  Territory  the 
large  plantation  interests  are  depending  on  the  importation  through  congressional 
sanction,  the  importation  of  Chinese  laborers  in  the  neighborhood  of  50,000.  They 
are  obliged  either  to  do  this  or  else  elevate  the  wage  scales  of  the  present  labor  to 
satisfy  it  in  remaining  on  the  plantations.  The  two  main  races  represented  on  the 
plantations  at  present  are  Japanese  and  Filipino,  the  lesser  being  Portuguese,  Porto 
Rican,  and  other  lesser  nationalities. 

Since  the  "gentlemen's  agreement"  has  been  in  effect,  a  period  of  about  12  years, 
the  influx  of  oriental  labor  has  been  materially  lessened,  so  that  with  the  organization 
of  the  plantation  laborers  and  the  recent  strike  on  the  island  of  Oahu,  the  planters 
are  faced  witii  the  necessity  of  paying  a  higher  rate  to  resident  labor  or  else  import 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  373 

vast  hordes  of  Chinese  to  replace  them.  The  sugar  industry  is  the  basic  industry  of 
the  islands,  and  until  very  recently  an  oriental  standard  of  wages  has  been  maintained. 
In  desperation  the  planters  turn  to  the  Orient,  regardless  of  the  consequence,  sure  to 
follow  the  importation  of  coolie  labor. 

Let  us  take  for  grantpd  that  this  grave  development  had  actually  happened,  let  us 
see  what  the  results  would  be.  The  Japanese  labor  imported  some  years  ago  is  ageing; 
the  second  generation  is  already  moving  onward  to  the  mainland ,  landing  first  at  San 
Francisco  and  from  thence  they  are  absorbed  mostly  within  the  boundaries  of  that 
State.  (I  shall  try  to  get  statistical  data  from  the  immigration  station  to  submit  to 
you  shortly.)  This  augments  the  already  large  Japanese  population  in  California,  and 
in  time  the  Western  Coast  States  will  be  comprised  of  a  majority  population  of 
Orientals.  This  is  not  fancy,  but  has  been  supported  by  facts  many  times  in  the 
past  decade.  Once  they  have  arrived  there,  they  enter  into  competition  with  white 
labor;  are  so  prolific  in  the  matter  of  offspring  and  not  being  troubled  with  a  social 
standard  other  than  clannishness,  continue  the  policy  of  peaceful  aggression.  Then 
we  hear  of  the  Japanese  "question"  from  our  sister  State  in  such  language  familiar  to 
everyone  at  the  present  time. 

The  Portuguese  youth  are  also  migrating  to  the  mainland  while  the  older  generation 
stay  here.  There  is,  however,  no  shortage  of  labor  here  that  can  not  be  satisfied  locally, 
and  the  migration  can  be  largely  halted  with  the  elevation  of  wages  commensurate 
with  an  American  standard  of  decency. 

Some  of  the  incidents  likely  to  develop  are  the  removal  of  the  present  governor, 
Charles  J.  McCarthy,  who  is  to  represent  the  chamber  of  commerce  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  at  Washington;  the  appointment  of  the  present  Delegate  to  Congress,  Prince 
J.  K.  Kalanianaole,  as  governor  of  Hawaii,  who  in  turn  will  name  as  his  successor 
(being  the  new  governor)  one  Robert  Shingle,  who  left  immediately  for  Washington 
after  the  recent  election.  Mr.  Shingle  is  a  plantation  man  and  heavily  interested 
in  the  big  business  of  the  Territory.  With  this  layout,  the  planters  are  reported  as 
"counting  on"  and  "depending  on"  the  importation  of  coolie  labor  to  further  main- 
tain the  oriental  wage  standard  bound  to  be  eliminated  without  the  Chinese.  With 
the  exception  of  the  last-mentioned  detail,  the  changes  in  administration  have  been 
given  wide  publicity  here. 

While  President  Wilson  will  have  nothing  to  say  in  the  matter  of  the  next  appoint- 
ment of  Hawaii's  governor,  the  present  session  of  Congress  should  put  the  clamps 
on  Chinese  immigration  so  strongly  that  it  can  never  be  removed.  The  safety  of 
American  labor  depends  on  it  especially  on  the  Western  coast. 

I  can  not  impress  too  strongly  on  you  the  grave  questions  here  mentioned  and  urge 
upon  you  the  necessity  of  immediate  action  at  the  coming  session  of  the  National 
Congress. 

If  these  Chinese  laborers  are  admitted  to  Hawaii,  they  will  route  the  younger  gen- 
eration of  all  races,  who  will  migrate  to  the  mainland,  already  aggravating  the  most 
serious  of  recent  developments  which  may  at  any  time  be  attended  with  interna- 
tional complications. 

I  trust  that  suflEicient  subject  matter  is  contained  in  this  communication  to  fortify 
you  in  the  arrest  of  the  proposed  influx, 

I  shall  keep  you  advised. 

Fraternally  and  anxiously,  yours, 

H.  N.  Tyson, 
President  Central  Labor  Union,  Honolulu,  T.  H. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  is  this  gentleman  that  signs  that  letter  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  only  know  that  he  signs  himself  as  the  president 
of  the  Honolulu  Central  Labor  Union.  I  do  not  know  the  man 
personally,  and  I  never  heard  of  him  until  I  got  into  this  matter. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  desire  to  have  that  letter  placed  in  the 
record  just  as  it  is  written  1 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir;  if  the  committee  wishes  it. 

The  Chairman.  You  desire  it  placed  in  the  record  just  as  it  is 
written  with  regard  to  the  fact  that  the  Delegate  from  Hawaii  was 
to  be  made  governor  ?     He  is  not  governor. 

Mr.  Wallace.  This  is  dated  November  18,  1920. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  the  record  should  be  brought  down  to 
date  to  show  that  he  was  not  appointed  governor. 


374  -tiiBOK  PROBLiEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mi\  WIEEacC ''t'^Unaers^fSn^^'that,  and  also  that  Mr.  Tyson  is 
mistaken  in  his  belief  that  this  other  gentleman  would  be  made 
Delegate. 

The  Chairman.  Does  not  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  elect  its  Delegate 
in  Congress  in  the  same  manner  that  districts  elect  Congressmen  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  A  statement  is  made  there  to  the  effect  that 
Delegate  Kalanianaole  would  be  appointed  governor,  and  that  he  in 
turn  would  appoint  Mr.  Shingle  as  Delegate,  and  that  statement  is 
not  in  accordance  with  the  law. 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  states  that  man's  belief,  and  it  reveals  a  certain 
ignorance,  but  I  can  not  help  that.  It  is  his  letter  to  us.  It  does 
hot  change  the  position  that  he  takes  on  the  question. 

The  Chairman.  But  he  is  at  fault  in  making  a  statement  of  that 
kind. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

This  communication  is  dated  November  30,  1920,  and  is  addressed 
to  Mr.  Samuel  Gompers,  president  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
Washington,  D.  C.,'as  follows: 

Dear  Sir  and  Brother:  I  am  inclosing  a  clipping  from  the  Honolulu  Star- 
Bulletin  of  November  29,  1920,  wMcli  is  self-explanatory,  together  with  a  clipping 
same  date  relative  to  the  plantation  situation.  It  is  expected  that  if  the  planters  do 
not  arbitrate  there  will  be  another  strike  of  plantation  laborers.  This  will  strengthen 
the  argument  for  the  importation  of  Chinese,  which  I  have  already  brought  to  your 
attention.  The  Japanese  situation  is  already  acute,  and  it  is  supposed  that  the 
planters  will  stand  pat.  Be  prepared  to  supply  our  friends  in  Congress  with  these 
facts  if  the  occasion  arises. 

I  am  inclosing  also  a  clipping  re  Hawaiian  rehabilitation.  This  bill  has  the  support 
of  the  planters  not  because  of  its  intent  to  rehabilitate  the  Hawaiian  race  but  because 
it  is  designed  to  kill  homesteading.  I  am  inclosing  copy  of  a  petition  read  before 
the  Territorial  Legislature  on  the  last  day  of  its  special  session,  November  24,  1920. 

This  council  is  not  opposed  to  any  measure  that  will  rehabilitate  the  Hawaiian  race, 
but  if  this  bill  is  passed  by  the  United  States  Congress  and  becomes  law,  it  will  kill 
homesteading,  and  that  part  of  the  bill  we  are  unalterably  opposed  to. 

There  is  at  present  a  movement  on  foot  by  several  hundred  petitioners  to  withdraw 
in  the  neighborhood  of  40,000  acres  of  first-class  agricultural  lands  for  homestead 
purposes.  The  land  commissioner  refuses  to  act  without  mandamus,  pending  the 
action  of  Congress  on  this  measure,  known  as  the  Hawaiian  rehabilitation  bill. 

One  of  the  pet  arguments  for  the  bill  is  that  the  land  is  going  to  the  Japanese  under 
the  present  homestead  law.  There  are  a  few  Japanese  who  are  native-born  Americans 
who  have  some  of  the  land,  but  this  argument  does  not  hold  good  for  the  reason  that 
when  the  land  is  withdrawn,  everybody  has  to  take  their  chances  when  the  final 
drawing  takes  place  for  the  lots. 

The  mainland  needs  more  sugar.  Under  homesteads,  the  land  produces  about  20 
per  cent  more  sugar  than  it  does  under  ordinary  plantation  conditions. 
■  Please  give  us  the  benefit  of  your  influence  in  Congress  in  this  matter,  otherwise 
homesteading  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  will  be  done  at  the  "discretion  of  the  three 
commissioners  instead  of  one  as  at  present,"  And  if  one  commissioner  obeys  the 
"powers  that  be"  why  shouldn't  three?  At  present  there  is  a  law  which  can  compel 
the  land  commissioner  to  act,  but  under  the  rehabilitation  bill  the  commissioners 
could  not  be  compelled  to  open  homesteads  as  at  present,  and  if  their  discretion  was 
negative,  there  wouldn't  be  any  homesteads  opened. 

-  At  present,  if  25  citizens  petition  for  the  withdrawal  of  a  parcel  of  land  in  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Hawaii,  the  commissioner  of  public  lands  must  proceed  with  the  survey, 
etc.,  or  himself  break  the  law. 

It  is  the  right  of  the  25  petitioners  for  withdrawal  for  homestead  purposes  of  the 
lands  leased  by  the  Government  to  the  plantation  interests,  that  this  rehabilitation 
bill  is  drawn  to  defeat.  They  have  tried  for  years  to  take  that  right  of  petition  from 
the  citizens,  and  so  far  have  failed,  until  they  finally  landed  on  the  rehabilitation 
measure. 

If  the  Government  would  take  over  the  sugar  mills  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  and 
open  the  lands  to  homesteaders,  the  Government  would  be  better  off  for  the  increased 
yields,  and  the  Hawaiian  race  would  rehabilitate  itself. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  375 

Let  them  set  aside  certain  lands  for  the  Hawaiian  race  if  they  want  to,  but  give 
other  citizens  the  privilege  of  the  present  homestead  law  if  they  want  it. 

_  I  can  not  urge  upon  you  too  strongly  the  necessity  of  defeating  the  clauses  in  that 
-bill  which  woTild  nullify  our  present  homestead  law.     Please  see  Key  Pittman, 
Senator  from  Nevada,  and  interview  his  brother,  William  B.  Pittman,  who  has  gone 
to  Washington  from  this  Territory  on  this  matter. 
Thanking  you  in  advance  for  your  efforts  in  our  behalf, 
Fraternally  yours, 

H.  N.  Tyson, 
President  Central  Labor  Union,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  see  Senator  Pittman  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir;  I  did  not. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  appear  before  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir;  it  was  never  called  to  my  attention. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  favor  Government  ownership  of  the  sugar 
plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  Government  ownership  of  any- 
thing, personally. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  are  not  in  favor  of  the  Plumb  plan  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir;  not  personally. 

Mr.  Mead.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  want  to  question  one  statement  that 
the  witness  has  made.  I  understand  from  what  he  was  reading  that 
the  homesteaders  produce  20  per  cent  more  sugar  or  sugar  cane  upon 
their  lands. 

Mr.  Wallace.  That  is  his  statement. 

Mr.  Mead.  What  basis  has  he  for  that  statement  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  lives  there.  I  do  not  know,  but  I  have  seen 
small  farms  that  were  more  productive  than  large  ones. 

Mr.  Mead.  In  that  connection,  I  would  like  to  state  unequivocally 
and  absolutely  that  the  homesteaders  do  not  produce  50  per  cent  of 
the  sugar  cane  on  their  lands  that  the  plantations  do.  Their  methods 
are  not  as  good,  and  they  do  not  produce  50  per  cent  of  what  the 
plantations  do. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Do  you  mean  per  acre  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  White.  Is  their  land  as  good? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  but  they  have  not  the  methods.  They  do  not 
fertilize,  and  they  do  not  irrigate  as  the  plantations  do,  and  they  have 
not  the  systems  that  the  plantations  have.  '  Homesteaders  took  the 
Waiakea  plantation  and  ran  it,  and  the  production  of  that  plantation 
has  been  decreased  50  per  cent  since  the  homesteaders  operated  it. 
Mr.  Horner  knows  about  that. 

Mr.  Horner.  I  do  not  think  that  the  homesteaders  were  to  blame. 

Mr.  Mead.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  they  produced  less. 

Mr.  Horner.  There  was  a  decrease  in  the  production. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  your  remarks  as  to  the  small  production  by  the 
homesteaders  apply  to  the  Japanese  producers  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  about  the  Japanese  homesteaders,  be- 
cause I  do  not  think  there  are  any  extensive  Japanese  homesteads, 
but  I  know  that  the  homesteaders,  as  a  general  proposition,  do  not 
produce  50  per  cent  of  what  the  plantations  do. 

Mr.  Box.  It  would  appear  that  the  small  Japanese  producer  pro- 
duces more  per  acre  than  the  large  plantations  do. 


376  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  only  way  I  can  answer  that  is  in  this  way:  On 
many  islands  in  Hawaii  they  allow  the  Japanese  who  are  laborers  on 
the  plantations  to  have  small  areas  of  land  on  the  sides  of  hills  and 
in  gulches  which  they  cultivate  themselves  independently  of  the 
plantation,  and  I  believe  that  in  those  instances  the  production  is 
higher.  That  is  done,  however,  by  plantation  men,  or  men  experi- 
enced in  the  cultivation  of  sugar  cane. 

The  Chairman.  The  land  itself  is  adjacent  to  and  is  really  a  part 
of  the  plantation  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  it  is  a  part  of  the  plantation  land.  In  those 
instances  I  believe  their  production  is  all  right. 

The  Chairman.  I  remember  that  when  I  was  there  the  Japanese 
in  many  cases  had  the  privilege  of  cultivating  any  little  corners  of 
land  that  could  not  be  reached  by  the  ordinary  processes  of  planta- 
tion cultivation.  The  Japanese  would  ask  the  privilege  of  cultivating 
such  places  for  their  families,  and  they  were  permitted  to  do  so. 
However,  that  cane  went  to  the  mill  just  as  the  cane  from  the  regular 
plantation. 

Mr.  Box.  I  recently  saw  published  a  statement  by  people  who  are 
friendly  to  the  Japanese  on  the  situation  in  California,  pretending  to 
be  nonpartisan,  I  should  say,  but  I  do  not  think  it  was  nonpartisan, 
claiming  that  they  produced  about  three  and  one-half  times  as  much 
as  the  American  producers  on  the  same  acreage. 

Mr.  Free.  They  work  three  and  a  half  times  harder,  perhaps. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  ask  Mr.  Mead  this  question :  If  it  appears  that 
the  homesteader  produces  50  per  cent  less  than  the  plantation  does, 
is  there  a  tendency  to  eliminate  the  homesteader  so  that  the  pro- 
duction may  be  large  ?     What  is  the  Hawaiian  rehabilitation  bill  ? 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  explain  that  bill,  as  I  worked  on  it  in  the 
Committee  on  Territories.  As  I  understand  it,  the  situation  which 
calls  for  a  bill  of  that  kind  is  about  like  this :  In  the  old  days,  before 
the  United  States  had  acquired  or  annexed  Hawaii,  long-term  leases 
were  made  on  the  sugar  lands,  and  those  lands  are  now  the  highly 
cultivated  lands.  The  leases  are  about  to  expire,  and  many  of  them 
will  expire  about  July  1  of  this  year.  The  law  requires  that  when 
those  leases  expire,  the  lands  shall  be  opened  to  homestead  upon  a 
petition  of  25  or  more  people.  That  has  been  done  with  regard  to 
other  lands  as  the  leases  expired,  or  they  were  handled  as  other 
public  lands.  As  I  understand,  there  is  nothing  in  the  law  that  pre- 
vents a  man  who  draws  a  homestead  in  the  lottery  from  getting  his 
title  and  then  selling  it  to  a  plantation  or  corporation,  and  so  that  in 
itself  defeats  the  homestead  provision. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  is  not  quite  so,  is  it?  Could  they  sell 
it  to  corporations  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Not  to  corporations. 

The  Chairman.  It  would  not  get  into  the  hands  of  corporations  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  No,  sir;  not  from  individuals. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  situation  ended  in  1910. 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  I  understand  from  Mr.  Mead's  state- 
ment that  under  this  rehabilitation  act  there  is  appointed  a  com- 
mission, and  that  if  the  commission  will  not  act,  they  can  compel 
them  to  act.  As  I  understand  it,  upon  the  commission  refusing  to 
act,  that  leaves  the  lands  held  by  the  Government  en  bloc,  and, 
therefore,  they  can  be  leased. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  377 

The  Chairman.  No;  the  rehabiUtation  bill  providing  for  three 
commissioners  has  the  further  plan  that  the  lands  heretofore  leased 
at  a,  nominal  rate  under  leases  made  30  years  ago  shall  be  leased  at 
its  appraised  value,  and  that  the  money  shall  go  into  a  revolving  fund 
for  the  purpose  of  putting  more  Hawaiians  on  those  lands  or  other 
agricultural  lands,  m  the  effort  to  rehabilitate  them  and  keep  them 
on  the  land. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  taking  Mr.  Mead's  statement  that  should  the 
commission  refuse  to  open  any  land  up  for  homesteading  purposes^ 
it  would  not  be  idle,  but  that  they  would  lease  it. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  a  long  involved  bill,  and  with  this  little 
explanation  of  it,  I  do  not  think  we  need  to  go  further  into  that.  I 
am  sorry,  Mr.  Wallace,  that  we  interrupted  you  and  diver tetd  the 
inquiry.     Will  you  again  proceed? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  is  pertinent  to  mention  in  this  discussion  that 
Mr.  Dillingham  in  his  brief  stated  that  we  had  offered  no  construc- 
tive proposition  in  lieu  of  the  proposition  for  the  importation  of 
Chinese  coolies.  I  think  it  was  Mr.  Mead  who  stated  that  in  Aus- 
tralia they  had  deported  the  blacks.  Now,  those  are  not  blacks  who 
were  aborigines  there,  but  they  were  blacks  who  had  been  imported 
into  that  country  under  the  old  conditions  when  there  were  large 
plantations  and  when  they  held  that  they  needed  some  kind  of  cheap 
labor  to  work  those  plantations.  They  contended  that  they  should 
import  that  sort  of  labor  into  that  country,  in  much  the  same  way 
as  this  resolution  proposes  to  import  the  same  kind  of  labor  into 
Hawaii  under  bond,  to  work  for  so  many  years  and  then  go  back. 
Australia  decided  that  they  would  have  no  more  of  that  kind  of  labor, 
and  Mr.  Mead  says  that  they  have  deported  them,  and  that  they 
will  not  have  any  more  Japanese  or  other  kind  of  orientals  as  laborers. 
It  appears  that  that  action  required  a  division  of  those  plantations, 
or  a  subdivision  of  those  plantations,  and  that  the  subdivision  of 
those  plantations  has  produced  a  splendid  specimen  of  man.  Now, 
I  hold,  and  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  holds,  that  men  are 
the  real  need  of  any  country,  or  the  right  kind  of  people  are  the  real 
need,  and  they  have  them  in  Australia.  They  sent  them  to  the 
defense  of  the  Empire  when  the  time  came  and  the  necessity  arose. 
Therefore,  I  believe  that  through  the  system  of  the  subdivision  of 
the  plantations  into  homesteads,  men  can  be  found  for  service 
Hawaiians,  or  Americans,  Portuguese,  etc.,  who  would  work  this  land. 
There  are  people  who  would  work  little  corners  of  it,  and  make  it 
much  more  productive,  and  they  would,  at  least,  make  a  much  more 
desirable  type  of  citizenship  than  could  be  brought  about  by  the 
importation  of  bondmen,  or  men  who  have  no  interest  in  the  country, 
who  would  crowd  out  all  of  our  labor,  and  who  would  eventually 
own  that  country,  or  any  country  where  they  are  permitted  to  land 
and  work. 

The  Chairman.  You  realize  that  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the 
Japanese,  if  they  are  present  there  in  the  numbers  indicated  by  the 
census  and  otherwise,  from  securing  homesteads. 

Mr.  Wallace.  If  you  would  adopt  a  suggestion  along  that  line, 
I  would  say  that  this  Government  has  the  right,  when  any  nation- 
ality seeks  to  become  citizens  of  this  country,  not  to  advance  the 
interests  of  this  country  but  to  advance  the  interests  of  their  original 
home   or   the  country  from  which  they  come,  even  to  the  second 


87§  LABOR  PROBLEMS  m  HAWAII. 

generation,  to  refuse  them  that  privilege.  If  the  evidence  is  suffi- 
cient that  men  are  seeking  citizenship  or  seeking  land  in  the  interest 
of  their  old  home  land  or  of  their  old  home  government,  this  Govern- 
ment, in  my  opinion,  has  the  right  to  defend  itself  in  any  way  it 
wants  to;  and  while  we  might  admire  the  fidelity  of  those  people 
to  their  home  lands,  yet,  we  must  recognize  the  danger  to  our  own 
country.  We  have  the  right  to  protect  our  own  country,  and  it 
can  be  done  without  repeating  the  error  that  has  brougnt  about  the 
present  situation. 

Tiie  Chairman.  You  must  realize  that  the  Japanese  born  in 
Hawaii  are  American  citizens. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  realize  that  there  are  American  citizens  in  Cali- 
fornia as  well  as  in  Hawaii  whose  interests  are  not  for  America. 

The  Chairman.  What  other  matter  have  you  to  present? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  have  here  a  clipping  from  the  Pacific  Commercial 
Advertiser,  which  is  alluded  to  in  this  letter,  giving  the  planter's 
side  of  the  alleged  labor  shortage  in  Hawaii,  and  then  I  have  the 
answer  to  it  by  Mr.  Tyson.     I  will  read  it  to  you,  if  you  wish. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  suggest  that  you  let  them  go  into 
the  record  without  reading. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Who  is  Mr.  Tyson  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  signs  himself  as  the  president  of  the  Central 
Labor  Council  of  Honolulu.  At  the  time  he  wrote  these  letters  he 
held  that  position.  • 

Mr.  Box.  I  notice  that  he  states  in  this  letter  that  the  governor 
who  is  expected  to  be  appointed  is  to  appoint  the  delegate.  I  would 
like  first  to  know  a  little  more  about  Mr.  Tyson.  I  do  not  say  that  as 
indicating  a  hostile  attitude,  but  before  I  pass  upon  the  value  of 
testimony,  I  want  to  know  something  about  the  person  who  is  giving 
it.     Does  anybody  know  who  Mr.  Tyson  is  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  Before  publishing  his  statement  as  a  part  of  our 
official  record,  we  ought  to  know. 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  would  not  have  communicated  with  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor  as  president  of  the  Central  Labor  Council 
of  Honolulu  unless  he  had  had  that  position,  because  we  have  a  record 
of  the  elections  that  take  place. 

Mr.  Box.  What  would  you  think  about  a  statement  made  by  a 
man  who  did  not  know  how  the  delegate  from  Hawaii  was  selected  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  might  be  ignorant  on  that  subject,  and  still 
know  a  great  deal  on  labor  matters.  I  can  not  understand  why  he 
did  not  know  how  the  Delegate  was  selected. 

Mr.  Box.  I  should  think  he  would  be  informed. 

The  Chairman.  Here  is  the  direct  statement  that  the  Delegate 
was  to  be  appointed  governor,  and  that  the  governor  would  then 
appoint  the  Delegate. 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  says,  ^'The  appointment  of  the  present  Delegate 
to  Congress  Prince  J.  K.  Kalanianaole,  as  governor  of  Hawaii." 

Mr.  Wilson.  Read  on  where  he  says  that  the  Governor  shall 
appoint  the  Delegate. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  could  find  50  men  in  almost  any  place  who  might 
say  that  the  governor  could  make  that  appointment. 

Mr.  Wallace.  This  was  between  elections.  He  says  that  he  was 
to  resign  to  become  governor,  according  to  this  man's  prognostica- 


I^BQR  PROBLEMS   Il![   HAWAII.  '379 

tion,  whicli  was  a  mistake.     He  thought  that  there  woukl  be  no 
election,  and  that  there  would  be  the  power  to  appoint. 

^Ir.  Kalanianaole.  The  governor  has  not  the  power  to  appoint. 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  is  mistaken  in  that  respect. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  You  must  have  an  election. 

The  Chairman.  The  new  governor  of  Hawaii  has  been  nominated, 
iiis  nomination  confirmed,  and  he  is  on  his  way  to  take  charge  of  his 
office.  He  appeared  before  this  committee.  The  Delegate,  Mr. 
Kalanianaole,  is  still  the  Delegate. 

:;^/Mr.  Wallace.  If  you  wish,  I  will  submit  this  newspaper  clipping 
and  letter  for  the  record. 

The  Chairman.  They  may  be  inserted  in  the  record. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

[From  The  Pacific  Commercial,  Thursday  morning,  December  9,  1920.] 

Labor  Shortage  on  Hawaii  Feared — Hilo  Man  kSuGGESTS  it  Would  Benefit 

TO  Import  Chinese  Workers. 

[Hilo  Tribune,  Dec.  5.] 

"The  manner  in  which  Filipino  and  other  plantation  laborers,  with  their  families, 
are  leaving  this  island  is  a  very  sefioiis  matter,"  declared  a  Hilo  man  yesterday. 

"There  will  surelv  be  a  shortage  of  labor  on  the  plantations  in  the  near  future,  and 
the  homesteaders  throughout  the  country  will  feel  the  effect  keenly,"  he  added. 

"I  was  alwavs  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  a  good  move  to  arrange  for  the  impor- 
tation of  about  30,000  Chinese  laborers  and  to  give  them  employment  on  the  sugar 
and  pineapple  plantations  of  Hawaii.  I  saw  in  the  telegraphic  Ifeews  the  other  day 
that  Chinese  laborers  are  now  being  introduced  to  Cuban  cane  plantations.  A  similar 
move  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  good  thing  for  Hawaii,  where  there  is  rapidly  being- 
produced  a  situation  that  will  spell  ruin  for  our  principal  industries  if  some  solution  of 
the  labor  problem  is  not  arrived  at. 

"Chinese  field  workers  are  the  best  and  most  reliable  in  the  world,  in  my  opinion. 
Their  offspring  have  proved  their  worth  in  Hawaii,  where  there  are  so  many  thousands 
of  them.  I  would  like  to  see  as  manv  Chinese  laborers  as  may  be  required  from  time 
to  time,  brought  to  Hawaii  for  plantation  work.  Thev  need  never  be  allowed  to 
proceed  to  the  mainland,  where  there  used  to  be  such  an  objection  raised  to  natives  of 
China,  and  the  period  of  re.?idence  in  this  Territory  might  be  limited  to  a  certain 
term  of  j-ears.  Personally  freaking,  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  fairly  close  rela- 
tionship with  Chinese  of  both  high  and  low  caste,  I  am  compelled  to  say  that  they 
area  fine  race  of  people  and  that  they  showin  their  business  dealings  a  splendid  sense 
of  honor  and  integritv. 

"The  planters  of  the  Territory  have  tried  about  every  possible  source  of  labor  and 
have,  for  many  years  past,  been  given  the  wrong  end  of  the  stick.  Whv  not  make 
a  verv  determined  effort  to  obtain  the  best  labor  of  all  for  cane  fields.  The  Chinese 
can  solve  the  great  conundrum,  I  feel  certain.     California  has  changed  a  lot  since  '49.^' 


Honolulu,  December  9. 
Editor  Advertiser: 

In  your  paper  of  above  date,  on  page  2,  fiirst  column',  appears  an  article  reprinted 
from  the  Hilo  Tribune.  December  5.  "Labor  shortage  on  Hawaii  feared."  Un- 
fortunately the  naftie  of  this  Hilo  man  does  not  appear,  but  if  the  laborers  on 
Hawaii  are  leaving,  it  would  suggest  that  there  was  something  fundamentally  wrong 
with  the  plantations  and  not  from  any  fault  of  the  laborers.  When  the  workers  have 
opportunity  to  give  free  expression  of  their  desires  and  needs  and  there  is  free  inter- 
change of  ideasbetween  the  employers  and  their  employees,  the  latter  do  not  "leave." 
They  settle  their  differences  if  they  have  any  and  work  goes  on  unabated. 

The  "Hilo  man"  would  flood  the  Territory  mth  30,000  Chinese  coolies  and  cites  the 
recent  shipment  to  Cuba  and  renders  an  opinion  that  the  same  practice  would  be  a 
good  thing  for  Hawaii.  Even  the  homesteaders  come  in  for  slight  consideration  of 
"fear  of  a  labor  shortage."  Would  any  such  move  as  the  above  serve  to  relieve 
conditions?    Not  that  anybody  knows  of. 


380  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Granted  that  all  our  "Hilo  man"  says  is  true  concerning  the  merits  and  desirability 
of  the  Chinese.  Would  he  enter  into  industrial  relations  any  more  congenially  with 
Chinese  coolies  than  he  does  with  his  present  labor?  What  would  he  do  with  the 
two  or  three  million  unemployed  men  in  the  United  States?  If  he  wants  some  good 
workers,  and  really  wants  to  Americanize  this  Territory,  why  doesn't  he  suggest 
bringing  America's  unemployed  to  this  Territory  to  help  in  the  process?  Would  it 
not  be  wise  in  the  face  of  a  labor  shortage  to  homestead  a  little  more  land?  The  land 
in  small  areas  produces  more  sugar  than  under  plantation  rule,  and  this  would  be 
better  for  the  Nation. 

The  "Hilo  man"  says,  "The  planters  of  the  Territory  have  tried  about  every  possible 
source  of  labor  and  have,  for  many  years  past,  been  given  the  wrong  end  of  the  stick." 
I  wonder  if  he  would  care  to  support  that  statement  with  a  complete  financial  state- 
ment.    Give  the  public  some  figures  that  are  true  to  life  and  let  us  see. 

If  such  a  condition  really  exists,  we  are  interested  and  would  like  to  know  what  the 
real  situation  is.  And  in  the  same  paragraph  we  read,  "California  has  changed  a  lot 
since  forty-nine,"  which  doesn't  mean  anything  at  all  or  else  means  so  many  things 
that  it  has  no  force  or  place  in  the  argument.  I  think  ' ' Hilo  man  "  means  that  Hawaii 
has  changed  a  lot  since  forty-nine,  and  the  real  force  of  his  argument  is  that  he  would 
encourage  a  move  that  would  set  us  back  a  half  a  century  to  "the  good  old  days." 

Let  us  look  at  the  bald,  naked  truth  of  this  matter  without  any  propaganda  of  any 
sort  to  give  local  color .  Present-day  industry  must  have  harmonious  industrial  relations 
to  exist.  Laboring  men  have  very  good  cause  for  being  suspicious,  and  the  same  may 
be  said  with  a  certain  amount  of  justification  by  the  employer,  and  the  only  way  to 
allay  this  untoward  condition  is  to  have  everything  concerning  the  business  mutually 
understood  by  the  contracting  parties.  Some  of  our  greatest  American  employers 
have  recognized  this  great  fact,  not  the  least  of  whom  is  the  firm  of  Hart,  Schaffner 
&  Marx,  who  have  had  no  labor  troubles  for  the  past  10  years. 

This  is  American  soil  and  the  big  business,  the  press,  and  other  agencies  are  advo- 
cating the  Americanization  of  the  Territory,  while  at  the  same  time  a  very  crude 
propaganda  is  being  given  some  space  at  present  to  try  to  get  people  to  thinking  there 
is  a  need  for  30, 00#  Chinese  laborers  that  doesn't  exist. 

As  the  writer  sees  it,  this  is  the  real  situation: 

The  plantations  are  organized.  The  laborers  are  organized.  One  is  as  strong  as  the 
other.  On  account  of  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  planters  toward  the  laborers'  organ- 
izations, an  artificial  labor  shortage  is  caused.  Some  of  the  laborers  have  even  returned 
to  the  land  of  their  birth  and  the  others  who  haven't  stayed  in  the  city  have  emigrated 
to  the  mainland.  This  fact  is  immediately  grasped  by  the  "Hilo  man"  and  his  like 
as  a  basis  for  the  argument  of  importing  30,000  Chinese  coolies  who  are  not  so  well 
versed  in  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  Territory,  and  who  could  be  induced  to 
come  here  to  work  for  a  pittance  and  so  serve  the  ends  of  the  plantations  in  main- 
taining an  oriental  wage  standard.  This  would  have  an  immediate  reflection  in  all 
other  industry  in  lowering  the  wages  of  all  other  labor.  ^England  attempted  the  same 
thing  in  191 7,  and  English  labor  spoke  in  no  uncertain  terms.  The  boat  bearing  the 
coolie  laborers  never  docked  at  the  English  port  but  was  diverted  to  Marseille, 
France.  American  labor  is  interested  in  the  present  deal,  and  if  the  views  of  Hilo 
man  are  shared  by  other  plantation  men,  doubtless  a  "very  determined  effort" 
will  be  made  to  effect  the  deal  with  the  United  States  Congress.  It  amounts  either 
to  entering  into  complete  cooperation  with  the  laborers  as  at  present  constituted, 
and  receding  from  the  high  and  lofty  pinnacle  of  pride,  thus  serving  the  Territory  in 
the  complex  problem  of  Americanization,  or  it  amounts  to  aggravating  the  whole 
condition  by  such  as  the  Hilo  man,  who  would  surfeit  us  with  30,000  or  more  Chinese 
coolie  laborers.  If  I  have  missed  any  of  the  real  details  as  to  why  this  propaganda  is 
being  carried  on  at  the  present  time,  it  is  for  lack  of  space  only.  I  believe  the 
above  to  be  the  real  vital  reasons  for  the  present  agitation.  Hilo  man  and  those 
who  share  his  views  are  trying  to  produce  a  "mountain  out  of  a  molehill."  It  would 
be  just  as  well  for  him  to  forget  it,  because  the  United  States  Congress  isn't  blind,  nor 
is  American  labor. 

Contributed  by  Central  Labor  Council. 

H.  N.  Tyson,  President. 

The  Chairman.  You  wish  to  submit  a  cablegram  ? 
Mr.  Wallace.  On  j^esterday  I  received  this  cablegram  by  wireless. 
Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  date  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  is  dated  Honolulu,  June  26,  1921,  10:07  a.  m. 
This  cablegram  reads  as  follows: 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  381 

June  26,  1921. 
Edgar  C.  Wallace, 

American  Federation  Building,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Hawaii's  emergency  commission  misrepresenting  conditions.  Statistics  our  posses- 
sion indicate  no  actual  labor  shortage  in  Territory.  Unemployed  and  casuals  in  ex- 
cess of  plantation  requirements.  Men  driven  from  plantations  by  intolerable  con- 
ditions. Mostly  still  available  if  paid  living  wage.  Varono,  Phillipine  commissioner, 
assured  planters  of  influx  of  Filipinos.  Cost  of  living  here  still  near  peak.  No  labor 
organization  has  indorsed  plan.  Central  Labor  and  affiliated  unions  all  vigorously 
protest  scheme.  Direct  blow  Americanism  program.  Condition  sugar  industry  due 
previous  overproduction,  low  price,  excessive  capitalization,  plantation  strike,  and 
gross  mismanagement.  Labor  charges  planters  intentionally  limiting  production, 
planning  artificial  unemployment  campaign  lower  wages.  Employers  exerting 
economic  pressure  on  men  to  force  indorsement  planters'  program.  Charge  of  Japan- 
ese conspiracy  control  industry  ridiculous  falsehood.  Japanese  here  striving  for 
American  ideals  and  standards.  Strike  purely  economic.  No  nationalistic  issues 
involved.  Additional  information  by  mail.  Furnish  copies  this  message  Curry, 
NoJan,  Davis,  Raker,  and  all  internationals.  If  desired  organized  labor  send  com- 
mittee assist  in  fight.     Wire  instructions. 

George  W.  Wright, 
President  Honolulu  Central  Labor  Union,  1320  Middle  Street,  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Wright,  I  suppose,  is  the  successor  to  Mr.  Tyson. 

Mr.  Box.  Who  is  he  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  The  president  of  the  Honolulu  Central  Labor 
Council  or  Central  Labor  Union. 

Mr.  Box.  He  has  succeeded  Mr.  Tyson  since  Mr.  Tyson  wrote  those 
letters  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  He  makes  the  statement  there  that  the  industry 
is  mismanaged. 

Mr.  Wallace.  That  is  what  he  says. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  the  general  labor  attitude  with  regard  to 
all  industries  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  That  is  sometimes  right.  Sometimes  they  are  mis- 
managed. I  do  not  think  that  that  is  always  true.  It  is  not  true 
of  every  industry,  and  it  was  not  so  in  the  industry  where  I  used  to 
work. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  does  he  mean  by  this  language  in  the  cable- 
gram: '^Statistics  our  possession  indicate  no  actual  labor  shortage 
in  Territory?" 

Mr.  Wallace.  My  interpretation  of  that  would  be  to  follow  it  up 
by  the  statement,  "Unemployed  and  casuals  in  excess  of  plantation 
requirements." 

Mr.  Raker.  He  says,  "Unemployed  and  casuals  in  excess  of  plan- 
tation requirements." 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  think  that  answers  the  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  does  he  mean  by  the  statement,  "Unemployed 
and  casuals  in  excess  of  plantation  requirements?" 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  means  that  certain  men  are  available,  or  that 
there  are  unemployed  men  in  excess  of  the  requirements. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  casuals  are  what  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  are  men  who  happen  to  come  in  there, 
possibly  Americans,  and  possibly  men  of  other  nationalities. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  if  the  unemployed  over  there  to-day,  and  the 
casuals,  or  the  men  who  are  moving  from  place  to  place  without  any 
definite  idea  of  having  a  fixed  location,  are  in  excess  of  the  plantation 


LABOIl  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

requirements,  what  would  be  the  necessity  of  bringing  in  from  ten 
to  thirty  thousand  Chinese? 

Mr.  Free.  I  would  object  to  that  question  as  an  argument  of  the 
case.  \ 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  your  answer  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  My  answer  would  be  this,  that  from  the  evidence 
of  a  man  who  necessarily  would  be  in  touch  with  the  labor  situation  in 
Honolulu,  there  are  enough  men  unemployed  and  among  the  casuals, 
as  he  calls  them,  to  fill  all  requirements. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  you  believe  that  this  part  is  true:  "Japanese  here 
striving  for  American  ideals  and  standards?"  Do  you  believe  that 
that  is  true  of  any  place,  or  do  you  believe  that  there  is  any  place 
where  the  Japanese  strive  for  American  ideals  and  standards?  Do 
they  not  rather  strive  for  Japanese  ideals  and  standards  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  know  that  in  season  and  out  of  season  organized 
labor  in  America  has  protested  against  the  influx  of  Japanese,  but 
they  are  brought  in  in  spite  of  us. 

Mr.  Free.  I  do  not  think  that  a  man  who  would  write  that  the 
Japanese  are  striving  for  American  ideals  and  standards  correctly 
represents  the  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  Answering  my  friend  from  California,  I  will  say  that 
I  have  in  my  office  letters  and  circulars  from  all  over  this  country, 
representing  a  thousand  men  as  a  committee,  who,  in  turn,  represent 
at  least  100,000  people  of  all  mixtures,  claiming  that  the  importation 
and  naturalization  of  these  orientals  and  the  repealing  of  the  Chinese 
exclusion  law,  and  admitting  Japanese  aliens  to  this  country,  ought 
to  be  done,  and  that  it  is  the  only  humianitarian  thing  to  do. 

Mr.  Free.  But  they  do  not  go  to  the  extreme  of  claiming  that  the 
Japanese  are  striving  to  attain  American  ideals  and  standards. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  and  they  even  claim  that  by  intermarrying  they 
would  make  a  better  race. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  want  to  answer  that  statement,  if  you  please. 
The  labor  unions,  after  protesting  in,  vain  against  the  importation  of 
orientals,  and  the  Japanese  among  others,  when  they  find  that  orien- 
tals are  seeking  to  adopt  a  higher  standard  of  living,  or  a  standard 
that  would  permit  whites  to  compete  with  them,  and  standards  that 
whites  could  live  under,  then  they  take  them  up,  even  though  in  the 
early  days  they  resisted  their  importation,  knowing  that  their  im- 
portation was  intended  to  lower  the  standard  of  living.  Y^e  have 
not  brought  them  here,  but  they  are  here  in  spite  of  us.  However, 
we  will  aid  them  when  they  try  to  better  their  economic  condition. 
We  do  not  believe  that  you  can  better  this  situation  by  bringing  in 
another  set  of  men  who  will  work  at  a  still  lower  scale. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  does  he  mean  by  this  statement:  ^^ Employers 
exerting  economic  pressure  on  men  to  force  indorsement  planters'"    ! 
program?" 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  would  not  be  surprised  if  they  were  doing  as  they 
are  doing  in  some  sections  of  this  countr}^;  that  is,  arbitrarily  closing 
down  th^s  shop  and  driving  men  into  that  shop  where  they  pay  a 
lower  scale.  That  has  been  done,  not  only  in  Hawaii,  but  in  this 
country.  They  shut  down  one  plant  and  start  up  another  plant. 
Then  they  start  the  first  plant  again  on  a  still  lower  scale.  That  is 
economic  pressure. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   m   HAWAII.  38 S' 

*  ■'jFhe  Chairman.  Wbiild  you  think  that  there  was  anything  in  this 
statement  that  the  strike  itself  interfered  with  the  planting  of  a  crop 
that  takes  about  two  years  to  raise,  and  that  that  in  itself  would 
reduce  the  industry,  reduce  the  millwork,  etc.  ?  Is  there  anything  in 
that? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  do  not  know.  There  is  the  statement  of  a  man 
on  the  ground  who  is  the  representative  of  organized  labor.  He  is  the 
chosen  representative  of  organized  labor  and  of  American  labor  on 
that  island. 

The  Chairman.  But  you  admit  that  if  nothing  is  planted  on  a 
sugar  plantation  there  will  be  nothing  to  run  through  the  mills,  do 
you  not  ?  You  will  admit  that  if  there  is  no  labor  in  the  rice  fields, 
rice  will  be  imported,  and  the  high  living  conditions  will  continue, 
will  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  island  would  go  to  waste, 
even  if  they  were  not  able  to  compete  in  sugar.  I  think  that  some 
other  method  would  be  found  to  make  the  land  productive. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  think  they  should  raise  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Fruits  and  other  things.  I  know  that  they  have 
quit  the  one-crop  system  in  California  and  Australia,  and  they  could 
have  diversified  farming.  It  might  be  different  from  the  farming  that 
they  know,  but  on  a  homestead  any  man  could  raise  crops  for  himself 
and  have  an  excess  for  the  market.  He  would  find  out  what  was 
needed  on  the  market. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  familiar  with  the  results  of  the  effort  to 
develop  the  land  for  the  growth  of  pineapples  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  This  is  the  only  information  I  have.  The  only 
information  I  have  is  gained  from  other  people,  and  it  would  appear 
that  the  solution  of  the  question  lies  in  dividing  the  plantations  into 
smaller  holdings,  just  as  the  question  was  solved  in  Australia. 

The  Chairman.  Australia  is  not  a  tropical  country.  Do  you  think 
that  white  American  people  would  work  in  the  cane  fields  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  believe  that  white  American  people  could  be 
induced  to  take  up  land  in  these  islands  if  they  could  get  the  land 
for  themselves.  They  do  it  in  many  places.  I  have  known  them  to 
bring  white  American  labor  down^to  Panama  and  they  did  as  much 
of  that  work  as  colored  men. 

The  Chairman.  Are  the  Filipinos  in  Hawaii  organized  into  labor 
unions  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  do  not  know  of  any.  I  think  there  is  a  prejudice 
against  white  people.  They  may  have  an  organization  of  their  own. 
They  are  really  more  akin  to  Japanese  than  to  American  workers. 

The  Chairman.  I  notice  among  these  papers  that  you  have  left 
with  the  clerk  a  letter  from  H.  N.  Tyson,  dated  December  26,  1920, 
in  which  the  following  statement  appears : 

The  Japanese  economic  problem  is  a  very  perplexing  one,  but  we  do  not  feel  that 
the  interests  of  labor  in  the  Territory  can  be  preserved  by  attempting  to  displace 
the  present  labor  without  also  securing  the  departure  of  the  laborers  displaced.  This 
can  not  be  done  and  we  are  inclined  to  at  least  an  attempt  at  a  solution  of  our  present 
ills  rather  than  fly  to  those  we  know  not  of,  judging  from  Australian  experience  that 
Chinese  labor  is  socially  piratical  and  largely  uncontrollable. 

And  then  this: 

The  Filipino  Labor  Union,  having  about  17,000  members  who  are  plantation  and 
cannery  laborers,  now  desire  to  affiliate  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 


384  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Section  4,  article  14,  of  the  constitution  provides  for  reference  of  applications  for 
certificates  of  affiliation  for  Federal  labor  unions  to  the  central  body  chartered  in  that 
vicinity  for  investigation  and  approval. 

Thinking  that  you  may  have  some  valuable  suggestions  or  advice  to  offer  in  the 
matter,  I  am  forwarding  their  application  under  separate  coyer,  expecting  to  have 
same  referred  back  to  this  council  for  investigation.  The  Filipino  Union  is  separate 
and  apart  from  the  Hawaiian  Laborers '  Association,  which  is  or  was  the  former  Japanese 
Federation.  The  last-named  organization  has  about  30,000  members,  practically  all 
Japanese,  and  do  not  figure  in  any  way  with  the  application  being  made  by  the  Fili- 
pinos, although  performing  the  same  kind  of  work. 

Mr.  Wallace.  That  would  be  the  Japanese  form  of  organization, 
because,  as  was  explained  here,  it  embraces  all  callings,  and  is  in  the 
way  of  one  big  union,  which  is  entirely  foreign  to  the  principles  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.  If  the  Filipinos  wanted  to  organize 
as  Filipinos  and  not  as  men  belonging  to  the  various  crafts  or  indus- 
tries, we  would  have  the  same  objection  to  them. 

The  Chairman.  This  letter  states : 

The  Filipino  Labor  Union  having  about  17,000  members,  who  are  plantation  and 
cannery  laborers,  now  desires  to  affiliate  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

It  appears  that  they  applied  to  you  for  a  charter,  and  a  memo- 
randum appears  here,  ^^not  received  to  date." 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  have  not  affiliated. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  see  any  possibility  of  Japanese  labor 
associations  there  being  associated  with  Filipino  labor  associations  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  is  possible  that  they  may  locally  affiliate  with  the 
Filipinos.  , 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  any  objection  to  that? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  would  make  them  much  stronger. 

The  Chairman.  It  would  make  them  a  little  more  than  one  big 
Japanese  union. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir;  but  even  so,  we  could  not  accept  the 
Japanese  form  of  organization  in  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
Those  problems  have  been  brought  into  the  situation,  and  we  are  not 
responsible  for  them. 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  Chairman,  the  matter  that  you  brought  out  I  would 
like  to  have  developed  more  fully  than  was  done  in  answer  to  your 
question.  You  stated,  Mr.  Wallace,  that  the  Japanese  organizations 
were  in  favor  of  one  big  union,  which  idea  has  been  rejected  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.     What  do  you  mean  by  that  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  All  I  know  is  that  it  includes  all  Japanese  workers 
of  every  description  on  the  islands,  and  therefore  it  would  be  in  the 
nature  of  one  big  union.  I  do  not  know  that  it  has  the  tendencies 
of  what  we  understand  as  one  big  union  in  this  country,  but  that 
form  of  unionism  is  foreign  to  the  principles  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor — that  is,  that  all  should  go  into  one  union,  and  es- 
pecially as  a  national  organization. 

The  Chairman.  Has  any  big  union  adopted  the  international  idea  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Some  of  them  have. 

The  Chairman.  The  I.  W.  W.  is  the  one  big  union. 

Mr.  Wallace.  That  is  the  form  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  but  my  behef 
is  that  this  Japanese  one  big  union  would  not  be  at  all  international. 

The  Chairman.  Have  the  Japanese  any  international  agitators 
who  come  out  for  the  third  or  fourth  Internationale  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir;  but  they  are  out  of  luck  when  they  get 
caught  in  their  own  country. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  385 

The  Chairman.  They  have  trouble  in  their  own  country? 

Mr.  Wallace.  If  they  should  go  about  agitating  for  international 
unionism  in  Japan  they  would  be  handled  roughly  by  their  Govern- 
ment. The  Japanese  organization,  or  what  little  there  is  of  it,  is 
generally  on  this  side  of  the  ocean. 

The  Chairman.  In  a  free  country. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Yes,  sir;  in  a  free  country;  and  that  organization 
is  far  from  being  international.  I  fear  that  it  is  in  the  interest  of  a 
nation,  but  not  of  America. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  would  like  to  make  a  statement  at  this  point:  The 
Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  which  was  formed  in  the  latter  part  of 
1919  and  the  early  part  of  1920  consisted  entirely  of  Japanese,  and 
no  other  people  were  taken  in  or  invited  to  come  in.  The  Japanese 
Federation  wanted  to  affiliate  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
and  their  application,  as  I  understand  it,  was  rejected  by  the  national 
organization.  The  Japanese  organization,  at  the  instigation  of  Messrs. 
Hilton  and  Tyson,  of  Honolulu,  changed  its  name  to  the  Hawaiian 
Federation  of  Labor,  and  invited  all  other  nationals  to  come  in. 
I  believe  they  did  get  a  few  Porto  Ricans  and  a  very  few  Filipinos. 
Then  they  again  applied,  as  I  understand  it,  for  affiliation  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  I  believe  they  were  again  turned 
down.  So  far  as  the  Japanese  and  Filipinos  having  anything  in 
common  is  concerned,  or  so  far  as  the  Filipinos  being  akin  to  the 
Japanese,  as  Mr.  Wallace  says,  is  concerned,  it  is  absolutely  not  true. 
The  Filipino  does  not  like  the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Is  it  not  a  fact  there  is  much  Japanese  blood  in 
Filipinos  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  think  there  is  an  ounce  of  Japanese  blood  in  the 
Filipinos.  In  a  part  of  the  island  of  Luzon,  one  of  the  Philippine 
Islands,  where  many  years  ago  the  Chinese  pirates  made  their  head- 
quarters, there  was  a  mixture  of  Chinese  blood  with  Filipino 
blood,  and  some  of  the  best  and  finest  types  of  Filipinos  at  the  present 
time,  or  men  who  are  high  in  the  Philippine  Government,  have 
Chinese  blood  in  their  veins.  They  are  fine  people.  The  Filipino 
has  no  use  for  the  Japanese.  He  is  a  Malay  and  does  not  like  the 
Japanese.  That  is  one  reason  why  the  United  States  Government 
likes  to  see  Filipinos  come  to  Hawaii,  or  why  they  favor  the  migration 
of  Filipinos  to  Hawaii. 

Now,  as  to  the  situation  in  Australia  that  Mr.  Wallace  has  referred 
to,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  deportation  of  the  blacks  resulted  in  the 
dividing  up  of  sugar  plantations  there  into  homesteads  for  white 
people.  I  know  that  the  sugar  production  at  Queenstown  decreased 
tremendously  after  they  deported  those  black  people.  Those  black 
people  had  acquired  property  and  their  children  had  been  born  into 
citizenship  there,  and  at  the  time  they  were  deported  it  was  looked 
upon  as  an  exceedingly  harsh  measure.  However,  Australia  had 
adopted  the  slogan  of  ^'a  white  Australia,"  and  they  did  not  want 
black  people  there.  As  to  conditions  in  Australia,  while  I  have  never 
been  there,  I  have  talked  with  people  who  have  come  from  there,  and 
they  say  that  the  conditions  are  not  very  desirable  at  the  present 
time  for  laboring  people,  and  that  a  great  many  of  them  are  leaving. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  know  that  the  people  whom  I  met  from  Australia, 
and  I  met  many  thousands  of  them  in  France,  were  splendid  specimens 
and  they  spoke  highly  of  their  own  country. 

56754— 21— SEB  7,  pt  1 12 


386  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  have  met  many  of  them  coming  in  on  the  steamers, 
and  they  say  that  they  are  going  out. 

Mr.  Kaker.  We  have  now  before  ns  the  statements  of  you  gentle- 
men regarding  the  shortage  of  labor.  We  have  the  wireless  message 
that  was  read  to  us  this  morning  stating  that  the  unemployed  and 
casuals  now  in  Hawaii  are  sufficient  to  meet  the  Territory's  demand 
for  labor.  With  that  condition  before  us,  even  with  the  ordinary 
immigration,  it  leaves  us  in  a  kind  of  unsatisfactory  condition,  does 
it  not  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  say  that  that  statement  that  the  unemployed  and 
casuals  there  would  meet  the  labor  shortage  in  Hawaii  is  simply  wrong. 
I  do  not  like  to  say  it  is  false,  but  it  is  false.  If  you  should  go  out 
there  to  Honolulu,  or  anywhere  on  Oahu,  and  attempt  to  recruit 
people  for  plantation  work  or  any  other  kind  of  work,  I  do  not  believe 
you  could  pick  up  200  people. 

The  Chairman.  Is  it  not  probable  that  the  casuals,  so-called,  and 
the  other  people  mentioned  are  hanging  around  the  automobile 
garages  and  other  places  claiming  that  they  want  work. 

Mr.  Mead.  You  do  not  find  that  sort  of  thing  there.  My  attention 
has  just  been  called  to  the  following  telegramx  from  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  date  of  it  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  dated  May  20,  and  is  as  follows: 

I  am  advised  that  Central  Labor  Council  has  passed  resolution  against  Chinese 
immigration  based  on  reports  of  their  officers  that  there  are  plenty  of  unemployed  in 
Honolulu.  They  have  interviewed  Manlapit  asking  statement  as  to  how  many 
unemployed  Filipinos,  and  he  advises  them  perhaps  200  undesirable  gamblers  and 
loafers,  plus  100  awaiting  transportation.     You  may  hear  of  this. 

Those  100  were  awaiting  steamers  to  take  them  home  to  the  Philip- 
pine Islands.  I  have  seen  these  men  and  have  had  them  to  cross  my 
trail.  For  instance,  one  man  made  the  statement  that  there  were 
large  numbers  of  unemployed  Filipinos  in  Hilo.  I  went  up  to  Hila 
and  made  a  careful  personal  investigation  of  the  situation  there,  aad 
there  were  not  50  idle  and  unemployed  people  there. 

Mr.  Wallace.  After  that  telegram  that  you  read,  the  president  of 
the  labor  organization  there,  Mr.  Wright,  cabled  the  information  that 
came  to  me  from  that  labor  council,  that  there  were  a  number  of 
casuals  and  unemployed  there.  On  matters  of  labor,  I  would  just 
as  soon  take  Mr.  Wright's  word  as  his.  I  have  Mr.  Wright's  evidence 
which  can  be  placed  against  Mr.  Mead's  evidence  on  the  question  of 
labor.  Mr.  Wright  gets  his  information  direct  from  men  who  are  in 
touch  with  labor. 

Mr.  Mead.  Mr.  Wright  is  absolutely  wrong,  and  that  is  all  there  is 
to  this  situation. 

Mr.  Kalaneanaole.  Do  you  know  whether  they  have  100  men  in 
that  organization  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  have  far  more  than  that^ 
because  that  labor  body  is  made  up  of  delegates,  and  the  delegates 
come  from  different  organizations.  It  is  made  up  of  representatives 
of  all  the  organizations  of  the  islands,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  there 
are  many  thousands  represented  by  that  organization  or  council^ 
including  building  trades  men  and  others. 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  see  about  that:  Do  you  know  what  is  the 
population  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Three  or  four  hundred  thousand. 


LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  387 

The  Chairman.  About  255,000.  Do  you  know  what  is  the  popuhi- 
tion  of  the  city  Honohilu  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  about  85,000.  Do  you  know  how  many 
Caucasian  people  are  there  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  is  a  small  percentage.  Would  you  include  in 
that  Hawaiians  ? 

The  Chairman.  No;  that  would  include  white  Americans,  white 
British,  and  white  Russians. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  would  say  they  were  a  small  minority. 

The  Chairman.  There  are  about  10,000.  Therefore  we  have  not 
many  people  represented  by  this  labor  organization,  because  the  Filipi- 
nos are  in  Filipino  organizations  and  the  Japanese  are  in  Japanese 
labor  organizations.  Have  you  made  an  effort  to  organize  the  com- 
mon white  field  labor  there  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  We  have  not  found  that  there  are  many  such, 
because  they  have  been  driven  out  by  the  orientals. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  suppose  there  are  100,  could  you  organize 
that  common  labor  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  is  difficult,  but  it  has  been  done. 

The  Chairman.  Suppose  you  had  an  organization  affiliated  with 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  composed  of  100  plantation 
laborers,  would  they  get  anywhere  as  against  an  organization  of 
Filipinos  with  17,000  members  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  have  seen  a  very  small  percentage  lead  a  very 
big  movement. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  Mr.  Wright's  business  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  do  not  know,  but  I  suppose  he  is  in  some  trade. 
I  do  not  know  about  that,  but  he  is  in  some  of  the  skilled  trades 
employed  there.     He  is  possibly  a  typo  or  something  like  that. 

Mr.  Maloney.  Are  those  organizations  you  spoke  of  the  other  day, 
composed  of  teamsters,  truckmen,  etc.,  affiliated  with  the  Central 
Labor  Union  of  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  No,  sir;  they  are  not.  You  were  asking  about  this  man 
Wright.  He  was  sent  down  there  by  the  Federal  Government  under 
a  contract  to  work  at  Pearl  Harbor.  He  is  a  transient  employee,  one 
of  the  class  who  go  there  for  a  short  term  of  two  years  or  possibly 
three  years;  and  if  they  do  not  like  the  conditions,  they  would  come 
away.  They  are  only  located  on  the  Island  of  Oahu,  and  there  are 
other  islands  where  sugar  is  produced. 

STATEMENT    OF   JOHN    WISE,    MEMBER    OF    THE    SENATE    OF 
THE   TERRITORY   OF  HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Since,  we  have  begun  to  question  Senator  Wise, 
let  us  consider  him  a  witness  so  that  he  may  be  asked  such  ques- 
tions as  may  be  desired. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  you  mean  by  saying  that  they  were  under 
contract  to  work  for  the  Federal  Government  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  They  were  under  contract  with  the  Federal  Government 
to  go  down  there  and  work  in  the  navy  yard. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  what  branch  of  the  Federal  Government  sent 
these  men  down  there  ? 


388  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wise.  The  Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks. 

The  Chairman.  The  Government  builds  works  down  there  at  Pearl 
Harbor  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  fact  is  that  the  Government  has  work  done  on 
their  docks  in  that  harbor  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  In  Pearl  Harbor;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  employ  the  men  who  go  down  there  to  work  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  men  can  go  and  come  when  they  please,  if 
they  want  to  violate  their  contract  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  They  have  a  saying  down  there  that  Uncle  Sam  is  the 
only  one  who  is  held  under  the  contract.  They  can  quit  and  come 
home. 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  could  stay  there,  even  though  they  broke 
their  contract  with  the  Government  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  They  could  stay,  but  they  do  not  as  a  rule;  they  have 
not  anything  else  to  do  there. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  ask  you  a  question  right  there.  Do  the 
Japanese  and  other  aliens  work  on  the  Government  works  at  Pearl 
Harbor  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  On  the  Government  works;  yes. 

The  Chairman.  They  work  for  the  Government  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes;  they  work  for  the  Government. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  is  not  work  for  the  Hawaiian  government. 

Mr.  Wise.  That  is  work  for  the  Federal  Government;  they  do  not 
work  for  the  Territorial  or  for  the  county  governments. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  Hawaiian  Territory  or  government  has 
cut  out  alien  labor  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Entirely. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  But  the  United  States  Government  allows 
the  Japanese  and  other  aliens  to  perform  labor  on  its  governmental 
works  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes;  and  Uncle  Sam  is  the  one  who  drove  American 
mechanics  away  from  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Just  one  moment.  I  am  very  much  interested  in 
that  proposition,  because  we  have  just  succeeded  in  passing  legisla- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  keeping  alien  fishermen  out  of  Pearl  Harbor, 
but  we  have  left  the  aliens  to  work  on  the  Federal  Government 
works. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  a  matter  that  ought  to  be  developed  in  the 
hearing. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  not  thought  desirable  that  we  have  fishermen 
of  an  alien  race  moving  about  our  works  out  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  At  the  same  time  the  Federal  Government  employs 
them  on  the  public  works  it  is  constructing  out  there. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  mean  by  saying  that  the  Government 
pays  $5  a  day  on  its  works  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  The  mechanics  from  1900  to  1910  fell  over  themselves 
trying  to  get  contracts  with  the  Government  to  put  up  the  fortifica- 
tions and  to  put  up  the  posts.  Aliens  at  that  time  were  working 
for  $1.25  or  $1.50  a  day,  as  against  $4  and  $5  a  day  paid  to  the 
white  mechanics.  The  white  mechanics  and  the  Hawaiian  mechanics 
could  not  compete  with  an  alien  at  that  wage.     So  the  Hawaiians 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  389 

had  to  go  into  something  else;  they  could  not  leave  the  country. 
But  the  American  mechanics  quit  Hawaii  and  came  away. 

Between  1910  and  1920  aliens  began  to  raise  their  scale  of  wages, 
and  they  are  getting  $5  or  $6  a  day  from  Uncle  Sam,  and  Uncle 
Sam  says  you  can  come  in  and  work  there  with  the  white  mechanics. 
Of  course,  that  is  creating  a  serious  condition  down  there,  because  it 
is  driving  the  white  mechanics  out  of  the  country.  The  Government 
is  paying  $5  and  $6  a  day. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  tell  the  committee  about  how  many  men  the 
Government  has  employed  on  the  Pearl  Harbor  works  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  am  not  so  closely  connected  with  the  Pearl  Harbor 
works,  but  I  know  that  on  the  posts • 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  Take  all  of  the  Government  works. 
Could  you  say,  approximately,  how  many  men  are  employed  there 
by  the  Government  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  There  are  over  a  thousand  men  employed  by  the  Govern- 
ment on  the  posts — that  is,  the  carpenters  and  other  workmen  of  that 
kind. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  to  say  the  Government  lets  a  contract 
probably  to  a  white  contractor • 

Mr.  Wise  (interposing).  No. 

The  Chairman.  To  an  alien  contractor  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  To  an  alien  contractor. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  the  original  contract  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  He  sublets  the  contract  he  gets  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  He  gets  the  labor  and  pays  the  labor  himself. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  tell  the  committee  about  what  proportion  of 
those  men  working  for  the  Government  are  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  On  the  posts  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  An3rwhere. 

Mr.  Wise.  All  but  2  or  3  per  cent  on  the  posts,  who  are  citizens. 
On  the  Pearl  Harbor  works  I  think  there  are  about  400  white 
mechanics,  with  the  Hawaiians  included,  and  as  many  Japanese. 

Mr.  Box.  I  thought  you  said  there  were  2  or  3  per  cent. 

Mr.  Wise.  Two  or  three  per  cent  of  the  labor  on  the  posts  is  made 
up  of  citizens;  the  rest  are  aliens. 

Mr.  Raker.  Approximately  what  percentage  are  Japanese? 

Mr.  Wise.  Putting  them  together,  that  will  make  it  about  10 
per  cent  of  the  whole,  I  imagine,  that  are  citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  will  be  90  per  cent  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Ninety  per  cent  alien. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  that  the  chairman  of  the 
committee  make  inquiry  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  reference 
to  this  matter,  asking  him  to  send  a  list  of  the  employees  of  the 
Navy  Department  in  Hawaii  on  the  Government  works,  who  are 
aliens. 

The  Chairman.  We  might  ask  for  that  information  also  from  the 
Secretary  of  War,  as  well  as  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

Mr.  Raker.  Both  of  them,  with  the  request  that  the  committee 
be  furnished  with  that  information. 

Mr.  E^ALANiANAOLE.  May  I  suggest  also  that  the  committee  ask 
for  a  list  of  those  who  were  employed   formerly  on   those    docks, 


390  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

because  the  work  on  the  dock  is  finished  now,  and  a  great  many  of 
those  men  have  been  discharged. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  desired,  as  I  understand  it,  is  the  number 
of  those  men  and  their  nationahties  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Wallace,  the  committee  thanks  you  for  the 
information  you  have  presented.  You  will  have  the  same  privilege 
granted  to  the  other  witnesses — that  of  revising  your  remarks,  and 
adding,  during  the  next  few  days,  any  additional  telegrams,  cable- 
grams, or  exhibits  which  you  may  care  to  present. 

The  Chairman.  Senator  Wise,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  not  only  your- 
self, but  also  the  Delegate  from  Hawaii,  Mr.  Kalanianaole,  and  a 
great  many  other  far-seeing  Hawaiians  saw  this  Japanese  situation 
coming  many  years  ago  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  We  saw  it  coming  many  years  ago,  and  the  Delegate 
from  Hawaii,  in  his  capacity  as  a  Delegate  to  Congress  from  that 
Territory,  started  a  fight  on  that  proposition  in  1907  and  1908. 

The  Chairman.  Your  position  is  not  different  from  that  of  Judge 
Raker,  of  California,  who  also  saw  it  coming. 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes;  but  some  of  us  saw  it  earlier  than  he  did.  The 
effects  of  it  in  the  islands  gave  him  a  better  scope  to  judge  by  than 
he  had  in  California. 

Mr.  Raker.  From  your  observation,  Senator  Wise,  is  it  not 
better  that  we  suffer  just  a  little  bit  in  our  economic  and  financial 
relations  because  of  the  thing  we  brought  about  ourselves,  with  our 
eyes  open,  both  in  Hawaii  and  in  the  Pacific  Coast  States,  rather 
than  to  accentuate  the  situation  by  bringing  members  of  another 
alien  race  in,  under  such  circumstances  that  they  could  not  become 
citizens,  and  under  circumstances  by  which  they  can  be  arrested 
and  deported  when  they  fail  to  do  their  work. 

Mr.  Wise.  I  could  only  answer  that  question  from  the  standpoint 
of  a  Hawaiian  who  loves  his  country,  and  who  loves  it  so  deeply  that 
he  fought  against  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  to  the  United  States 
and  was  only  convinced  that  it  would  be  the  proper  thing  to  go  under 
the  United  States  Government  after  long  and  serious  consideration 
of  the  matter,  rather  than  to  go  under  Japan.  We  were  reconciled 
because  we  felt  that  Uncle  Sam  might  help  us  when  we  were  in  need ; 
and  to-day,  Mr.  Raker,  we  would  prefer  to  have  20,000  Chinese  in 
the  country  than  20,000  soldiers.  Why?  Because  every  pound  of 
food  imported  into  the  country  for  the  soldiers  has  to  be  imported 
from  the  United  States.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  have  20,000 
Chinese  in  place  of  the  soldiers,  they  will  be  engaged  not  only  in 
cultivating  food  for  themselves  and  the  rest  of  us,  but  there  will  be 
less  food  imported  into  the  country  for  the  protection  of  the  country 
than  there  would  be  if  we  had  20,000  soldiers  out  there. 

I  am  speaking  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Hawaiian  who  loves  his 
of  giving  us  a  military  commission  form  of  government.  We  had. 
used  our  influence  before  coming  into  the  Union  to  restrict  the  impor- 
tation of  Asiatics,  believing  that  it  would  hurt  us  nationally.  Since 
becoming  a  Territory  of  the  United  States  these  restrictions  have 
been  removed,  and  now  it  looks  as  though  we  are  drifting  into  a 
military  form  of  commission  government  against  anything  we  can 
do  to  stop  it. 


l^BOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  391 

Mr.  Box.  Suppose  your  industrial  situation  gets  beyond  your 
control 

Mr.  Wise  (interposing) .  It  is  beyond  our  control  to-day. 

Mr.  Box  (continuing).  What  other  course  is  there  but  a  military 
government  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  can  not  see  anything  else  but  an  entire  surrender  of 
our  beautiful  little  country. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  Senator,  do  you  think  your  country  should  sur- 
render itself  to  the  organizations  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  in  con- 
tract peon  labor — I  am  going  to  use  that  word  advisedly — to  remedy 
the  labor  conditions  rather  than  go  through  a  little  depression,  and 
so  arrange  matters  to  the  end  that  those  who  may  become  citizens 
come  there  and  work  out  your  destiny  in  a  different  way. 

Mr.  Wise.  There  is  nothing  more  vital  than  the  so-called  rehabili- 
tation bill,  which  has  been  brought  up — and  I  regret  that  the  thing 
was  brought  to  your  attention  by  a  man  who  knew  nothing  about 
conditions  out  there,  and  a  man  who  is  probably  down  there  for  a 
few  years  and  will  come  away  when  the  conditions  do  not  suit  him. 
We  Hawaiians  have  to  stay  there  and  die  there. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  rehabilitation  bill  is  the 
result  of  your  suggestions  and  work  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  One  of  my  suggestions.  It  has  been  a  life  work  with 
me  and  the  Delegate,  trying  to  rehabilitate  our  dying  people. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  an  alien  Japanese  purchase  land  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  They  are  doing  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  looking  after  your  interests  down  there.  Just 
tell  the  committee  why  you,  through  your  Delegate  and  others,  have 
not  been  here  years  before  seeking  legislation  by  Congress  which 
would  prohibit  aliens  from  owning  land  there  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  There  are  several  reasons. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  are  they  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  In  the  first  instance  we  did  not  think  the  matter  was 
going  to  be  so  serious.  We  looked  at  it  from  the  standpoint  of  purely 
rehabilitating  the  people.  As  the  years  went  along,  and  as  these  large 
holdings  were  being  cut  up  for  homesteads,  the  aUens  were  coming 
in  and  were  beginning,  with  their  children  born  in  the  country,  to 
absorb  these  homesteads,  and  then  we  learned  our  lesson,  and  then 
we  attempted  to  take  the  necessary  action,  but  it  was  not  an  easy 
thing  to  do.  They  have  fought  me  down  there  for  years,  to  keep  me 
from  the  legislature. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  have  fought  you?  Let  us  know  what  the 
trouble  is  down  there. 

Mr.  Wise.  The  people  who  oppose  us  fought  me. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  fellows  who  wanted  cheap  labor  ? 

Mr.  Wese.  Well,  not  exactly  those  who  wanted  cheap  labor, 
because  these  federations  of  white  mechanics  down  there  fought  us 
more  bitterly  than  the  other  people.  They  have  fought  the  Delegate 
from  Hawaii  in  the  last  three  or  four  elections,  and  they  fought  me 
at  the  last  election. 

Mr.  Raker.  Outside  of  the  rehabilitation  bill,  which  involves  only 
a  few  thousand  acres 

Mr.  Wise.  Two  hundred  and  two  thousand  acres. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right;  202,000  acres.  All  of  the  land  now  owned 
by  the  corporations  is  subject  to  sale? 


392  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wise.  No  land  owned  by  the  corporations  is  included  in  the 
bill,  and  they  are  going  to  hold  onto  that.  You  mean  the  leased 
lands. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  lands  owned  in  fee  by  these  corporations  is 
subject  to  sale  to  the  Japanese  citizens  and  to  the  Japanese  aliens  if 
they  want  to  do  that. 

Mr.  Wise.  Subject  to  sale,  I  believe. 

Mr.  Raker.  Up  to  this  date  you  have  made  no  effort  to  have  a  law 
passed  by  Congress  granting  the  absolute  power  to  prohibit  the  aliens 
from  owning  land  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  If  the  result  of  the  effects  of  representatives  of  Hawaii 
who  come  here  and  ask  anything  is  what  we  have  seen  in  the  last  two 
years,  I  am  satisfied  if  we  had  come  here  20  years  ago  we  would  have 
gotten  the  same  treatment. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  not  think  you  ought  to  get  that  kind  of  treat- 
ment if  you  come  here  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  in  an  alien  race  who 
can  not  become  citizens,  whom  you  are  holding  in  bondage  while  they 
are  working  for  you,  and  when,  at  the  end  of  five  years  you  can  turn 
them  back  ?  Do  you  not  think  that  this  country  ought  not  to  adopt 
such  a  policy,  either  for  the  mainland  or  for  our  insular  possessions  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  should  think  you  could  modify  the  bill,  if  you  desire  to 
do  so.  So  far  as  the  idea  of  bondage  is  concerned,  I  think  this 
proposition  does  not  compare  with  your  own  experience  in  the  South, 
where  men  were  constantly  torn  away  from  their  families.  These  are 
simply  certain  conditions  which  the  Government  puts  up  to  the  men 
who  go  down  there,  to  do  certain  things.  It  says  if  you  want  to  come, 
yes;  if  you  do  not  want  to  come,  no.  I  do  not  think  that  is  much  in 
the  way  of  bondage,  if  a  man  says  he  will  go  down  under  those  con- 
ditions and  work  under  those  conditions. 

Mr.  Raker.  At  the  end  of  five  years  you  tear  up  the  very  roots  he 
has  desired  to  plant  in  the  islands.  If  a  man  marries,  you  would  say 
to  him,  no  matter  what  his  position  is,  ^^  You  have  to  return  home." 

Mr.  Wise.  Whom  is  he  going  to  marry? 

Mr.  Raker.  He  has  the  right  to  marry. 

Mr.  Wise.  I  doubt  if  he  will  be  able  to  get  a  woman  to  marry  him. 

Mr.  Raker.  -But  he  has  the  right  to  marry. 

Mr.  Wise.  Sure;  I  suppose  he  has. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  he  marries  an  American-born  woman  of  his  own 
nationality,  he  would  have  to  be  separated  from  her,  unless  sh<* 
wanted  to  go  with  him,  voluntarily  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  There  are  none  there  for  him  to  marry. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  are  only  about  15,000  or  16,000  Chinese  there? 

Mr.  Wise.  There  are  23,000,  and  the  women  there  are  at  a  premium, 
and  they  are  educated  under  the  American  system  and  they  object  to 
going  back  to  China  to  live  under  the  old  conditions. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  he  co'uld  marry,  if  one  of  those  American-born 
Chinese  girls  wanted  to  marry  him  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  suppose  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  is  the  law  you  are  figuring  on,  and  you  will  send 
him  back  by  force  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Not  by  force. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  it  amounts  to,  does  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  With  his  consent. 

Mr.  Raker.  To  return  him  with  his  consent  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  393 

Mr.  Wise.  Sure.  He  comes  there  with  the  idea  that  he  is  going 
back  in  five  years. 

Mr.  Raker.  At  the  end  of  five  years,  suppose  he  says  ^^I  want  to 
stay  here.  ^'  Under  the  law  you  would  arrest  him  and  deport  him, 
would  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  do  not  think  we  would  go  that  far. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  your  purpose  is  to  have  the  bill  enacted,  to  pass 
a  law,  by  which  you  could  bring  in  20,000  or  30,000  or  40,000 
Chinese,  to  go  back  at  the  end  of  five  years,  but  if  at  the  end  of  G.Ye 
years  one  of  them  said  he  did  not  want  to  return,  you  can  return 
him? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  think  he  would  have  to  return,  according  to  his 
agreement. 

Mr.  Raker.  Suppose  he  refused  to  go;  how  are  you  going  to  get 
him  home  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Take  him  home  the  way  he  agreed  to  go  home.  I  do 
not  see  where  force  comes  in. 

Mr.  Raker.  Senator,  you  are  very  keen  and  very  shrewd.  Let 
us  be  frank  about  it.  Suppose  he  refuses  to  go  at  the  end  of  ^ve 
years. 

Mr.  Wise.  Then  we  take  him  home. 

Mr.  Raker.  By  force  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  By  force,  if  necessary. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  American-born  Chinese  girls  are  there  in 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  do  not  agree  that  he  will  ever  marry  any  of  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  could  marry  one  of  them.  Let  us  not  dodge  a 
thing  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  Wise.  I  am  not  dodging  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  could  marry  one  of  them,  if  he  wanted  to. 

Mr.  Wise.  If  he  could  find  one. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  if  he  did  not  want  to  go  he  could  be  arrested 
and  deported  to  China  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes;  sure. 

Mr.  Rakel.  If  to  that  union  there  should  be  born  a  child,  you 
would  tear  him  away  from  that  child,  born  in  this  country,  tear  him 
away  by  force  and  send  him  home,  would  you  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  If  you  want  it  that  way,  sure.     Shoot — all  right. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  want  that  kind  of  a  law  to  be  passed  by 
Congress,  to  become  effective  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes;  I  do  want  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  that  is  the  probable  effect  of  the 
legislation  you  favor,  to  bring  in  20,000  Chinese  that  may  be  needed 
for  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  keep  them  there  for  five  years,  and  if  at 
the  end  of  Rve  years  any  of  them  should  refuse  to  go,  then  you  would 
arrest  them  under  the  authority  of  the  law  and  put  them  on  board 
a  ship  and  send  them  home  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Is  not  that  the  effect  of  the  law  that  has  been  passed  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  think  so. 

Mr.  Sabath.  It  provides  for  the  deportation  of  any  alien  who  has 
been  here  for  5  years,  and  in  some  cases  he  may  have  been  here  for 
10  or  20  years  and  he  may  be  deported  if  he  is  found  guilty  of  any 
offense  which  involves  moral  turpitude,  whether  he  is  married  or  not. 


394  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IIT   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  the  law  is  to-day  that  a  man  has  the  right  of 
vohtion;  he  has  the  right  under  the  laws  of  this  land,  provided  he 
does  not  violate  the  laws,  and  when  he  does  violate  them  he  loses 
that  right  and  becomes  a  criminal  and  we  punish  him  accordingly. 

Mr.  Sabath.  If  he  violates  his  contract  he  will  be  deported. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  not  any  question  but  that  I,  if  I  am  an  alien, 
have  the  right,  under  the  law,  subject  to  certain  conditions,  to  go 
from  place  to  place.  I  assume  that  position  by  coming  here  volun- 
tarily, but  when  I  violate  the  law  I  forfeit  my  right  and  I  can  be 
imprisoned  or  I  can  be  hanged  for  certain  offenses.  A  man  who 
comes  usually  to  this  country  comes  without  any  restraint  except 
that  he  shall  obey  our  laws,  and  when  he  does  that  he  can  stay  here. 
But  a  man  coming  into  Hawaii  under  the  terms  of  this  bill  at  the  end 
of  five  years  must  be  deported,  and  he  is  held  practically  in  bondage. 

Mr.  Sabath.  If  he  comes  he  comes  under  a  contract  and  he  agrees 
that  he  will  come  and  stay,  and  at  the  end  of  Hve  years,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  contract,  which  I  presume  will  be  approved  by  the  Gov- 
ernment and  will  also  contain  provisions  for  the  proper  treatment  of 
these  men,  he  is  notified  of  the  fact  that  after  the  expiration  of  five 
years  he  is  obliged  to  leave. 

There  is  one  more  thing  I  want  to  ask  you.  You  have  paid  some 
attention  during  the  last  few  years  to  this  legislation  and  to  the 
matter  of  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  have. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Do  you  recollect  in  1910,  1912,  and  1914  people 
appearing  here  before  this  committee  and  requesting  relief  and  also 
asking  that  the  literacy  test  should  not  apply  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Yes;  there  have  been  individuals  here. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Representing  whom? 

Mr.  Wise.  Representing  the  Chinese  people  themselves. 

Mr.  Sabath.  And  your  Hawaiian  people  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Not  the  Hawaiian  people. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  was  under  the  impression  that  they  came  here  for 
that  purpose.  That  is  in  answer  to  Judge  Raker's  statement  that 
you  people  have  slept  on  your  rights,  that  you  have  never  done 
anything.  I  recollect  10  or  12  years  ago  representatives  of  the 
Hawaiian  industries  requested  assistance  and  came  here  to  present 
their  requests  in  reference  to  conditions  there. 

Mr.  Wise.  I  would  like  to  ask  one  question  before  we  drift  away 
from  this  subject.  A  Chinese  m-erchant  is  allowed  to  come  to  this 
country.  Suppose  he  marries  in  this  country?  What  do  you  do 
with  the  wife  and  children  when  that  man  wants  to  go  back  to  that 
country?  Don't  you  take  the  man  and  arrest  him,  and  deport  him, 
tare  liim  away  from  his  family? 

Mr.  Cable.  Chinese  students  come  here  temporarily  also. 

Mr.  Wise.  What  do  you  do  with  them? 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  familiar  with  our  Constitution — I  know  you 
are.  Irrespective  of  any  contract,  or  otherwise,  you  are  opposed 
to  allowing  any  man,  woman,  or  child  in  this  country  to-day  to  enter 
into  a  state  of  slavery,  are  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  Most  assuredly. 

Mr.  Raker.  Whether  he  or  she  agrees  to  it  or  not,  as  the  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  from  Illinois  has  said.  Here  is  a  constitutional 
amendment,  placed  upon  the  statute  books  after  one  of  the  bloodiest 
wars  in  the  world  up  to  that  time,  which  determined  that  no. man  in 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  395 

this  country  could  voluntarily  enter  into  a  state  of  slavery,  nor  that 
slavery  could  exist.  You  do  not  want  that  condition  to  exist  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  chance  of  that  being  done 
at  all. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Under  the  immigration  law;  which  you  have  voted 
for,  you  permit  contract  labor,  if  such  labor  can  not  be  drafted 
in  the  United  States ;  is  that  not  true.  Judge  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  are  otherwise 

Mr.  vSabath  (interposing) .  If  such  similar  labor  can  not  be  secured 
in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  guess  that  is  in  the  general  immigration  law. 

Mr.  Sabath.  And  you  voted  for  it? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  I  did. 

Mr.  Wise.  This  is  only  an  emergency;  we  do  not  expect  to  keep 
this  going  for  20  or  30  years. 

The  Chairman.  What  will  be  the  relief  from  the  conditions  as  they 
exist  now  if  you  had  to  use  a  large  number  of  Chinese  for  three  years  ? 
What  possible  hope  could  you  have  except  to  get  more  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  I  think  a  great  many  of  the  Japanese  would  have  to 
leave  and  go  home  because  of  lack  of  labor. 

The  Chairman.  Then  you  would  still  have  more  need  of  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  The  total  number  of  laborers  we  want  would  be  60,000. 
Twenty  thousand  or  thirty  thousand  Chinese  would  come  into  the 
country,  plus  the  Japanese,  who,  perhaps,  have  property  and  want  to 
stay  there,  plus  the  Filipinos  and  the  Hawaiians,  and  the  Portuguese 
working  on  the  plantations.     I  think  we  will  have  a  safe  number. 

The  Chairman.  I  believe  that  is  all,  Mr.  Wise. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  May  I  say  a  word  here,  Mr.  Chairman  ?  It  has 
been  brought  out  by  a  number  of  witnesses  that  we  hope  there  will  be 
an  arrangement  made  in  the  permanent  immigration  law,  which  we 
hope  this  country  will  pass,  making  a  provision  whereby  immigrants 
from  southern  Europe  can  not  only  be  induced  to  come  to  Hawaii  but 
carb  be  held  upon  the  land  long  enough  to  take  up  a  real  residence  in 
Hawaii  and  stop  going  to  the  mainland,  as  has  been  the  case  in  our 
experiences  of  the  past  20  years. 

You  can  not  revolutionize  the  people  of  a  country  overnight.  If 
we  allow  this  situation  to  continue  as  it  is,  the  economic  loss  will 
make  it  impossible  for  the  business  interests  of  the  Territory  to  con- 
tribute the  necessary  amount  of  money  to  carry  out  the  experiments 
which  we  propose  to  make  if  you  give  us  the  opportunity,  with 
proper  legislation  whereby  we  can  bring  in  the  people  of  southern 
Europe  and  build  up  in  our  community  a  people  who  will  absorb 
American  customs  and  become  real  Americans  within  a  brief  period 
of  years. 

This  is  an  emergency  proposition;  it  is  not  a  contract;  it  is  not  a 
peonage  proposition,  with  all  due  respect  to  Judge  Raker.  He  is  a 
lawyer,  and  I  am  not,  but  I  have  been  obliged  to  study  this  particular 
feature  for  a  long  time,  and  I  am  satisfied,  and  those  who  have 
studied  law  have  satisfied  me,  that  this  is  not  a  parallel  case  to  the 
cases  cited  by  Judge  Raker. 

We  have  the  same  conditions  existing  under  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  when  students  come  here  and  go  to  school  and  remain 
in  the  country.  During  the  time  they  are  at  school  they  marry. 
What  is  the  status  of  the  wives  of  those  students  ?     Do  not  the  laws 


396  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

of  the  United  States  require  that  the  student  return  to  his  home 
country  at  the  end  of  his  education  ?  If  so,  the  proposition  cited  by 
Judge  Raker  might  apply  there  because  it  is  far  more  Ukely  that  a 
union  will  occur  between  educated  Chinese  than  between  coolie  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  never  saw  any  difference  between  a  union  of  the 
boy  on  the  farmland  a  girl  on  the  farm  and  the  boy  and  the  girl  in 
the  town.     They  never  looked  any  different  to  me. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  would  like  to  ask  what  he  does  with  the  wives 
of  the  Chinese  students  when  they  have  gone. 

The  Chairman.  The  Chinese  student  can  only  be  admitted  upon 
making  a  showing  of  the  amount  of  money  he  has,  and  that  he 
proposes  to  be  temporarily  in  the  country,  for  educational  purposes; 
and  the  Chinese  merchant  is  accorded  the  same  high-grade  treatment 
here  as  our  merchants  visiting  in  China,  for  the  same  reason  that  we 
expect  our  merchants  in  China  to  be  given  such  treatment. 

Have  you  heard  of  any  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  planters  in  Cuba 
toward  making  arrangements  by  which  Chinese  labor  would  be  taken 
into  Cuba  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  understood  Chinese  labor  is  being  im> 
ported  into  Cuba. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  there  are  Chinese  laborers  there 
now? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  understand  Chinese  laborers  are  there  now. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  knowledge  as  to  the  number  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  not. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  how  the  arrangement  was  made  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not. 

The  Chairman.  Without  objection,  the  clerk  of  the  committee 
will  be  instructed  to  endeavor  to  secure  statistics  with  regard  to  the 
importation  of  Chinese  contract  labor  into  Cuba  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  are  Chinese  contract  laborers  in  Cuba. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  saw  many  of  them  there  12  or  14  years  ago. 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  care  about  that  phase  of  it,  but  I  am 
interested  in  the  recent  importation  of  Chinese  labor  following,  the 
war,  as  a  matter  of  competition  in  the  sugar  industry. 

In  your  opinion,  if  Chinese  should  be  permitted,  by  act  of  Congress, 
to  come  into  Hawaii  under  contract,  would  that  lead  to  any  protest 
to  the  State  Department  by  the  Japanese  Government  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  not  prepared  to  speak  for  the  State  Depart- 
ment, of  course. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  personal  opinion  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  not  believed  that  there  are  grounds  for 
such  an  objection,  because  under  the  proposed  legislation  Japan 
remains  a  favored  nation,  so  far  as  her  people  in  Hawaii  are  con- 
cerned. There  is  a  restriction  in  the  bill  which  prohibits  any  one 
alien  population  being  increased  to  more  than  20  per  cent  of  the  total 
population  of  the  islands,     Japan  has  43  per  cent  to-day. 

The  Chairman.  How  many  Chinese  do  you  figure  could  be  admit- 
ted under  such  a  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  More  than  sufficient  to  meet  our  requirements.  \ 

The  Chairman.  About  how  many  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Roughly,  I  think,  between  30,000  and  40,000. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  the  admission  of  30,000  or  40,000 
Chinese  plantation  laborers  would  displace  any  number  of  Japanese 
laborers  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IIT   HAWAII.  397 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  idea  is  not  to  displace  any  labor  that  is 
willing  to  work  at  a  living  wage. 

The  Chairman.  Would  it  throw  any  Japanese  out  of  work? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  doubt  it. 

The  Chairman.  Would  it  throw  any  Filipinos  out  of  work  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  doubt  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  would  like  to  ask  Senator  Wise  one  question.  Sena- 
tor Wise,  conceding  that  the  sugar  industry  of  Hawaii  is  necessary, 
would  it  not  be  better  for  all  concerned  to  raise  the  wages  of  the 
sugar  workers  in  the  cane  fields  and  in  the  mills  to  $5  or  ^10  a  day 
and  let  the  world  know  it  and  let  the  consumer  pay  the  extra  price, 
than  it  would  be  to  attempt  to  fix  up  racial  conditions  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  The  only  thing  I  can  say  in  answer  to  that  is  that  it  is 
a  mighty  poor  rule  if  you  could  only  make  it  for  Hawaii  and  not 
other  parts  of  the  world,  because  I  can  not  see  how  it  would  work. 

Mr.  Cable.  These  men  would  not  control  the  price  of  sugar? 

Mr.  Wise.  No.  If  we  are  going  to  raise  those  wages,  before  we 
will  ever  get  to  the  point  where  we  will  be  able  to  give  them  $10  a  day, 
there  will  not  be  any  sugar  plantations  out  there. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  would  you  have  to  do  about  your  sugar  ? 

Mr.  Wise.  We  would  have  to  import  it,  if  we  are  going  to  pay 
wages  as  high  as  $10  a  day. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  anything  further  you  desire  to  present, 
Mr.  Dillingham  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  are  certain  points  which  have  been  raised 
by  Mr.  Wallace  in  regard  to  which  I  would  like  to  introduce  further 
evidence.  Then  Mr.  Horner,  the  territorial  agricultural  expert,  has 
some  facts  which  I  would  like  very  much  to  have  placed  before  the 
committee.  There  are  certain  points,  too,  in  regard  to  organized 
labor  in  the  islands,  which  I  would  like  to  have  Mr.  Wise  put  before 
the  committee. 

The  Chairman.  If  there  is  no  objection,  we  will  continue  the  hear- 
ing to-morrow  morning  at  10  o'clock. 

(Thereupon,  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  Wednesday,  June  29, 
1921,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.) 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Wednesday,  June  29,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  A  request  was  made  the  other  day  that  information 
be  procured  from  the  Department  of  Labor  with  regard  to  the  publi- 
cation of  the  reports  on  labor  conditions  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
issued  by  the  Government  every  five  years.  I  have  this  letter  in 
regard  to  the  matter: 

Department  of  Labor, 

Office  of  the  Secretary, 

Washington,  June  27,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Congressman:  Replying  to  your  letter  of  June  25  to  Secretary  Davis 
concerning  the  next  report  on  labor  conditions  to  be  made  in  Hawaii,  which  has  been 


398  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

received  in  his  absence,  I  have  taken  this  matter  up  with  the  Commissioner  of  Labor 
Statistics,  who  gives  me  the  following  information: 

The  time  for  investigation  of  Hawaiian  labor  conditions  fell  due  last  year,  but  owing 
to  a  reduction  in  the  appropriation  and  personnel  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics, 
arrangements  for  doing  the  .work  had  not  been  made  at  the  time  of  the  resignation  of 
the  former  Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics.  The  present  commissioner  found  that 
funds  were  not  availal)le  to  undertake  that  work,  and  an  estimate  of  $13,500  was  placed 
before  the  Appropriation  Com-mittee  under  two  different  deiiciency  bills.  The  facts 
were  briefly  stated  in  the  hearings  before  the  committee,  but  the  amount  was  denied. 

As  it  was  not  possible  to  make  the  study  during  the  year  in  which  it  should  have 
been  made,  and  in  view  of  the  present  very  limited  appropriation  of  the  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics,  no  plans  are  being  made  to  conduct  this  investigation  until  the  end 
of  the  five  year  period,  1925. 

Sincerely,  Arthur  E.  Cook,  Private  Secretary. 

Upon  inquiry,  I  found  that  the  pay  roll  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics  was  $172,960,  and  that  their  lump-sum  appropriation  for  the 
general  work,  including  that  which  Congress  calls  for,  was  $69,000, 
out  of  which  sum  this  inquiry  should  have  been  made  last  year. 
However,  the  money  was  spent  in  other  directions. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  it  was  not  made. 

The  Chairman.  No;  and  this  letter  says  it  will  not  be  made  until 
1925;  so  we  are  without  that  information. 

Except  for  the  following  exchange  of  cablegrams,  I  have  been 
unable  to  secure  information  concerning  the  methods  of  placing 
Chinese  on  the  plantations  in  Cuba,  which  was  called  for. 

(The  cablegrams  referred  to  are  as  follows:) 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  20,  1921. 
Editor  Nevv^s, 

Hahana,  Cuba. 

Wire  number  Chinese  employed  Cuban  sugar  plantations. 

Johnson, 
Chairman  Immigration  Committee. 


Ha'bana,  July  22,  1921. 
Johnson, 

Choinnan  Immigration  Committee,  Washington: 

Authentic  information  difficult  obtain.  Estimated  thousand  Chinese  brought  to 
Cuba  each  month,  1920.  Perhaps  two-thirds  sent.  Sugar  mills  under  contract, 
approximating  total  8,000.     Few  brought  1921.     Number  being  repatriated. 

ROBERDS, 

Editor  Evening  News. 

The  request  was  also  made  that  we  ascertain  the  number  of  orien- 
tals in  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  on  inquiry  I  found  that  we  had 
received  in  previous  hearings  some  statements  from  the  Secretary 
of  War  concerning  that  matter,  and  I  will  ask  the  clerk  to  insert  that 
information  in  this  record. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 

War  Department, 
The  Adjutant  General's  Office, 

Washington,  May  5,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

House  of  Representatives. 
Dear  Sir:  In  response  to  your  letter  of  the  29th  ultimo,  in  which  you  desire  informa- 
tion showing  the  number  of  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Hindus,  and  other  East 
Indians  who  served  in  the  United  States  Armies  during  the  World  War,  I  am  directed 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  advise  you  as  follows:  ^ 

No  compilation  has  been  made  by  this  office  of  men,  according  to  nationality,  who 
were  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  during  the  World  War,  and  to  make 
such  a  compilation,  which  would  require  an  examination  of  the  individual  record  of 
each  of  the  more  than  4,000,000  men  who  served  in  the  United  States  Army  within 
the  period  of  that  war  would  involve  an  amount  of  time  and  labor  so  great  as  to  render 


LABOE  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  399 

even  an  attempt  at  such  a  classification  out  of  the  question,  because  of  the  serious 
interference  with  important  current  work  that  would  otherwise  inevitably  result. 

The  only  available  statistics  pertaining  to  this  subject  are  those  relating  to  the 
registration  and  classification  of  aliens  under  the  provisions  of  the  selective  service 
law.  These  have  been  published  on  pages  398  to  400  of,  the  second  report  of  the 
Provost  Marshal  General,  a  copy  of  which  has  been  mailed  to  you  under  separate  cover. 
According  to  these  figures,  a  total  of  8,794  Chinese  and  14,582  Japanese  were  registered 
for  the  draft  from  June  5,  1917,  to  September  11,  1918,  of  whom  1,313  Chinese  and  983 
Japanese  were  classified  in  Class  I,  which  means  that  they  were  found  liable  for  military 
service.  How  many  of  these  men  were  actually  inducted  into  the  service  is  not  known 
at  the  present  time,  and  no  statistics  whatsoever  are  yet  available  on  the  number  of 
Koreans,  Hindus,  or  other  East  Indians  who  were  affected  by  the  selective  service 
law  or  touching  on  the  number  of  men  of  any  of  the  nationalities  mentioned  who 
may  have  entered  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  by  volunteer  enlistment. 
Very  respectfully, 

P.  C.  Harris, 
The  Adjutant  General. 


July  J  3^  1921 
Hon.  John  W.  Weeks, 

Secretary  of  War. 

Dear  Mr.  Secretary:  For  the  information  of  this  committee,  permit  me  to  make 
request  for  a  statement  showing  the  number  of  persons  of  oriental  birth  employed  by 
the  Army  of  the  United  States  in  civilian  capacities. 

H  accurate  figures  are  not  available,  approximations  \\A\\  be  satisfactory. 
It  is  particularly  desired  to  know  the  number  of  orientals  employed  by  the  Arm\^  in 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

Thanking  you  in  advance,  I  am 
Yours,  sincerely, 

Albert  Johnson,  Chairman. 


War  Department, 
Washington,  July  18,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization. 
My  Dear  Congressman:  I  am  just  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  13th  instant  in 
which  you  request  a  statement  showing  the  number  of  persons  of  oriental  birth  em- 
ployed as  civilians  with  the  Army. 

I  shall  proceed  to  obtain  the  information,  but  to  do  so  it  will  be  necessary  to  obtain 
reports  from  the  Philippine  Islands,  Germany,  and  China,  which  will  probably  require 
nearly  two  months,  and  I  am  wondering  whether  the  information  will  be  desired  by 
you  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  can  not  be  immediately  furnished.  If  not,  will  you 
please  advise  me,  in  order  that  I  may  withdraw  the  order  that  the  reports  be  obtained? 
I  would  also  be  glad  to  be  informed  whether  or  not  you  wish  to  have  Filipinos  or  the 
natives  of  any  other  insular  possessions  included  in  the  figures  to  be  furnished. 
Sincerely,  yours, 

John  W.  Weeks,  Secretary  of  War 


July  20,  1921 
Hon.  John  W.  Weeks,  Secretary  of  War. 

Dear  Mr.  Secretary:  Acknowledging  receipt  of  your  letter  of  July  18,  which  was 
in  response  to  my  letter  of  the  13th,  with  request  of  this  committee  for  information 
as  to  number  of  orientals  employed  with  the  Army,  permit  me  to  say  that  I  shall 
place  your  letter  before  the  House  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization 
Friday,  the  22d. 

The  information,  if  secured  two  months  from  now,  will  not  be  of  value  in  the  present 
hearings,  which  have  to  do  with  the  proposal  to  admit  Chinese  temporarily  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands. 

But,  as  the  question  of  orientals  employed  in  the  Army  and  Navy  has  come  up 
two  or  three  times  before  this  committee,  I  believe  that  it  would  be  advisable  for 
the  War  Department  to  secure  the  statements  requested,  if  same  can  be  done  without 
too  much  trouble. 

With  personal  regards,  I  am, 
Yours,  cordially, 

Albert  Johnson. 


400  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  here  a  letter  dated  June  20,  addressed  to 
Senator  Poindexter  and  signed  by  V.  S.  McClatchy,  of  Sacramento, 
in  which  he  incloses  a  letter  from  Hon.  Edwin  Denby,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  discussing  the  96  Japanese  who  were  in  the  Navy  in  June, 
1920. 

Mr.  Raker.  Does  it  show  the  number  employed  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  on  Government  work  ? 

The  Chairman.  No;  I  did  not  get  that.  I  will  try  to  get  that 
information.  This  is  a  very  interesting  letter,  and,  without  objec- 
tion, it  will  be  placed  in  the  record. 

(The  letter  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 

June  20,  1921. 
Hon.  Miles  Poindexter, 

United  States  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C. 

My  Dear  Senator:  I  have  your  letter  of  June  11,  with  which  is  inclosed  letter 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Hon.  Edwin  Denby,  June  7,  in  the  matter  of  Japanese 
enlisted  in  the  American  Navy,  which  letter  is  herewith  returned . 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  does  not  answer  the  questions  which  were  propounded. 
He  does  not  say  that  he  has  not  the  information,  and  does  not  say  that  he  does 
not  wish  to  answer  the  questions.  I  call  attention  to  the  conditions,  subject  of  my 
inquiry,  and  what  it  seems  to  me  ought  to  be  made  plain  to  the  Naval  Committee  of 
the  Senate,  and  also  possibly  to  the  Naturalization  Committee  of  the  House. 

The  Secretary  points  out  that  there  were  in  June,  1920,  96  Japanese  serving  as 
enlisted  men  in  the  Navy:  that  the  act  of  1918  permits  naturalization  of  aliens  who  had 
served  in  the  Navy  under  certain  conditions;  that  no  men  except  citizens  of  the 
United  States  have  been  enlisted  in  the  Navy  since  January  5,  1907;  and  that  there- 
fore ''it  can  be  taken  for  granted  that  all  Japanese  in  the  naval  service  at  this  time 
are  citizens  of  the  United  States." 

The  premises  do  not  justify  the  conclusion  drawn  by  the  honorable  Secretary.  In 
the  first  place,  of  the  96  Japanese  who,  it  is  conceded,  were  in  the  Navy  in  June,  1920 
(I  think  you  were  previously  advised  that  conditions  at  this  time  are  approximately 
the  same),  it  is  not  impossible,  but  highly  improbable,  that  any  were  American  citi- 
zens by  birth;  it  is  also  unlikely  that  many,  if  any,  of  them  became  citizens  by 
naturalization  prior  to  the  operation  of  the  act  of  May  9,  1918.  If  there  are,  therefore, 
in  the  Navy  included  in  these  96  any  who  enlisted  prior  to  May,  1918,  and  who  have 
not  reenlisted  since,  it  is  highly  improbable  that  many,  if  any,  of  them  are  American 
citizens. 

If  it  be  true  that  few,  if  any,  of  these  enlisted  men  were  citizens  of  the  United 
States  prior  to  1918,  it  is  unlikely  that  the  greater  part  of  the  96  could  have  become 
citizens  since  that  time,  and  under  the  law  then  enacted,  for  the  reason  that  official 
figures  received  from  the  Department  of  Justice  March  12,  1921,  stated  that  only 
218  Japanese  had  been  admitted  to  citizenship  under  the  act  of  1918;  of  such  number 
104  were  naturalized  in  cases  coming  before  the  Federal  courts  in  Hawaii  (nearly  all 
Army  cases)  and  the  balance,  114,  covered  Army  and  Navy  enlistments  in  various 
States  of  continental  United  States.     It  is  unlikely  that  96  of  the  114  were  Navy  cases. 

In  addition,  the  question  was  asked,  How  many  of  the  Japanese  now  enlisted  in 
the  Navy  claiming  American  citizenship  claim  such  citizenship  by  birth,  and  how 
many  by  naturalization  under  the  act  of  1918,  or  otherwise?  This  question  is  asked 
because  the  courts  have  decided — and  the  Supreme  Court  will  probably  uphold  that 
decision — that  naturalization  of  Japanese  under  the  act  of  1918,  or  prior  thereto  and 
subsequent  to  the  enactment  of  section  2169,  is  in  violation  of  the  Federal  Statutes 
(sec.  2169),  which  declares,  in  effect,  that  members  of  the  yellow  and  brown  races 
are  ineligible  to  citizenship. 

In  any  event,  it  would  appear  that  the  secretary's  assumption,  that  "all  Japanese 
in  the  naval  service  at  this  time  are  citizens  of  the  United  States"  is  either  in  error, 
or  else  that,  if  citizens,  they  are  such  by  naturalization  under  the  act  of  1918,  which, 
I  understand,  has  been  declared  in  each  decision  thus  far  rendered,  not  to  legalize 
naturalization  of  Japanese. 

If,  in  your  judgment,  the  information  which  I  am  seeking  to  have  obtained,  as  to 
the  conditions  in  this  matter  is  not  of  moment  to  your  committee,  kindly  advise  me 
and  I  will  offer  no  further  suggestion  to  you  in  connection  with  the  subject. 
Sincerely,  yours, 

V.  S.  McClatchy. 

The  Chairman.  The  Hawaiian  commission  desires  to  present  this 
morning  Mr.  Albert  Horner. 


> 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  401 

STATEMENT    OF    MR.    ALBERT    HORFER,    MEMBER    OF    THE 
HAWAIIIAlSr  LABOR  COMMISSION. 

Mr.  Horner.  Mr.  Chairman,  there  have  been  a  good  many  state- 
ments made  here  by  those  opposing  our  commission,  and  I  do  not 
beUeve  them  to  be  true.  I  have  prepared  what  I  have  to  say,  and 
will  read  it,  if  you  desire  me  to  do  so. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  be  glad  to  hear  it. 

Mr.  Horner.  Statements  have  been  made  during  the  course  of 
this  hearing  which  charge  this  commission  with  willful  misrepre- 
sentation of  facts.  We  did  not  come  here  to  misrepresent  conditions 
and  misstate  facts.  We  are  here,  not  as  private  citizens  representing 
any  private  interests,  but  as  public  officials  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  we  are  men  of  honor  and  in- 
tegrity, common  sense  alone  would  prevent  our  making  statements 
which  could  be  disproven  by  evidence  taken  on  the  ground.  A 
review  of  the  presentation  made  by  this  commission  will  show  that 
our  statements  are  absolutely  corroborated  by  officials  reports. 

I  have  lived  in  Hawaii  for  42  years;  and  during  32  years  of  that/ 
period  I  have  been  connected  with  the  sugar  and  ranching  industries 
in  an  executive  capacity.  For  eight  years  I  have  been  connected 
with  the  growing  and  canning  of  pineapples.  I  am  now  and  for 
the  past  three  years  have  been  the  president  of  the  Hawaiian  pine-/ 
apple  Packers'  Association.  For  the  past  two  years  I  have  been 
devoting  a  .portion  of  my  time  in  the  service  of  the  Territorial  gov-*^ 
ernment  in  an  advisory  capacity  to  homesteaders  and  small  farmers 
in  Hawaii;  my  principal  duty  in  this  connection,  in  addition  to 
improving  methods  of  cultivation,  being  to  establish  better  con- 
tractual relations  between  the  homesteaders  and  small  farmers  and 
the  milling  companies  to  which  they  sell  their  produce.  During 
recent  visits  to  the  homesteading  sections,  I  found  many  of  these 
small  holdings  overgrown  with  weeds  and  the  crops  badly  injured 
The  universal  request  made  upon  me  was  in  some  way  to  secure  for 
them  laborers  to  help  care  for  their  fields. 

I  also  found  thousands  of  acres  of  the  most  fertile  and  productive 
sugar  and  rice  lands  in  the  Territory  abandoned.  Pineapple  areas 
were  likewise  being  reduced.  There  is  not  a  plantation  in  the  Terri- 
tory that  has  this  year  been  able  to  work  its  mill  to  capacity;  and  a 
large  amount  of  sugar,  amounting  at  the  very  lowest  estimate  to 
50,000  tons,  will  be  lost  this  year  because  it  can  not  be  harvested  in 
time.  It  is  a  well-established  fact  that  when  the  harvesting  of  sugar 
carie  is  delayed  beyond  a  certain  period  deterioration  and  loss  in  the 
sucrose  content  takes  place  rapidly. 

In  the  sugar  industry  practically  all  field  laborers  are  now  employed 
in  harvesting  the  1921  crop.  Fields  of  the  1922  crop  are  being 
neglected,  and  the  loss  of  sugar  in  that  crop  will  exceed  200,000  tons. 
Little  or  no  preparation  for  the  planting  of  the  1923  crop  has  been 
made.  How  much  this  crop  will  be  reduced  under  present  labor 
conditions  no  one  can  foresee. 

Statements  have  been  made  before  this  committee  that  there  is  in 
fact  no  labor  shortage  in  Hawaii.  These  statements  have  been  made 
by  men  who  are  not  conversent  with  conditions  in  the  Territory  and  are 
absolutely  and  directly  denied  by  the  members  of  this  commission, 
who  do  know  the  facts.     Is  it  possible  to  imagine  that  the  sugar 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 13 


402  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

planters  of  Hawaii  are  delaying  the  harvest  of  sugar  cane  this  year, 
involving  a  loss  to  the  1921  and  1922  crops  of  $30,000,000,  nierely  for 
the  purpose  of  presenting  a  fictitious  case  before  this  committee  and 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ? 

I  personally  know  that  a  very  severe  and  acute  shortage  of  labor 
does  exist.  In  the  early  part  of  this  year  the  Hawaiian  Canneries  Co. 
of  Kauai,  of  which  company  I  am  president,  employed  a  Filipino  and  a 
Japanese  to  go  to  Honolulu  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  laborers.  We 
ofiered  to  pay  for  transportation  of  all  laborers,  from  and  to  Honolulu, 
and  $3.25  per  day  in  addition  to  all  usual  perquisites.  These  men 
spent  about  two  weeks  in  Honolulu,  but  were  unable  to  get  us  a  single 
laborer  and  finally  returned  to  Kauai,  entirely  unsuccessful  in  their 
efforts. 

The  Chairman.  They  returned  where  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  They  returned  home  to  Kauai.  They  were  sent  to 
Honolulu  to  try  to  get  some  laborers,  either  Filipinos  or  Japanese,, 
or  both.  [ 

The  Chairman.  They  came  from  the  island  of  Kauai  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  From  the  island  of  Kauai  to  Honolulu  to  find  Japanese 
and  Filipino  laborers. 

The  Chairman.  And  there  were  offered  $3.25  per  day? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir;  and  we  agreed  to  pay  their  transportation 
to  Kauai.     We  agreed  to  pay  their  transportation  from  Honolulu 
and  return,  and  while  there  we  agreed  to  furnish  them  with  medical 
attention,  water,  wood,  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  but  they  did  not  get, 
the  men. 

The  Federal  Government,  in  developing  Schofield  Barracks,  has. 
tried  diligently  to  obtain  enough  labor  to  carry  on  construction, 
using  even  Japanese.  The  Government  was  anxious  to  have  half 
a  mile  of  track  built  into  Schofield  Barracks  to  facilitate  the  extension 
of  their  plans,  and  negotiations  were  carried  on  for  several  weeks  to 
secure  21  men  to  work  on  building  this  railroad  track  at  the  pre- 
vailing wage  of  $3.25  per  day,  but  without  any  success  whatever. 

Aside  from  these  particular  experiences,  my  official  position  as, 
agricultural  adviser  and  expert  for  the  Territory  has  thrown  me  in 
close  contact  with  all  phases  of  the  situation;  and  I  speak  from  posi- 
tive and  personal  knowledge  when  I  say,  as  I  do  say  positively,  that, 
labor  in  anything  like  sufficient  numbers  is  not  obtainable. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  wages  paid  to  the  laborers  in  the  cane 
fields  of  Hawaii  are  too  low.  It  must  always  be  remembered  that 
the  wages  paid  in  any  industry  must  correspond  with  the  general 
conditions  of  that  industry  and  the  competition  which  it  has  to  meet. 
We  are  satisfied  to  rest  our  case  upon  the  evidence  given  by  a  previous 
witness,  Mr.  Mead,  who  has  shown  conclusively  that  the  wages  paid 
in  the  cane  fields  of  Hawaii  compare  favorably  with  those  paid  in 
the  continental  United  States  for  much  less  arduous  labor.  In  Hawaii, 
how^ever,  the  wage  scale  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  labor 
supply,  for  the  reason  that  the  labor  is  not  there.  All  the  field  laborers . 
in  Hawaii  are  now  employed,  and  the  offer  of  an  additional  wage 
would  add  nothing  whatever  to  the  labor  supply. 

The  remark  has  also  been  made  that  we  should  pay  a  higher  wage 
and  charge  it  to  the  consumer.  How  this  can  be  done,  when  we  have 
nothing  to  say  about  fixing  the  price  at  which  our  commodities  are 
sold  remains  unexplained.     Hawaii  is  not  even  a  factor  in  establishing 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  403 

sugar  prices.  We  can  do  nothing  but  accept  the  workl's  market  price. 
The  sugar  producers  ofHawaii  and  of  the  mainland  of  the  United  States 
do  not  compete  with  each  other  or  even  with  Cuba;  they  simply  sell 
their  sugar  at  the  price  established  by  Cuba  without  regard  or  con- 
sideration for  each  other. 

Records  in  Hawaii  show  that  tremendous  sums  of  money  saved  by 
laborers  are  each  year  sent  out  of  the  Territory,  these  amounts 
reaching  their  peak  in  1920,  when  $17,000,000  saved  out  of  the  wages 
paid  to  laborers  were  sent  to  Japan  alone. 

Mr.  Nolan  says  that  the  same  arguments  were  used  and  the  same 
disaster  was  predicted  in  1904,  when  we  asked  Congress  for  relief,  as 
are  now  used  and  predicted,  but  that  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  relief  was  not  granted  in  1904,  the  Territory  has  continued  to 
increase  its  production  and  maintain  its  prosperity. 

The  official  records  show  that  from  1904  to  1907,  inclusive,  48,849 
Japanese  came  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  This  explains  how  it 
was  that  we  were  able  to  keep  our  industries  going.  If  our  request 
had  been  granted  at  that  time,  however,  and  if  Chinese  laborers  had 
then  been  allowed  to  come  into  the  Territory,  we  would  not  now  be 
confronted  with  a  situation  which  makes  it  possible  for  the  Japanese 
to  control  the  economic  and  industrial  life  of  the  Territory.  It  is 
also  even  possible  for  them  to  control  the  political  situation,  although 
thev  have  not  yet  exercised  that  power. 

We  do  not  now  have  this  or  any  other  adequate  source  of  labor 
supply;  and  the  very  thing  which  was  predicted  in  1904  has  actually 
come  to  pass. 

It  was  then  predicted  that  unless  the  relief  asked  for  from  Congress 
was  forthcoming,  the  rice  industry  would  be  destroyed,  and  that 
prediction  has  been  fulfilled.  There  is  practically  no  such  thing  as  a 
rice  industry  in  Hawaii  to-day.  I  now  say,  with  all  sincerity,  that 
unless  the  relief  asked  for  is  granted,  our  entire  agricultural  industries 
will  pass  directly  into  the  control  of  the  Japanese.  I  make  this  state- 
ment because  I  agree  absolutely  with  Mr.  Raker  that  there  has  been 
too  much  pussy-footing. 

I  can  not  understand  the  attitude  of  the  representatives  of  organ- 
ized labor  in  their  opposition  to  the  resolution.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  but  that  there  will  be  a  great  lessening  in  production  throughout 
all  lines  of  agricultural  activity  unless  some  relief  be  granted  and  that 
decreased  production  is  certain  to  have  an  immediate  and  serious 
efi'ect  on  the  demand  for  all  skilled  labor  in  the  Territory.  Even  now 
the  Honolulu  Iron  Works  and  Catton,  Neil  &  Co.,  the  largest  employ- 
ers of  skilled  labor  in  Hawaii,  are  decreasing  their  forces,  due  to  the 
serious  condition  which  now  threatens  the  sugar  industry.  De- 
creased production  must,  of  necessity,  lessen  the  tonnage  of  exports 
and  imports.  This  means  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  citizens  em- 
ployed in  the  handling  of  these  products. 

Without  going  into  further  details  the  same  results  must  follow  in 
all  lines  of  industrial  activity  where  citizen  labor  is  employed,  because 
every  other  line  of  industrial  activity  in  ITawaii  is  absolutely  de- 
pendent on  her  agricultural  industries. 

Under  the  terms  of  the  resolution  alien  labor  brought  into  the 
Territory  could  not  and  would  not  compete  with  citizen  labor.  On 
the  contrary,  the  introduction  of  such  alien  labor  would  have  the 


404  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

result  of  directly  providing  constant  emplo3^ment  for  citizen  laborers 
at  all  times. 

It  has  already  been  made  clear  to  the  committee  by  previous  wit- 
nesses that  the  white  man  can  not  and  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields 
of  the  Tropics.  Even  Mr.  Nolan,  who  has  lived  in  the  islands, 
indorsed  this  statement  of  fact.  In  view  of  all  these  circumstances 
I  can  not  understand  how  labor  brought  into  the  Territory  under  the 
proposed  plan  could  do  other  than  materially  advance  the  interests 
of  citizen  labor,  both  organized  and  unorganized. 

As  evidence  of  the  fact  that  mechanics  throughout  the  islands 
realize  these  conditions  and  indorse  the  proposition  now  before  the 
committee,  I  desire  to  read  the  following  short  letters  from  men 
conversant  with  the  facts  as  they  are  in  the  Tropics: 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  7,  1921, 
Walter  F.  Dillingham,  Esq., 

Washington y  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  The  question  of  bringing  Chinese  laborers  into  Hawaii  is  now  l^eing 
agitated ;  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  I  am  in  favor  of  it.     Let  them  come ;  we  need  them. 
Sincerely,  yours, 

John  Anderson,  Well  Driller. 
James  Armstrong,  Carpenter. 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  Hawaii,  June  10,  1921. 
The  Director  Bureau  op  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  think  the  idea  of  importing  Chinese  to  work  in  the  cane  fields  an 
excellent  one. 

How  serious  the  present  shortage  of  labor  is  can  be  easily  seen  by  those  of  us  who 
work  on  a  sugar  plantation.  It  threatens  slow  strangulation  of  the  sugar  industry  in 
these  islands. 

The  Chinese  have  a  capacity  for  steady  hard  work  and  a  habit  of  contentment, 
which  make  them  ideal  laborers. 

I  hope,  therefore,  that  the  commission  now  in  Washington  naay  be  successful. 
Very  truly  yours, 

E.    A.    BOXALL. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  13,  1921 . 
W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  As  a  mechanic  employed  by  one  of  the  local  fertilise? 
manufacturers,  which  business  is  dependent  upon  the  sugar  industry  in  Hawaii,  I 
am  very  much  interested  in  the  importation  of  laborers  for  work  in  the  cane  fields,  ae 
the  need  for  sufficient  labor  has  been  keenly  felt  on  the  plantations  and  this  unfavor 
able  situation  is  reflected  in  all  industries  in  the  islands. 

As  soon  as  hard  times  hit  the  plantations,  it  affects  all  local  concerns  and  I  therefore 
hope  that  you  will  be  able  to  secure  laborers  before  it  is  necessary  to  shut  down  thej 
concern  I  am  working  for,  as  I  have  a  family  dependent  upon  me  and  do  not  want  to 
lose  mv  job. 

Yoiirs,  very  truly, 

Chas.  D.  Arstad. 


Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  iMbor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir;  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  50  years,  and  have  been  em- 
ployed as  a  skilled  mechanic  for  many  years.  I  understand  the  labor  conditions  on 
the  islands,  and  realize  that  in  order  to  keep  industry  going  on  these  islands,  it  if 
necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  here  to  work  in  the  fields  only,  and  to  be  returned 
after  working  a  certain  number  of  years.    As  it  is  too  hot  in  the  open  fields,  where 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAW  AD.  405 

hard  labor  is  performed,  the  AmericanLS  can  not  work,  and  I  am  in  favor  of  tl:e  bill 
passed  by  the  leo:islatiire  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to  allow  laborers  to  be 
brought  for  plantation  work  only. 

A.    G.    CUNHA, 

Foreman,  Puilernmaher. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  3,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham. 

Dear  Sir:  As  you  know,  I  have  been  on  the  islands  since  1900,  starting  in  as  a 
launchman,  and  have  been  steady  at  it  until  now. 

At  present  I  am  manager  and  control  Young  Bros.  (Ltd.),  who  have  a  fleet  of  14 
boats,  doing  all  the  towboat  and  launch  business  of  this  port. 

I  have  always  worked  with  Hawaiian  natives  who  make  wonderful  boatm.en. 

My  company  has  grown  with  the  shipping.  At  first  sailing  vessels  with  coal  in  and 
sugar  out,  later  steamers  cargoes  in  and  sugar  out.  Without  sugar  our  business  would 
be  dead. 

The  islands  need  laborers;  the  Hawaiian  and  whites  can  not  work  in  the  fields,  so 
our  salvation  is  in  orientals.  No  laborers,  no  sugar;  no  sugar,  no  ships;  no  ships,  no 
business. 

Yours,  truly, 

John  A.  Young. 

In  addition  to  the  letters  I  have  just  read,  I  have  here  other  letters 
from  more  than  100  construction  engineers,  plant  superintendents, 
building  inspectors,  well  drillers,  carpenters,  machinists,  blacksmiths, 
pattern  makers,  electricians,  sugar  boilers,  clerks  and  bookkeepers, 
tailors,  linotype  operators,  draftsmen,  marine  engineers,  pump 
engineers,  welfare  workers,  plantation  physicians  and  nurses,  over- 
seers and  lunas,  and  general  plantation  employees  and  mechanics. 

The  Chairman.  The  commission  has  already  been  authorized  to 
introduce  those  letters  or  anything  else  it  may  care  to  introduce,  in 
the  body  of  the  record  or  as  appendixes. 

Mr.  Horner.  Aside  from  the  thing  of  major  importance,  which  is 
the  control  of  these  islands  by  Americans,  the  success  of  the  agricul- 
tural industries  of  Hawaii  is  of  considerable  concern  to  the  Federal 
Government.  Since  annexation  we  have  contributed  to  the  internal 
revenue  of  the  Federal  Government  approximately  $30,000,000  and 
to  its  customs  revenue  approximately  $26,000,000.  No  argument  is 
needed  to  prove  that  these  revenues  will  not  be  available  to  the  Fed- 
eral Government  if  the  agricultural  activities  of  the  Territory  are 
allowed  to  be  destroyed  through  inaction  on  the  part  of  this  committee 
or  of  Congress. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  stock  of  all  of  the  agricultural 
companies  in  Hawaii  is  widely  held  by  the  citizens  of  our  Territory. 
For  example,  the  stock  of  the  fifty-odd  Hawaiian  sugar  companies 
alone  is  held  by  14,500  individual  stockholders.  In  other  words,  one 
out  of  every  17  men,  women,  and  children  in  the  Territory  holds  a 
share  of  stock  in  our  sugar  industry.  It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that 
the  preservation  of  these  industries  is  a  question  of  great  importance, 
not  only  to  the  companies  themselves,  but  also  to  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  resident  in  Hawaii. 

Take  from  us  a  few  hotels  and  curio  shops,  essential  to  the  growing 
tourist  traffic,  and  what  are  we  industrially?  We  are  a  Common- 
wealth depending  wholly  upon  the  products  of  our  soil. 

Every  other  pursuit  in  Hawaii  (steamship  companies,  railway  com- 
panies, manufacturing  concerns,  mercantile  pursuits  of  all  kinds) ,  lean 
on  what  may  be  produced  from  our  soil.  We  have  no  manufacturing 
industry  in  the  sense  that  the  term  is  generally  used,  and  sugar,  rice, 


406  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

and  pineapples  are  to  the  people  of  Hawaii  what  textiles  are  to  the  j 
New  Englandcrs  and  cattle  are  to  the  Texans. 

People  on  the  maninland  do  not  realize  or  understand  that  condi- 
tions in  Hawaii  are  wholly  different  from  those  prevailing  with  them. 
On  the  mainland  a  shortage  of  laborers  in  one  part  of  the  country  can 
be  quickly  supplied  from  some  other  locality,  while  in  Hawaii  all 
laborers  have  remunerative  employment  all  the  year  round.  Con- 
sequently there  is  no  source  from  which  to  recruit  additional  laborers 
except  outside  the  Territory. 

Europe  and  America  under  present  laws  and  proven  conditions  are 
impossible  as  a  field  for  recruiting  laborers  for  Hawaii. 

The  remedy  is  simple,  yet  apparently  difficult.  It  means  a  mere 
breaking  down  of  barriers  of  political  sentiment  and  political  preju- 
dice. Our  oriental  (Chinese,  now  starving)  neighbors  are  willing,  I 
believe,  to  supply  us  the  field  men  power  required  upon  any  terms 
that  Congress  may  dictate,  and  considering  all  of  the  circumstances, 
it  should  not  take  this  committee  long,  after  the  full  deatils  of  the 
situation  are  before  it,  to  suggest  a  safe  method. 

With  about  one-half  of  the  total  population  of  the  Territory  Japa- 
nese, with  already  a  firm  grip  on  labor  conditions  as  well  as  other 
business  activities,  it  can  plainly  be  seen  that  as  time  passes  they  will 
get  a  firmer  hold  and  will  finally  (unless  measures  are  taken  to  check 
it)  control  the  major  part  of  all  business  enterprises.  For  the  future 
welfare  of  the  Territory  this  control  must  be  broken. 

During  the  course  of  these  hearings  the  members  of  this  committee 
have  appeared  to  admit  that  a  labor  crisis  now  exists  in  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii.  Several  members  of  the  committee,  however,  have  ob- 
jected to  the  form  of  relief  proposed  by  this  commission,  although 
no  suggestions  have  been  made  by  these  objecting  members  to  remedy 
the  situation  in  any  other  practical  way. 

In  concluding  my  statement  I  now  earnestly  and  sincerely  warn 
the  members  of  this  committee  and  of  Congress  that,  if  this  territorial 
commission  shall  be  sent  home  without  relief  of  any  kind,  the  results 
to  American  interests  and  control  will  be  absolutely  fatal.  If  we  go 
home  without  the  support  of  our  National  Government,  this  fact  will 
become  quickly  known  to  the  Japanese,  their  influence  will  be 
strengthened,  and  the  ultimate  economic,  industrial,  and  political 
control  of  our  island  Territory  by  that  nationality  assured. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Horner,  you  frankly  make  the  statement  that 
the  danger  is  from  the  Japanese  getting  control  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Unless  we  are  permitted  to  get  additional  labor. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Those  additional  laborers  would  be  almost  ex- 
clusively Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  To  tide  us  over  this  emergency;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Would  it  be  possible  to  get  unskilled  laborers  for 
your  industry  from  other  races  or  from  other  nationalities  than 
orientals  1 

Mr.  Horner.  We  have  tried  very  diligently  and  earnestly  to  bring 
in  other  nationalities.  If  you  do  not  mind,  I  will  read  a  brief  account 
of  what  has  been  done  along  those  lines. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Just  state  the  result  of  your  endeavors. 

Mr.  Horner.  We  have  tried  for  years  to  bring  in  all  kinds  of 
Europeans,  as  well  as  Americans,  including  Negroes.  Some  of  the 
Europeans  that  have  been  introduced  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  407 

have  cost  tlie  Territory  as  mucli  as  $285  per  head.  In  most  cases 
they  have  remamed  on  the  islands  only  long  enough  to  get  sufficient 
money  to  carry  them  to  California. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  That  would  be  virtually  the  same  situation  with 
the  Chinese,  would  it  not^ 

Mr.  Horner.  No,  sir;  they  would  be  prohibited  from  coming  to 
the  mainland. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  They  would  be  permitted  to  come  to  Hawaii,  and, 
that  being  true,  why  should  we  discriminate  against  the  Chinese 
in  coming  to  the  mainland  ?  Both  are  under  the  dominion  and  con- 
trol of  the  Federal  Government. 

Mr.  Horner.  That  is  a  question  for  the  Government  to  decide. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  stated  that  your  interests  are  largely 
or  mostly  agricultural  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  They  are  entirely  dependent  upon  the  agricultural 
interests,  and  there  is  nothing  else  except  a  few  hotels  and  curio 
-shops. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  in  addition  to  the  Government's  activi- 
ties in  the  barracks  and  naval  establishments. 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Some  of  the  population  consists  of  people  who 
either  make  up  the  Army  there  or  who  serve  the  Army,  and  people 
who  make  up  the  Navy  or  people  who  are  engaged  in  building  and 
mechanical  work  for  the  Navy. 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  a  list  of  the  organized  labor  unions  in 
-Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  have  not. 

The  Chairman.  You  could  procure  such  a  list? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  think  there  are  other  members  of  the  commission 
who  are  better  informed  in  regard  to  that  than  I  am. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  received  copies  of  labor  papers  from 
Hawaii  containing  lists  of  those  labor  unions;  and,  without  objec- 
tion, I  will  insert  the  list  in  the  record. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  folllows:) 

DIRECTORY    OF    LOCAL   TRADE    UNIONS    OF    HONOLULU,    HAWAII,    AFFILIATED    WITH    THE 

AMERICAN    FEDERATION    OF   LABOR. 

Central  Labor  Council:  G.  W.  Wright,  president.  1320  Middle  Street;  C.  A.  Vicery, 
recording  secretary,  556D  Queen  Street;  W.  R.  Chilton,  treasurer,  1269  Miller  Street; 
meets  second  and  fourth  Fridays  at  Kamehameha  Alumni  Hall,  Fort  Street.. 

Boilermakers:  E.  B.  Griffith,  secretary,  box  1437;  Carpenter  Hall;  second  and  fourth 
Tuesdays. 

Barbers:  A.  C.  Anderson,  secretary,  care  of  Silent  Barber  Shop;  Carpenter  Hall, 
third  Wednesday. 

Carmen:  F.  J.  Figurelo,  secretary,  care  H.  R.  T.  &  L.  Co.;  Kamehameha  Alumni 
Hall,  second  and  fourth  Thursdays, 

Carpenters:  John  Irwine,  secretary,  box  611;  Kamehameha  Alumni  Hall,  first  and 
third  Mondays. 

Electrical  Workers:  Earl  McDaniel,  The  Bachelor,  corner  Pauahi  Street  and 
Nuuanu;  Carpenter  Hall,  first  and  third  Mondays. 

Machinists:  T.  J.  Foley,  secretary,  1250  lisbon  Street;  Kamehameha  Alumni  Hall, 
first  and  third  Fridays. 

Painters:  E.  W.  Stone,  1869  North  King  Street;  Kamehameha  Alumni  Hall,  second 
and  last  Tuesdays. 

Plasterers:  J,  Mucha,  secretary,  1911  West  Queen  Street;  Lusitania  Hall,  first  and 
third  Thursdays. 


408  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Plumbers:  Albert  Harris,  secretary,  341  Pauahi  Street;  Kamehameha  Alumni  Hall^ 
first  and  third  Wednesdays. 

Sailors:  J.  Faltus,  secretary,  box  314;  Sailors  Union  Hall,  Mondays. 

Teachers:  Mrs.  E.  Baker,  secretary;  St.  Elmo  Hotel,  Punchbowl  Street. 

Teamsters:  M.  Kaai,  Baniwai  and  Cooke  Streets;  Carpenter  Hall;  first  and  third 
Saturdays. 

Hod  Carriers,  Builders'  Common  Laborers:  John  Frias,  secretary,  436  Magellan 
Street;  Carpenter  Hall,  first  and  third  Tuesdays. 

Typographical  Union:  George  H.  Moore,  box  556. 

Federal  Employees:  Fred  Smith,  care 'of  E.  Farmer,  United  States  Immigration 
Station,  Honolulu. 

Moulders:  Tommay  Farrel,  Catton  Neil  Co. 

Patternmakers:  J. '^P.  Honan,  1523  Lewis  Street;  Carpenter  Hall;  first  and  third 
Fridays. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  able  to  make  any  calculation  as  to  the 
number  of  members  of  labor  unions  in  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  understand  that  there  are  about  1,450  members 
associated  with  or  members  of  the  associations  which  this  central 
labor  council  represents,  and  of  that  number  250  are  white.  There 
are  about  1,450  members  of  the  labor  unions,  and  250  of  them  are 
white. 

The  Chairman.  Representing  skilled  trades  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  one  union,  and  then  there  is  the 
stevedores'  union,  the  teamsters'  union 

The  Chairman  (interposing).  Let  us  see  just  what  that  union  is: 
You  say  there  are  1,450  members  represented  by  the  central  labor 
council. 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  What  success  have  you  had  with  Italians  and 
Sicilians  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  do  not  remember  that  there  have  been  any  Italians 
brought  there.     There  may  have  been,  but  I  have  no  recollection  of  it. 

Mr.  Mead.  Some  Italians  were  brought  there  and  taken  down  to 
the  James  Place. 

Mr.  Horner.  There  were  very  few. 

The  Chairman.  You  were  living  in  Hawaii  at  the  time  of  the 
annexation  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  Hawaii,  when  it  was  a  republic,  take  any 
action  by  law  to  suspend  Japanese  immigration  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  think  it  was  Chinese  immigration. 

The  Chairman.  It  did  that  as  a  republic  ? 

Mr.. Horner.  No,  sir;  it  was  in  1887  or  1886  when  there  was  some 
action  taken  debarring  Chinese.  It  might  have  been  later  than  that, 
but  I  know  there  was  some  action  taken  there  to  keep  Chinese  out 
along  in  the  late  eighties  or  early  nineties. 

The  Chairman.  The  islands  were  annexed  to  the  United  States  in 
1898. 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  prior  to  joining  forces  with  the  United 
States,  or  before  coming  with  the  United  States,  you  cut  out  the 
Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  not  the  Hawaiian  Republic  suspend  or  limit 
the  admission  of  Japanese  in  some  way  into  the  Republic  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir;  we  did. 


LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAAVAII.  409 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  remember  what  that  act  was  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham,  In  1897  the  Territorial  government,  or  the  Re- 
public of  Hawaii,  endeavored  to  exclude  Japanese  from  coming  in, 
feeling  that  they  should  balance  up  the  races  and  realizing  that  the 
Japanese  wei*e  increasing  more  rapidly  than  any  of  the  other  races. 
Then  there  arose  some  complications  with  Japan.  Finally,  a  ship- 
load of  Japanese  was  sent  over  there  and  were  denied  admission, 
and  the  Japanese  Government  sent  over  a  warship  and  demanded 
that  the  Republic  of  Hawaii  pay  $75,000  damages  for  refusal  to  allow 
the  Japanese  to  land,  and,  further,  that  they  be  allowed  to  land. 
The  matter  was  under  negotiation  up  to  the  time  of  the  annexation 
of  the  islands  by  the  United  States,  the  Republic  of  Hawaii  refusing 
up  to  that  time  to  pay  the  damages  or  to  allow  the  Japanese  to  land. 
The  matter  was  taken  up  with  the  United  States  Government  and  a 
request  was  made  by  the  United  States  Governm.ent  that  we  not 
hold  out  against  Japan,  but  to  submit  to  the  damages,  and  that  was 
done. 

The  Chacrman.  vSo  the  money  was  paid  to  Japan  from  the  Ter- 
ritory's funds  ? 

Mr.  DiLLENGHAM.  That  is  my  understanding. 

Mr.  Box.  Was  the  other  part  of  the  demand  granted,  or  were  the 
Japanese  permitted  to  land  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  the  Japanese  were  allowed  to  land.  My 
recollection  is  that  they  were  allowed  to  land. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  correct,  Mr.  Chairman;  the  money  was  paid 
out  of  the  revenues  of  the  RepubHc  and  not  by  the  United  States 
Government. 

The  Chx\irman.  The  Hawaiian  Republic  took  this  action  against 
Japan  and  undertook  to  exclude  the  Japanese  before  annexation  to 
the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir;  and  the  Japanese  Government  protested 
against  the  annexation  of  the  islands  by  the  United  States,  and  that 
protest  has  never  been  withdrawn.  Directly  following  annexation 
the  Japanese  began  coming  to  the  islands  in  very  large  numbers,  and 
that  continued  up  until  1907,  when  the  '^ gentlemen's  agreement '^ 
went  into  effect.  Since  that  time  a  very  considerable  number  of 
Japanese  have  come  into  the  islands.  As  shown  by  the  statistics, 
Japanese  brides,  or  picture  brides,  to  the  number  of  10,600  were 
brought  in  between  the  years  1910  and  1920. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Dillingham,  let  me  ask  you  this  question:  As 
1  matter  of  fact,  is  not  the  Japanese  situation,  or  the  danger  of  it, 
iiscussed  everywhere  in  the  islands,  at  public  meetings,  in  the  legis- 
lature, in  the  newspapers,  and  elsewhere  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Up  to  two  years  ago  there  was  more  discussion 
in  California  than  in  Hawaii  about  the  Japanese  situation  or  menace, 
as  I  think  it  is  called,  in  California.  In  Hawaii  we  had  no  open 
demonstration  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  to  suggest  that  there 
was  a  failure  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  to  assimilate  with  the 
(American  interests  of  the  islands  until  during  the  year  1920.  As 
a  result  of  the  strike,  which  has  been  referred  to  in  this  hearing,  it 
was  clearly  demonstrated  that  there  was  a  line  of  cleavage  between 
Japanese  interests  in  the  islands  and  other  interests  or  American 
interests. 


410  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  I  did  not  mean  to  cut  Mr.  Horner  off  from  answer- 
ing any  questions  if  anybody  desires  to  ask  them.  He  has  made  a 
very  direct  and  interesting  statement. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Mr.  Horner,  according  to  your  statement,  although 
I  did  not  hear  all  of  it,  your  position  is  that  you  hav6  made  out  a 
strong  case  here  as  to  the  labor  shortage;  as  to  the  danger  of  Japanese 
domination  under  present  conditions,  and  as  to  the  proposition  that 
the  only  safe  competitor  of  the  Japanse  is  the  Chinaman,  and  that 
China  is  the  only  available  source  of  supply  to  meet  the  situation. 
You  have  also  argued  that  the  passage  of  this  resolution  is  about 
the  only  measure  of  relief  you  can  suggest  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  It  is  the  only  practical  plan,  we  believe,  that  will 
tide  us  over  the  emergency. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Now,  in  view  of  the  attitude  of  the  United  States, 
both  on  the  part  of  the  Government  and  the  people,  toward  Asiatics, 
do  you  believe  that  we  could  safely  take  the  course  of  adopting  this 
resolution  and  giving  it  the  force  that  you  desire  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  hope  that  will  be  the  final  decision. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  does  not  answer  my  question.  Do  you  think 
that  we  can  safely  do  that  from  the  standpoint  of  the  United  States, 
in  view  of  our  attitude  toward  Asiatics,  both  on  the  part  of  our 
Government  and  the  people  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  ask  this  question:  In  your  opinion,  would 
it  be  advisable  for  the  United  States  to  adopt  legislation  for  the 
admission  of  laborers  from  China  for  a  limited  period  of  time,  and 
at  the  same  time  continue  the  ''gentlemen's  agreement"  with  Japan 
under  which  that  Government  declines  to  issue  passports  to  laborers 
to  come  to  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  believe  that  any  country  has  the  right  to  settle 
its  domestic  and  internal  problems,  by  itself,  for  itself,  without 
concern  for  the  efi^ect  of  such  settlement  on  other  nations.  I  feel 
that  the  United  States,  in^  disposing  of  the  very  real  crisis  that  now 
confronts  it  and  demands  settlement  in  Hawaii,  has  the  right  and 
would  be  justified  to  relieve  that  crisis  in  the  manner  best  adapted 
to  subserve  the  interests  of  this  Nation,  regardless  of  the  opinions  of  | 
any  other  nation. 

The  Chairman.  I  mean  whether,  as  a  cold  practical  proposition, 
we  would  be  justified  in  going  on  with  the  ''gentlemen's  agreement," 
under  which  they  can  not  send  laborers  to  the  United  States  or  to 
Hawaii  and,  at  the  same  time,  enact  legislation  that  will  authorize 
the  admission  of  Chinese  laborers  to  the  islands.  | 

Mr.  Horner.  I  think  that  is  the  only  attitude  to  take^  if  thej 
Islands  are  to  be  saved  for  America.  j 

The  Chairman.  I  am  putting  it  up  to  you  as  a  cold  practical  ques-j 
tion.  You  challenge  this  committee  with  the  proposition  that  wej 
are  not  offering  any  relief  legislation,  and  you  have  offered  thisj 
resolution  here  as  the  commission's  solution  of  this  question.  Now,! 
if  we  assume  that  everything  presented  here  by  the  commission  in! 
regard  to  the  labor  shortage,  the  inability  of  European  populations! 
to  work  in  the  tropical  cane  fields,  in  regard  to  the  danger  of  Japan-j 
ese  soldarity,  and  the  advancement  of  a  movement  to  control  the! 
Islands  by  Japan,  is  true,  and  I  think  there  are  many  of  us  on  the 
West  Coast  have  seen  evidences  of  that — granting  all  of  that  to  be 


LABOE  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  411 

true,  would  we  be  authorized  in  going  beyond  the  ^'gentlemen's  agree- 
ment" with  Japan  in  the  way  of  affording  relief,  or  should  we  attempt 
to  secure  relief  by  bringing  in  laborers  from  another  oriental  country, 
when  by  agreement  we  have  shut  out  such  laborers  from  Japan  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  reiterate  that  I  believe  this  Nation  is  justified  in 
settling  its  own  internal  problems  in  the  man  best  calculated  to 
subserve  its  own  interests  first,  last,  and  always. 

Mr.  Sabath.  This  resolution  does  not  exclude  Japanese. 

Mr.  Horner.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Surley  not.  It  only  provides  for  20  per  cent  of  a 
nationality. 

Mr.  Horner.  It  would  automatically  exclude  the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Sabath.  But  it  does  not  do  it  directly. 

Mr.  Horner.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Sabath.  You  have  more  than  20  per  cent  of  Japanese  down 
there,  and  this  would  permit  them  to  come  up  to  20  per  cent.  You 
would  permit  even  the  Japanese  to  come  up  to  20  per  cent. 

Mr.  Horner.  It  is  43  per  cent  of  the  total  population. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  am  speaking  about  the  20  per  cent,  and  I  said  that 
up  to  20  per  cent,  you  have  no  objection  to  any  nationality? 

Mr.  Horner.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  think  the  Chairman  has  gone  to  the  crux  of  this 
proposition.  I  am  prepared  to  admit  that  the  commission  has 
made  a  very  strong  case,  but  it  is  a  question  of  national  policy.  Do 
you  feel  that  we  could  afford,  in  view  of  the  attitude  of  the  country 
toward  this  whole  matter,  to  make  an  exception  of  that  portion  of 
the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  My  reply  to  that  is  that  we  hope  such  a  thing  will  be 
done. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  appreciate  that  fact,  but  put  yourself  in  the  position 
of  the  committee.  You  say  that  the  committee  has  offered  no 
alternative  proposition  as  against  the  very  strong  case  developed  by 
the  commission  here;  but,  putting  yourself  in  the  position  of  the 
committee,  could  you  rightly  say  that  this  kind  of  policy  should  be 
adopted  toward  any  part  of  the  national  territory,  in  view  of  our 
attitude  toward  Japan  and  toward  Asiatics  in  general  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  understand  your  question.  I  understand  it  ex- 
actly, and  I  think  it  is  a  question  for  the  poeple  of  the  United  States 
to  decide. 

Mr.  Wilson.  We  will  have  to  decide  it  for  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  or  this  committee  and  Congress  must  do  so.  Of  course  it  is 
very  easy  to  say  that  this  is  a  strong  presentation,  and  you  do  make 
out  a  strong  case  as  to  the  conditions  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Let  me  answer  that  for  the  commission.  That 
matter  has  been  discussed  among  the  members  of  the  commission 
many  times,  and  we  feel  this  way  about  it:  If  the  situation  is  as  we 
believe  it  to  be,  and  if  there  is  any  question  as  to  whether  or  not  the 
United  States  interests  will  control  the  islands,  we  feel  that  we  have 
the  right  in  the  United  States  to  dictate  the  methods  by  which  we 
shall  control  the  interests  of  our  Territory.  If  it  is  a  question  of 
whether  or  not  Japan  shall  dictate  the  policy  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
then  we  have  nothing  to  say,  but  if  we  have  shown — and  I  feel  that 
we  have  shown  to  this  committee — that  we  are  in  a  very  critical 
position  to-day,  and  that  if  relief  does  not  come,  time  will  turn  all 


412  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

of  the  interests  of  the  country  over  to  Japanese  domination,  we  feel 
that  this  country  has  the  right  to  say  that  we  shall  admit  more 
Chinese  or  admit  people  of  any  other  nationality  for  the  purpose  of 
protecting  the  interests  of  those  islands  for  the  United  States.  I 
think  that  is  the  opinion  of  the  commission,  and  if  it  is  not  the  com- 
missioners who  are  here  can  contradict  that  statement. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Your  position  is  this,  that  in  order  for  the  United 
States  to  show  its  authority  over  the  islands  it  should  pass  this 
resolution  to  keep  it  under  American  control  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  My  feeling  is  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United 
States,  in  time  of  peace  as  well  as  of  war,  to  protect  the  interests  of 
the  United  States  by  such  means  as  seem  to  be  necessary  to  produce 
that  result. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Do  you  think  that  this  is  the  only  means  that  could 
be  adopted  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  is  the  only  one  we  have  been  able  to  devise, 
and  the  history  of  our  immigration  to  the  islands  tends  to  show  that 
there  is  no  other  remedy.  If  there  is  any  other  remedy,  we  will 
welcome  it. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  How  many  Japanese  voters  are  there  in  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  are  5,000  registered  voters  there  among 
the  Japanese,  or  Hawaiian-born  Japanese  citizens.  There  are  2,000 
more  eligible  to  register. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  How  many  Chinese  citizens  are  there  in  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  are  10,000  Chinese-American  citizens. 

Mr.  Kleczkj^.  That  makes  about  17,000.  How  does  that  compare 
with  the  total  number  of  Hawaiian  citizens  eligible  to  vote  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  believe  the  last  vote  cast  was  17,000  for  the 
Territory. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Seventeen  thousand  was  the  total  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  was  the  total  vote  cast,  or  there  were 
about  17,000  votes  cast  for  Delegate.  We  have  49,000  Hawaiian- 
born  Japanese  out  of  the  109,000  Japanese  in  the  Territory. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  include  in  that  calculation  the  picture- 
brides  who  have  married  American-born  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  think  they  have  been  included  in  that 
figure. 

The  Chairman.  They  would  figure,  however,  in  elections  in  the 
course  of  time  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir;  they  would. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  On  the  subject  of  the  excludion  of  orientals  from 
the  island,  would  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  stand  as  a  unit  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  they  did,  it  would  be  the  first  time  they  ever 
stood  together  on  any  proposition. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  I  know  they  do  not  stand  together  on  commercial 
propositions. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  do  not  stand  together  on  any  proposition.. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  But  where  their  interests  are  identical,  would  they 
stand  together  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  can  not  conceive  of  their  standing  together  on; 
any  proposition,  social,  business,  economic,  or  political.  ^ 

Mr.  Mead.  During  the  strike  of  the  Japanese,  Chinese  would  take?^ 
their  places  right  along. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  413 

Mr.  Taylor.  This  proposition  is  simply  an  economic  proposition, 
is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  proposition  as  presented  by  the  commission 
is  not  simply  an  economic  one.  It  is  a  national  political  problem 
rather  than  merely  a  local  economic  one.  The  problem  you  are 
called  upon  to  solve  is  simply  this:  Shall  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
remain  an  American  community — ^the  western  outpost  of  the  Ameri- 
can Nation?  If  your  answer  is  '^yes,"  as  it  must  be  ''yes,"  then  you 
must  just  as  surely  give  us  the  relief  we  seek. 

Mr.  Taylor.  As  I  understand  it,  the  Japanese  laborers  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  will  not  work  for  the  American  interests. 

Mr.  Dillingil^lM.  They  do  work  for  the  American  interests,  but 
there  are  not  sufficient  laborers  in  the  country  to  carry  on  our  inter- 
ests. 

Mr.  Taylor.  But  they  will  not  work  for  the  American  interests  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  are  working  for  the  American  interests  to- 
day, but  there  is  a  shortage  in  the  number  required  to  carry  on  the 
industries,  and  it  is  through  that  shortage  that  the  Japanese  field 
labor  controls  the  situation. 

Mr.  Taylor.  As  I  understood  it,  they  are  trying  to  control  the 
islands  for  themselves  as  against  American  interests  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have  very  definite  reasons  to  believe  that 
this  is  a  slow  process  to  bring  about  that  result. 

Mr.  Taylor.  Just  as  they  are  trying  to  control  the  truck  gardens 
in  California. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  There  seems  to  be  an  agreement  between  those 
in  California  and  in  Hawaii,  and  the  policy  which  has  been  worked 
out  in  California  will  be  worked  out  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Taylor.  How  many  hours  constitute  an  ordinary  day's  labor 
in  the  cane  fields  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  work. 
In  the  heavy  work  of  loading  cane,  the  day's  labor  is  limited  to  six 
hours,  but  field  labor  works  nine  hours  per  day. 

Mr.  Taylor.  What  is  your  average  summer  temperature  over 
there  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  average  summer  temperature,  I  can  not  give 
you.  Of  course  there  is  a  variation  between  different  plantations 
situated  in  different  parts  of  the  islands  and  at  different  elevations. 
A  singular  thing  about  the  tropical  heat  is  that  it  does  not  register 
as  high  as  the  thermometer  registers  on  hot  days  here,  but  the  char- 
acter of  the  heat  is  such  that  it  has  been  demonstrated  by  experience 
extending  over  many  years  that  the  climate  is  not  suited  to  white 
labor. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  ask  you  one  question  with  regard  to 
Chinese  exclusion  in  Hawaii  as  a  monarchy:  Was  that  exclusion 
action  taken  ahead  of  the  United  States  exclusion  act  or  after  it  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  a  few  years  afterwards.  I  think  your 
exclusion  act  was  passed  in  1879,  and  ours  was  enacted  seven  or  eight 
years  after  that.  I  might  say  that  the  people  of  Hawaii  for  a  great 
many  years  have  endeavored  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  their  country 
in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  the  United  vStates,  and  that  was  the 
condition  existing  for  many  years  before  annexation. 


414  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Are  the  people  of  Hawaii  able  to  trace  any  con- 
nection between  the  Japanese  strikes  of  last  year  and  agencies  in 
Japan  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  there  is  published 
data  on  that  subject.  The  Japanese  press  in  Hawaii,  I  think,  has 
shown  evidence  of  a  connection  between  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii  and 
home  interests. 

The  Chairman.  I  know  it  is  hard  to  prove  it,  because  I  know  that 
Judge  Raker  and  myself  have  suspected  and  even  charged  a  sort  of 
underground  connection  between  interests  in  Japan  and  the  Japanese 
in  this  country,  even  to  the  point  of  having  organizations  to  assist  in 
surreptitious  entry  into  the  iJnited  States. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Officials  of  the  United  States  Government  who 
are  in  a  position  to  get  definite  information  in  regard  to  this  from 
different  branches  of  the  Government,  and  who  have  made  it  their 
business  to  investigate  those  matters,  and  who  have  information 
which  is  not  available  for  use  by  citizens  of  this  country  at  large,  but 
which  is  available,  I  am  sure,  for  any  official  use  by  the  Government, 
can  answer  your  question,  I  think,  conclusively. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Has  the  Territorial  immigration  commission  ob- 
tained any  such  information,  that  you  know  of  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know  how  much  information  they  have^ 
but  in  years  past  they  have  made  studies  of  all  angles  of  immigration. 
I  think,  however,  that  the  commission  has  not  been  active  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  you  could  get  that  information  up  to  date  from 
nearer  sources. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  What  do  you  mean  by  saying  that  the  commission 
has  not  been  active  for  the  last  few  years  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  would  like  to  have  Judge  Irwin,  the  attorney 
general  of  Hawaii,  make  a  statement  in  regard  to  that  commission 
and  its  activities. 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  board  of  immigration  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
was  organized  a  great  many  years  ago.  I  am  sorry  I  did  not  bring  up 
a  copy  of  the  revised  laws  of  the  Territory  so  that  I  could  speak  more 
to  the  point.  It  was  a  commission  created  for  the  purpose  of  assist- 
ing in  introducing  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  certain  kinds  of  labor, 
and  it  has  certain  powers  in  the  expenditure  of  money  in  bringing  in 
labor  or  in  assisting  in  the  bringing  in  of  labor.  They  have  certain 
powers  in  regulating  the  supply  of  labor  going  into  the  Territory.  It 
was  an  active  bureau  of  the  government  until  about  three  or  four 
years  ago.  I  am  not  exactly  positive  about  it,  because  that  was 
before  I  was  a  member  of  the  government.  While  the  law  is  in  force, 
the  conditions  in  regard  to  obtaining  labor  have  rendered  the  subse- 
quent activity  of  the  board  unnecessary,  and  that  is  the  reason  why 
the  board  is  not  now  actively  engaged.  Its  principal  duty  was  in 
assisting  in  getting  labor  into  the  country. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  During  the  time  it  was  active,  did  it  succeed  in 
obtaining  labor  in  any  quantity  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  assisted  in  obtaining  a  considerable  amount  of  labor 
from  southern  Europe,  Russia,  and  other  white  countries,  but,  as  has 
already  been  stated,  as  soon  as  they  could  make  enough  money  to 
leave,  they  would  go  over  to  the  mamland.  Those  figures  are  in  the 
record. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IIST   HAWAII.  415 

Mr.  Sabath.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  literacy  test  has  made  it 
impossible  for  you  people  to  secure  any  labor  from  Europe,  because 
most  of  the  Portuguese  and  others  that  you  could  secure  for  that 
kind  of  work  would  not  be  permitted  to  enter  because  they  could 
not  stand  the  literacy  test  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  true. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Because  of  the  distressful  conditions  in  Europe^ 
which,  in  all  probability,  will  remain  for  some  time,  do  you  not  think 
that  you  could  succeed  in  getting  European  immigrants  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr  .^Sabath.  But  the  kind  of  laborers  they  need  would  be  excluded 
by  the  literacy  test. 

Mr.  Horner.  They  could  not  come  in  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  it  would  be  proper  for  the  United 
States  to  adopt  a  legislative  act  for  the  admission  of  Chinese  laborers 
to  relieve  the  labor  shortage  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii  and 
at  the  same  time  refuse  to  admit  illiterate  laborers  from  Mexico  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  If  this  committee  should  be  sure,  as  I  think  it  ought 
to  be  at  the  present  time,  that  the  continued  existence  of  the  present 
conditions  in  Hawaii  will  constitute  a  menace  to  the  western  coast 
of  the  United  States  and  to  the  remainder  of  the  United  States, 
then  I  think  it  is  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  give  us  that  kind  of 
relief.  I  do  not  see  how  you  can  get  away  from  it.  If  this  condition 
continues  to  exist  and  to  grow  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii  will  be  a  menace  to  the  western  coast  of  the  United 
States  instead  of  a  protection,  and  that  is  where  the  excuse  comes  in. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  war  in  Europe  broke  out  in  1914,  did  it  not? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  was  practically  no  immigration  from  that  time 
up  until  1920. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  true. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  literacy  test  law  did  not  take  effect  until 
some  time  in  1917. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  true. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  you  have  not  had  an 
opportunity  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  literacy  test  or  law 
has  had  any  effect  upon  Hawaii  or  upon  immigration  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Irw^n.  I  do  not  quite  understand  your  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  literacy  test  did  not  take  eft'ect  until  1917. 

Mr.  Irwin.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  was  no  immigration  in  1917,  1918,  and  1919. 
There  was  no  immigration  until  the  beginning  of  1920. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that,  during  1920  and  up  to  the  present  time,  you 
have  not  made  any  effort  to  bring  in  any  immigration  from  Italy 
or  from  other  European  countries  where  the  illiterates  would  come 
from,  have  you  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  you  could  have  stated 
in  your  answer  to  Judge  Sabath  that  the  literacy  test,  so  far  as  your 
efforts  were  concerned,  has  not  effected  the  Hawaiian  Islands j 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  has  affected  them  in  this  way,  that  the  people 
who  could  be  induced  to  come  to  Hawaii  and  engage  in  plantation 
work  are  necessarily  of  the  illiterate  type.  Of  course,  that  is  known 
to  the  men  who  are  engaged  in  the  sugar  business  in  Hawaii.     The  men 


416  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

who  have  made  a  study  of  these  conditions  know  them  to  be  illiterates, 
and  since  1917  there  has  been  no  possibility  of  bringing  them  in,  or 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war  there  has  been  no  possibility  of  bringing 
them  in,  but  they  brought  them  in  practically  up  to  the  beginning  of 
the  war. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  Italians  did  they  bring  in  from  1910  up 
to  1917? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  can  not  give  you  those  figures. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  they  bring  in  any  Bohemians  and  Russians  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  did  they  bring  in  ? 

Mr.  Iryn^in.  The  figures  are  in  the  record. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  Russians  were  brought  in  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  One  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  is  the  net  gain 
in  the  alien  Russian  immigration,  as  shown  by  the  records  of  tl^e 
immigration  service  at  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Rawlins.  There  were  over  3,000  Russians  brought  into  Hawaii 
from  Manchuria  or  Siberia  through  the  commission,  but  on  May  3, 
1920,  the  actual  statistics  showed  that  out  of  that  total  number 
there  were  only  17  of  them  employed  as  skilled  and  unskilled  laborers 
on  the  plantations.  There  were  8,000  Spanish  immigrants  brought  in, 
and  on  the  same  date  there  was  a  total  of  only  287  skilled  and 
unskilled,  employed  there,  because  just  as  soon  as  they  could  make 
enough  money  to  do  so,  they  went  to  California. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that,  as  a  final  result  of  your  efforts,  those  that  you 
did  bring  in  you  did  not  retain,  but  they  all  left  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Practically  all;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  submit  for  the  record  a  copy  of  the  act  of 
the  Hawaiian  Republic  or  monarchy  excluding  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  can  secure  that  for  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  also  the  act  excluding  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  will  furnish  that. 

(The  acts  referred  to  are  as  follows :) 

[The  penal  laws  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  (1897),  chap.  93,  p.  504.    Immigration,  Part  VI,  Chinese.] 

Sec.  1571.  No  Chinese,  except  women  who  have  relatives  by  marriage  or  blood 
residing  in  this  Republic,  children  under  ten  years  of  age  who  have  parents  or  guardians 
residing  in  this  Republic,  clergymen,  teachers,  and  merchants  heretofore  residing 
and  doing  business  in  this  Republic,  except  as  hereinafter  provided,  shall  be  allowed 
to  enter  this  Republic  unless  upon  condition  that  while  here  he  will  engage  in  no  trad- 
ing or  mechanical  occupation  other  than  domestic  service  or  agricultural  labor  in  the 
field  or  in  sugar  or  rice  mills,  and  that  he  will,  whenever  he  shall  cease  to  follow  his 
vocation  as  agricultural  laborer  in  the  field  or  in  sugar  or  rice  mills,  or  as  domestic 
servant,  leave  this  Republic,  and  that  for  every  breach  of  such  condition  he  shall 
upon  conviction  by  any  district  magistrate  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars. 


[The  penal  laws  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  (1897),  chap.  93,  p.  498.    Immigration,  Part  III,  Aliens. 

Sec.  1554.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  aliens  of  the  following  classes  to  land  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  to  wit:  Idiots,  insane  persons,  paupers,  vagabonds,  criminals, 
fugitives  from  justice,  persons  suffering  from  a  loathsome  or  dangerous  contagious 
disease,  stowaways,  vagrants  and  persons  without  visible  means  of  support,  which 
means  of  support  may  be  shown  by  the  bona  fide  possession  of  not  less  than  fifty 
dollars  in  money  or  a  bona  fide  written  contract  of  employment  with  a  reliable  and 
responsible  resident  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  binding  such  alien  to  work  as  an  agri- 
cultural laborer  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  two  years. 

Note. — It  was  under  the  provision  of  the  foregoing  act  that  the  Japanese  were 
excluded  from  the  Territory. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  417 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  ask  Mr.  Dillingham  a  question.  Mr.  Dilling- 
ham, the  question  has  been  asked  several  times,  but  no  direct  answer 
has  been  given,  as  to  what  became  of  the  Japanese  who  were  refused 
landing  by  the  Hawaiian  government  before  the  annexation  of  Hawaii. 
Did  they  finally  land  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  would  like  to  find  out  whether  anyone  con- 
nected with  the  commission  knows  whether  these  men  were  actually 
permitted  to  land.  I  want  to  know  whether  or  not  the  Japanese  w^ho 
were  denied  landing  were  eventually  permitted  to  land. 

Mr.  Irwin.  My  present  impression  is  that  they  were  landed.  I  can 
get  you  that  definite  information. 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  Chairman,  can  it  be  arranged  so  that  we  will  cer- 
tainly get  that  information  in  the  record? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  will  furnish  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  Japanese  are  of  voting  age  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Seven  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven.  That 
includes  women  and  men  of  voting  age  or  citizens  of  voting  age. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  became  of  those  10,000  Japanese  brides?  Are 
they  there  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  I  presume  so.  They  not  only  married  citizens,  but 
they  married  aliens. 

Mr.  Sabath.  They  have  not  all  married  citizens. 

Mr.  Rawlins.  There  is  another  disqualification  or  disqualifying 
provision,  and  that  is  that  he  must  understand  and  be  able  to  read  and 
write  the  English  or  Hawaiian  language  before  he  can  register  as  a 
voter. 

The  Chairman.  They  maintain  schools  for  the  purpose  of  teaching 
them  the  English  language  ? 

Mr.  Rawlins.  Yes,  sir;  but  they  can  get  instruction  in  the  public 
schools  only  until  they  are  16  or  17  years  of  age.  Those  brides  have 
married  plantation  laborers,  aliens  as  well  as  citizens.  Before  they 
can  vote  they  must  be  able  to  read,  write,  and  speak  the  English  or 
Hav/aiian  language.  If  they  can  not  meet  that  qualification,  they 
can  not  register. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  ever  heard  any  statement  regarding 
the  fact  that  Japanese  serving  in  the  United  States  Army  in  Hawaii 
brought  in  picture  brides,  and  that,  in  order  to  conform  to  the 
Japanese  Government's  regulations  concerning  the  brides,  those 
Japanese  soldiers  in  our  Army  had  to  step  down  to  the  Japanese 
consulate  and  reafl[irm  their  allegiance  to  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment, in  order  to  get  the  brides  ? 

Mr.  Rawlins.  I  am  familiar  with  the  Japanese  system  of  keeping 
records.  I  have  been  in  Japan,  and  spent  three  and  a  half  months 
there  a  couple  of  years  ago.  Every  Japanese  that  comes  to  Hawaii 
has  to  have  a  passport  from  his  home  Government,  and  he  has  to 
register  with  the  Japanese  consul.  Then,  in  the  home  town  of 
that  Japanese  in  Japan  they  have  an  office  where  they  keep  a  regis- 
ter of  every  Japanese  family,  or  what  is  known  as  a  family  register. 
That  register  is  very  accurately  kept.  The  business  on  which  I 
went  to  Japan  was  business  connected  with  the  estate  of  a  Japanese 
who  had  married  a  Hawaiian  woman  and  had  had  three  children 
by  her.  He  went  back  to  Japan  and  died,  and  I  was  appointed  by 
the  court  to  go  to  Japan  to  protect  the  interests  of  those  minor 
children,  or  American-born  minors.  I  found  in  the  town  of  Kurume 
56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  1 14 


418  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Fukuoka,  on  the  island  of  Kyshu,  in  the  town  records,  a  family 
record  of  this  Japanese  who  had  gone  to  Hawaii. 

There  was  a  record  of  his  birth,  of  his  marriage  to  this  Hawaiian 
woman,  and  a  record  of  the  birth  of  his  children,  giving  all  the  dates. 
It  was  all  accurately  kept,  giving  the  exact  dates  of  the  birth  of 
those  children  in  Hawaii.  There  is  a  family  record  of  every  Jap- 
anese, and  that  information  goes  through  the  Japanese  consul's 
office.  When  the  wife  dies,  her  name  is  stricken  from  the  record. 
Then,  if  he  brings  a  wife  from  Japan,  or  a  picture  bride,  that  is  added 
to  the  family  record,  and  every  child  born  is  added  to  the  family 
record.  That  is  the  system  they  have  in  Japan.  They  bring  the 
picture  bride  to  Hawaii  if  they  can  pass  the  immigration  authorities,, 
and  most  of  them  are  married  there  in  the  immigration  station. 

Mr.  Sabath.  You  have  not  answered  the  chairman's  question  as 
to  the  Japanese  soldiers. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  been  informed  that  Japanese  soldiers  in, 
the  United  States  Army  who  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  United  States  in  order  to  do  military  service  have  brought 
picture  brides  in,  and  that  in  order  to  receive  the  brides  they  are 
obliged  to  make  a  new  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment. 

Mr.  Eawlins.  I  have  never  heard  of  that.  The  only  Japanese 
soldiers  I  have  known  of  in  the  United  States  Army  were  those 
taken  in  at  the  time  of  the  draft  during  the  war,  but  I  have  never 
heard  of  the  proposition  that  they  had  to  reaffirm  their  allegiance  to 
the  Japanese  Government  in  order  to  get  their  picture  brides. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Would  they,  as  American  citizens,  be  permitted  to 
bring  in  picture  brides  ? 

Mr.  Rawlins.  I  do  not  see  any  objection  to  it  under  the  present 
system  so  long  as  there  is  no  disqualification,  so  far  as  the  man  is  con- 
cerned, and  so  long  as  the  woman  meets  the  test  required  by  the 
immigration  laws,  such  as  the  requirement  that  she  shall  not  be 
suffering  from  trachoma  or  any  kindred  disease  when  she  is  admitted 
as  an  immigrant. 

Mr.  Raker.  Will  you  state  over  again  the  number  of  Japanese  in 
Hawaii  21  years  of  age? 

Mr.  Weeber.  I  can  not  segregate  it  as  between  men  and  women. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  Japanese  men  and  women  are  21  years  of. 
age? 
J,     Mr.  Weeber.  There  are  7,267  that  are  citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  Citizens? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Seven  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  you  get  my  question  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  I  did  not  ask  those  that  could  vote;  I  am  asking 
the  number  of  those  of  that  age. 

Mr.  W^EEBER.  Yes,  sir;  7,267. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  there  are  none  over  21  years  of  age  who  are 
citizens,  Japanese,  that  can  not  vote  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Some  of  that  7,267  may  be  disqualified  for  educa- 
tional or  other  reasons.     I  have  nothing,  of  course,  to  show  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  Will  you  insert  in  this  connection  that  statute  relative 
to  the  qualifications  to  vote  ? 

Mr.   Weeber.  Yes,  sir. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  419 

(The  statute  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

[Revised  laws  of  Hawaii  (1915),  organic  act,  an  act  to  provide  a  government  for  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 

p.  42.1 

Sec.  60.  Qualifications  of  voters  for  representatives. — That  in  order  to  bo 
qualified  to  vote  for  representatives  a  person  Shall — 

First.  Be  a  male  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

Second.  Have  resided  in  the  Territory  not  less  than  one  year  preceding  and  in  the 
representative  district  in  which  he  offers  to  register  not  less  than  three  months  imme- 
diately preceding  the  time  at  which  he  offers  to  register. 

Third.  Have  attained  the  age  of  twenty -one  years. 

Fourth.  Prior  to  each  regular  election,  during  the  time  prescribed  by  law  for  regis- 
tration, have  caused  his  name  to  be  entered  on  the  register  of  voters  for  representatives 
for  his  district. 

Fifth.  Be  able  to  speak,  read,  and  write  the  English  or  Hawaiian  language. 

This  s.  applied  to  the  first  Territorial  election,  to  the  exclusion  of  R.  S.  s.  1859  (13 
H.  17);  residence  in  the  Territory  for  a  year  means  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  is  not 
limited  to  the  time  subsequent  to  the  establishm.ent  of  Territorial  government  (13  H. 
17);  a  person  who  lives  on  a  steamer  engaged  in  interisland  trade  is  not  a  resident  of  a 
particular  precinct,  though  the  steamer  docks  at  such  precinct  when  at  Honolulu  and 
that  is  her  home  port  (13  H.  22).  This  s.  and  s.  62  control  as  to  qualifications  of  voters 
in  city  and  county  elections  (19  H.  178).  This  s.  is  referred  to  also  in  14  H.  146; 
15  H.  266;  19  H.  227.  On  qualifications  of  voters,  see  also  ss.  18,  62,  63;  on  citizen- 
ship, see  also  ss.  4  and  100;  on  registration,  see  s.  64  of  this  act,  and  R.  L.  ss.  61-77. 


[Revised  laws  of  Hawaa  (1915),  organic  act,  an  act  to  provide  a  government  for  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 

p.  42.] 

Sec.  62.  Qualifications  of  voters  for  senators  and  in  all  other  elections. — 
That  in  order  to  be  qualified  to  vote  for  senators  and  for  voting  in  all  other  elections  in 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii  a  person  must  possess  all  the  qualifications  and  be  subject  to 
all  the  conditions  required  by  this  act  of  voters  for  representatives. 

An  election  under  a  county  act  is  one  of  the  "other  elections"  referred  to  in  this 
section;  in  such  case  the  registration  list  for  the  last  previous  general  election  should 
be  used  (]5  H.  265);  but  now  see  R.  L.  ss.  61-77,  providing  for  permanent  registration. 
Referred  to  in  19  H.  227.     See  also  19  H.  178,  referred  to  in  note  to  s.  60. 

Mr.  Sabath.  What  is  the  total  Japanese  population  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  One  hundred  and  nine  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventy-four. 

Mr.  Sabath.  And  the  jChinese  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Twenty-three  thousand  five  hundred  and  seven. 

Mr.  Sabath.  That  includes  even  those  who  are  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  It  includes  citizens  and  aliens  of -Chinese  birth  or 
ancestry. 

Mr.  Sabath.  And  the  hundred  and  odd  thousand  also  includes 
aliens  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  It  does. 

Mr.  Sabath.  The  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Sabath.  What  is  the  total  population  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Two  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  twelve,  according  to  the  last  census. 

Mr.  Kleczi^a..  Then,  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  are  in  the  majority 
right  now  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  The  Japanese  alone  constitute  42.7  per  cent  of  the 
population  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  the  Chinese  constitute  about 
9  per  cent. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Can  you  give  us  the  information  in  regard  to  the 
Japanese  immigration  to  the  islands  ? 


420  LABOR  PROBLEMS   11^   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Weeber.  Yes,  sir;  we  can  give  it ■ 

Mr.  Sabath.  By  years  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  By  years  since  1910. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Before  that;  we  will  say,  from  1900.  You  do  not 
have  that  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  I  do  not  have  it  here,  but  I  can  get  it. 

Mr.  Sabath.  What  was  it  from  1910  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  The  total  net  increase  in  Japanese  aliens  by  immi- 
gration was  25,409.  Understand,  please,  that  is  the  difference 
between  the  immigrants  arriving  and  the  emigrants  departing. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Yes. 

Mr.  Weeber.  An  increase  of  25,409  Japanese  aliens  in  the  last  11 
years. 

Mr.  Sabath.  In  the  last  11  years,  notwithstanding  the  war? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Notwithstanding  the  war  and  all  other  conditions. 
The  Japanese  immigration  for  the  last  three  years,  for  instance,  has 
averaged  2,400;  the  departures  averaged  200  or  less. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  the  last  three  years  more  than  600  have  left  the 
islands  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Can  you  inform  us  how  that  is  possible  in  view  of 
the  '^ gentleman's  agreement?'' 

Mr.  Weeber.  Of  course,  Japanese  residents  are  permitted  to  leave 
the  Territory  and  to  reenter  the  Territory,  provided  they  do  so 
within  the  prescribed  limit  of  time. 

Mr.  Sabath.  But  there  must  have  been  a  large  number  of  new 
Japanese  that  entered  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  There  was  a  large  number  of  new  Japanese  that  en- 
tered, some  of  them  being  the  so-called  picture  brides.  The  number 
of  picture  brides  admitted  during  the  last  decade  alone  was  10,617. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Sabath,  members  of  the  Japanese  family  are 
eligible  to  come  in,  and  that  will  account  for  a  good  many  of  the 
new  Japanese  coming  to  the  islands;  that  is,  families  of  the  men 
who  are  in  the  islands. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  How  about  the  Chinese  ?     * 

Mr.  Weeber.  The  Chinese  have  steadily  decreased  during  the  last 
10  years.  The  emigration  from  the  islands  has  exceeded  the  immi- 
gration to  the  islands  by  1,489. 

Mr.  Sabath.  In  the  last  10  years  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  In  the  last  10  years. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Horner,  did  you  raise  any  sugar  cane,  or  was 
there  any  sugar-cane  industry  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  before  their 
annexation  to  the  United  States  in  1889  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  worked  in  it,  then?  Did  the  Hawaiians  work 
in  it? 

Mr.  Horner.  The  Hawaiians,  Chinese,  Portuguese,  and  about  that 
time  the  Japanese  began  to  come. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  before  they  came  in,  did  the  Hawaiians  engage  in 
the  production  of  sugar  cane — the  raising  of  sugar  cane  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes;  they  always  have  to  an  extent. 

Mr;  Raker.  Then  your  statement  this  morning  is  very  disconcert- 
ing to  me,  in  that  you  stated  the  Hawaiians  could  not  work  in  the 
sugar-cane  fields.     What  did  you  mean  by  that  ? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  421 

Mr.  Horner.  Well,  the  work  the  Hawaians  do,  mostly,  is  acting  as 
teamsters,  lunas,  and  things  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  Sabath.  They  do  the  higher  grade  of  work  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Engineers  and  carpenters.  Very  rarely  do  you  see 
them  out  in  the  cane  field  cutting  cane  and  loading  cane.  During  the 
strike  last  year,  some  Hawaiians  did  cut  and  load  cane,  but  not  for 
very  long. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  my  question  has  reference  to  your  early  acquaint- 
ance with  Hawaii  and  the  Hawaiian  people.  They  raised  sugar  and 
raised  their  native  products  there,  and  my  question  is  whether  or  not 
they  did  the  work  themselves. 

Mr.  Horner.  Not  in  my  time.  I  say  the  Hawaiians  have  always 
been  employed,  more  or  less,  on  the  plantations,  but  very  rarel}^  in  the 
cutting  and  loading  of  the  cane. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  I  understand  further,  from  your  statement,  that 
some  action  should  or  must  be  taken  by  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  to  show  that  the  commission  has  the  backing  of  Congress,  for 
if  you  returned  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  without  legislation  that  will 
authorize  you  to  bring  in  Chinese  in  sufficient  number  to  do  your  work, 
the  Japanese  will  feel  that  they  practically  have  control  of  the  situa- 
tion and  you  will  be  in  a  very  critical  condition  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  will  that  effect  be,  now  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Well,  I  think  they  will  at  once  demand  higher  wages, 
and  if  they  are  not  paid,  they  will  not  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  what  will  be  the  result  then  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Either  we  will  have  to  concede  their  demand  or  let 
our  fields  go  uncultivated. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  about  their  being  taken  over  and  cultivated  by 
the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  think  they  have  that  in  mind  now.  If  the  relief 
asked  for  is  granted,  there  will  be  very  little  danger  of  the  Japanese 
getting  control  of  the  industry  down  there;  if  it  is  not  granted,  there 
will  be  great  danger  of  it.     In  fact,  I  feel  sure  it  will  come  about. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  about  the  other  industries  outside  of  the  sugar 
industry  ?     Can  they  now,  in  a  general  way,  practically  control  them  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  if  the  Japanese  cease  to  work  in  the  sugar  indus- 
try, there  will  be  just  that  many  more  to  w^ork  in  all  the  other  indus- 
tries of  the  islands,  which  they  practically  control  at  the  present 
time ;  is  that  right  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  it  will  be,  in  effect,  the  domination  by  the  Japa- 
nese of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  practically  the  condition  now  in  all  of  the 
industries,  saving  and  except  the  sugar  industry;  is  that  true? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  think  they  are  in  the  majority  in  the  pineanple 
fields.  They  do  not  cultivate  rice  to  any  extent,  if  at  all.  They 
dominate  the  vegetable  gardens,  and  I  think  the  coffee  industry,  also. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  if  the  Japanese  Government  was  successful  in 
sending  a  warship  to  Hawaii  and  getting  damages  because  it  did  not 
land  their  nationals,  and  they  ffnaliy  landed  their  nationals,  and  since 


422  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

have  been  able,  through  a  communication  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  to  continue  to  land  them,  and  Congress  now  brings 
in  an  oriental  race  to  take  their  place,  avowedly  to  do  the  work ■ 

Mr.  Horner.  It  is  not  to  take  their  place. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right,  I  will  put  it  another  way — to  do  the  work 
for  the  sugar  industry  and  others,  then  we  must  expect  the  Japanese 
Government  and  her  nationals  to  continue  to  press  their  demands 
that  they  be  permitted  to  have  carte  blanche  rights  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  in  regard  to  their  nationals.     Is  not  that  about  it  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  should  say  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  all,  Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  Does  anyone  else  desire  to  ask  any  questions  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  want  to  ask  Mr.  Irwin  one  question.  You  under- 
stand what  Mr.  Mead's  proposition  was  as  a  solution  for  this,  Mr. 
Irwin  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  is,  that  we  remove  the  literacy  test  and  permit 
practically  unlimited  immigration  from  Europe  to  Hawaii,  but  with 
the  requirement  that  the  passports  should  be  so  arranged  that  they 
would  not  be  allowed  to  come  to  the  United  States  until  they  became 
American  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  do  you  think  of  that  proposition  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  think  that  would  offer  something  like  a  permanent 
solution  of  the  problem  which  would  give  us  a  class  of  people  who 
could  eventually  become  citizens  and  who  would,  if  we  could  induce 
them  to  remain  on  the  soil  there  for  a  long  enough  period,  get  attached 
to  the  country,  and  it  would  make  them  feel  as  though  that  country 
was  their  home.  Under  the  present  conditions  they  do  not  stay  there 
long  enough  to  get  a  feeling  of  permanence  or  attachment  to  the 
country.  We  believe  if  we  could  keep  them  there  for  a  period  of  five 
or  seven  years,  or  whatever  period  may  be  required,  they  would  get 
that  feeling  if  they  would  stay  there  that  long,  and  we  would  get  a 
permanent  population. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Would  that,  in  your  judgment,  be  preferable  to  the 
resolution  that  has  been  offered  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  is  not  any  doubt  about  it  in  my  mind,  as  far  as 
a  permanent  immigration  policy  for  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  con- 
cerned, if  we  could  get  that  class  of  people  in  there  and  keep  them 
there. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  it  your  judgment,  from  your  knowledge  of  the 
situation,  if  this  exception  was  made  and  relaxation  as  to  the  immi- 
gration requirements,  that  the  Europeans  would  come  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Oh,  I  think  so.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  doubt  about 
that. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Do  you  concur  in  that  judgment,  Mr.  Dillingham, 
because  that  is  virtually  what  I  had  in  mind  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  you  will  find  in  the  record  I  have  made 
a  statement  similar  to  this:  We  have  two  definite  problems.  One 
is  an  emergency  proposition,  and  the  other  is  a  question  of  perma- 
nent immigration  policy.  We  are  facing  an  emergency  to-day;  and 
we  can  not  wait  two  or  three  years  for  a  remedy  and  have  money 
enough  to  assist  immigration.  And  I  doubt  if  we  would  be  able  to 
hold  our  industry  together,  because  the  amount  of  money  that  will 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  423 

be  lost  to  the  Territory  and  to  the  industries  in  the  next  three  years 
will  cramp  and  temporarily  cr'ipple,  if  not  permanently  cripple,  the 
industries  of  that  country. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Right  there:  With  this  suspension  of  immigration 
to  the  mainland,  with  tens  of  thousands  of  eligible  immigrants 
clamoring  to  be  admitted,  should  word  go  out  that  there  are  oppor- 
tunities in  Hawaii,  would  not  that  immigration  be  diverted  to  the 
'islands,  and  would  not  that  immigration  be  far  preferable  to  this 
oriental  temporary  immigration  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  wish  very  much  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor 
could  be  put  in  a  position  to  make  an  immediate  study  of  the  situa- 
tion there  and  meet  the  requirements  or,  rather,  meet  the  necessities 
of  the  situation  in  Hawaii.  This  bill,  if  you  go  back  to  the  text  of  it, 
does  not  request  that  this  country  permit  Chinese  to  come  to  the 
"islands;  it  puts  the  power  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  for  a  limited 
number  of  years  to  meet  a  very  serious  emergency.  We  are  very 
anxious  to  have  your  permanent  immigration  bill  make  provision 
for  Hawaii  which  will  permit  of  doing  just  what  Judge  Irwin  has 
suggested. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  And  if  any  relief  measure  is  offered  and  excludes 
"the  admission  of  Chinese,  so  as  not  to  break  our  Chinese  exclusion 
law,  would  not  that  solve  the  situation  ?  Would  it  not  be  beneficial 
to  Hawaii  and  yet  not  tear  down  the  barriers  w^e  have  already  put  up 
against  orientals  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  You  have  not  anything  to  offer  to  the  Europeans, 
have  you,  except  a  couple  of  dollars  a  day  to  work  ?  Are  you  willing 
to  sell  them  land  as  an  inducement  to  them  to  come  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  record  will  show  inducements  of  that  sort 
have  been  made;  we  gave  them  homes  and  gave  them  lands,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  year  we  did  not  have  one  on  the  land.  If  the  bill 
provided  that  they  had  to  remain  in  the  islands,  I  assure  you  that 
would  be  a  great  help  to  the  situation.  We  have  to  get  somebody, 
and  that  is  the  best  proposition,  surely,  as  a  matter  of  permanent 
policy,  although  it  will  certainly  not  relieve  the  present  grave 
emergency. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  But  are  not  the  conditions  in  Europe  to-day  such 
that  you  can  not  go  back  to  your  experience  of  a  few  years  ago  ? 
Are  not  the  conditions  in  Europe  to-day  such  that  if  those  people 
would  come  to  Hawaii  they  would  better  their  condition  over  the 
places  where  they  came  from,  and  they  would  stay  there  permanently, 
perhaps  ?  There  is  no  work  and  no  opportunity  in  some  of  the 
European  countries  and  they  are  coming  in  the  steerage  to  our  ports, 
penniless.  Now,  when  they  come  here  they  can  not  engage  in  any 
gainful  occupations,  with  the  unemployment  here  to-day,  and  if  they 
had  that  knowledge  that  they  could  go  to  Hawaii  and  engage  in  these 
pursuits  and  earn  a  living,  notwithstanding  the  hardships  of  the  tem- 
perature, would  not  they  be  likely  to  remain  and  would  not  that  be 
far  better  than  to  admit  these  Chinese  temporarily? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  there  is  no  question  at  all  but  that,  if  we 
could  build  in  an  immigrant  base  there  which  would  permit  of  pro- 
ducing American  citizens,  with  the  ideals  of  American  citizens  we 
have  here  in  the  mainland,  it  would  be  far  preferable  to  any  transient 
or  rotating  scheme  such  as  has  been  discussed.  If  we  could  get  the 
j)eople  there  in  the  numbers  qualified  to  do  the  work,  able  to  do  it,  so 


424  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

that  from  an  economic  standpoint  we  can  hold  our  own  in  the  produc- 
tion of  tropical  products,  I  would  he  very  much  in  favor  of  it. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Much  of  the  emigration  from  central  Europe  is  farm 
emigration.  They  have  tilled  the  soil;  they  have  worked,  in  the 
sugar-beet  fields;  and  they  have  raised  potatoes  and  corn,  and  they 
have  worked  out  in  the  open;  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  tempera- 
ture, perhaps,  the  conditions  are  the  same  in  southern  and  eastern 
Europe  as  they  are  in  your  Territory. 

Mr."  Dillingham.  The  exception  you  put  in  is  the  meat  of  the 
coconut. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Of  course,  I  have  never  been  in  Hawaii,  but  I  do  not 
think  the  temperature  is  so  great  that  that  one  thing  would  drive 
them  out. 

The  Chairman.  You  said,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Kleczka's  question, 
that  this  was  to  meet  an  emergency  and  did  not  apply  to  a  particular 
people  at  all;  and  yet  you  start  right  off — 

For  a  period  of  five  years  from  the  passage  of  this  joint  resolution  the  Secretary  of 
Labor  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  empowered,  under  such  conditions  and  regulations  as  he 
shall  prescribe,  to  admit  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  such  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible 
as  he  may  deem  necessary  to  meet  the  emergency  existing  in  the  shortage  of  agricul- 
tural labor. 

Do  you  take  that  to  read  that  he  could  bring  in  Europeans  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Who  were  illiterate  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  And  if  a  subsequent  bill  provided  that  men  not 
able  tt>  pass  the  literacy  test  could  come  in,  it  would  be  a  very  simple 
matter  to  admit  those  until^ 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  drop  the  subsequent  bill  for  a  minute.. 
You  say  this  does  permit  the  Secretary  to  admit  European  people. 
Then  we  will  assume  he  might  admit  some,  that  this  is  not  entirely 
for  the  purpose  of  admitting  Chinese.     Then  you  provide: 

That  such  aliens  shall  be  admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of  time,  for  the  purpose- 
of  engaging  only  in  agricultural  labor  or  domestic  service. 

Would  that  be  all  right  to  apply  to  the  European  people  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  they  are  in  the  situation  over  there  that  has 
been  suggested,  I  should  think  they  would  be  very  glad  indeed  of  this 
opportunity  to  take  up  the  work  we  have  to  offer  them. 

The  Chairman.  All  right.     Then  you  say: 

*  *  *  that  the  regulations  shall  provide  for  and  secure  the  return  of  such  laborers 
to  their  respective  countries  upon  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited. 

Do  you  think  that  would  be  all  right  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  it  would  be  extremely  unfortunate  for 
it  to  find  its  way  into  subsequent  legislation. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  if  the  Secretary  did  read  this  that  in  addi- 
tion to  the  Chinese  you  could  get  people  from  central  Europe,  it 
would  be  understood  they  had  to  go  back? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  would  be  the  requirement  under  this  reso- 
lution. 

The  Chairman.  And  if  we  did  pass  this,  admitting  the  Chinese 
primarity  but  admitting  the  Europeans  also,  would  we  not  be  called 
upon  before  the  five  years  were  up  to  lift  the  ban  as  to  sending  the 
Europeans  back  and  not  to  lift  it  as  to  sending  the  Chinese  back?: 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  425 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  see  why  that  would  be  any  more 
severe  on  the  Chhiese  than  the  present  Laws. 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  but  we  are  supposed  to  work  with  some  sort 
of  order  here.  And  don't  you  imagine  this  would  be  availed  of  by 
the  Europeans  to  get  in  this  way  and  stay,  and  when  the  time  came  for 
the  Chinese  to  go  back  that  you  would  propose  again  to  us  that  the 
Chinese  be  permitted  to  stay  for  another  five  years  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  what  we  would  do, 
now. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  that  resolution  provided  that  at  the  end  of  it  the 
Chinese  exclusion  act  was  to  remain  in  full  force  and  effect,  notwith- 
standing this  resolution,  would  you  be  in  favor  of  that  resolution 
then  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No;  I  would  not  be  in  favor  of  it,  Mr.  Raker, 
because  I  have  not  the  confidence  that  some  of  our  committeemen 
here  seem  to  have  that  we  can  make  that  scheme  work.  We  have 
made  an  honest  effort  to  do  the  very  things  suggested  here  now; 
and  due  to  the  fact  that  the  conditions  in  Europe  are  somewhat 
changed  and  the  immigration  laws  of  America  are  changed,  whether 
or  not  we  would  be  able  to  hold  those  men  on  the  land  to  do  the 
work  successfully  and  satisfactorily  for  us,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say. 

Mr.  Sabath.  What  would  you  think  about  this  amendment,  that 
all  those  who  were  eligible  to  become  American  citizens  could  remain 
at  the  expiration  of  the  five  years  if  they  placed  themselves  by  that 
time  in  a  position  to  become  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  that  might  be  a  very  helpful  amendment. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Except  those  who  can  become  American  citizens 
from  deportation  at  the  end  of  the  five  years,  if  they  can  within  that 
time  qualify  under  the  law  to  become  American  citizens. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  that  would  be  a  wise  provision. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  then,  who  is  going  to  pay  for  this  deporta- 
tion ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  would  have  to  be  arranged  through  the 
Territorial  immigration  board  or  by  some  similar  agency  provided 
for  the  purpose. 

The  Chairman.  You  understand  in  ordinary  cases  of  deportation  ^ 
when  the  United  States  Government  is  about  to  deport  a  person  it 
has  to  arrange  with  the  country  to  which  he  is  to  be  deported  that 
the  country  will  receive  him  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Under  the  agreement  which  will  have  to  be 
known  to  the  Government  from  which  the  immigrant  comes,  their 
consent  to  receive  him  would  be  a  part  of  the  arrangement. 

The  Chairman.  That  would  be  all  right  as  regards  China,  I  assume, 
but  I  have  not  gone  into  that  yet  with  the  State  Department.  There 
is  one  other  question.  I  understood  you  to  say  a  day  or  two  ago, 
as  a  result  of  that  strike,  that  wages  were  increased  about  50  per  cent  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  base  wage  was  increased  from  70  cents  to 
$1.15  a  day.  As  that  is  part  of  a  system  of  wage,  it  is  not  proper  to 
consider  one  feature  of  it  alone. 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  want  to  consider  one  feature  of  it,  but  I 
am  going  to  make  a  suggestion  here.  It  has  been  challenged  by 
Mr.  Horner,  that  we  offer  no  suggestion  for  relief,  and  I  think  I  can 
make  a  little  suggestion  that  will  help  along  pending  a  solution  of  the 
emergency.     You  have  already  given  in  on  the  base  wage;  you  have 


426  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

increased  the  base  wage  and  lowered  the  percentage  of  the  bonus — the 
bonus  is  less  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  would  it  take  you  to  get  rid  of  the  bonus 
entirely  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  With  the  present  price  of  sugar  it  would  not  take 
very  long.     With  sugar  at  4  cents  there  is  no  bonus. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  sugar  now  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Practically  4  cents. 

The  Chairman.  I  noticed  in  the  dispatches  it  dropped  this  morning. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Again. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  was  for  refined,  I  think^5.40. 

The  Chairman.  Does  that  affect  the  price  of  the  sugar  you  export  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  price  of  the  refined  is  based  upon  the  price  of  the 
raw. 

The  Chairman.  Your  base  wage  has  been  raised  from  what? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  From  70  cents  to  $1.15. 

The  Chairman.  $1.15  is  the  base  wage? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  A  month's  work  is  26  days  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Twenty-six  days. 

The  Chairman.  In  addition  to  the  $1.15,  you  give  them  housing: 
Is  there  any  charge  whatever  for  housing  on  any  of  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No  charge  whatever  that  I  know  of  on  any  of 
the  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  have  plantation  stores  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have. 

The  Chairman.  Are  the  employees  given  credit  at  those  stores? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  are. 

The  Chairman.  Are  the  stores  run  for  profit  ?  ♦ 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  are  not. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  have  plantation  meat  markets  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  have. 

The  Chairman.  And  the  employees  are  given  credit  there  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  are. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  operated  for  profit? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  are  not. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  different  from  the  old  company  coal- 
mining store  that  used  to  exist  in  Illinois  and  elsewhere  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  those. 

The  Chairman.  Between  the  saloon,  the  store,  and  the  meat 
market,  the  employee  never  had  anything  left. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  Japanese  would  not  have  been  able  to 
send  $17,000,000  home  last  year,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  the  Illinois  system 
had  been  applied  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Oh,  I  take  exception  to  the  chairman's  statements  as 
to  Illinois. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  it  was  perhaps  before  you  were  born. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  can  remember  some  of  those  things  did  exist,  but 
we  put  a  stop  to  it. 

The  Chairman.  It  took  public  opinion  and  a  general  upheaval  and 
legislation  to  do  away  with  that  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  not  altogether  done  away  with  yet. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  furnish  ice  to  any  of  these  employees  ? 


LABOK  PEOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII,  427 

Mr.  Dillingham.  On  a  number  of  the  plantations  they  have  an 
ice  pLant  which  furnishes  them  with  ice  practically  at  cost.  I  would 
like  to  say  this  in  regard  to  the  store  proposition,  that  there  is  hardly 
a  plantation  on  the  islands  where  there  are  not  independent  stores 
on  the  plantation,  and  there  is  no  obligation  upon  the  employee  to 
buy  from  the  company  store. 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  see  about  that;  let  us  see  how  it  works: 
The  employee  gets  a  wage  and  he  also  gets  a  bonus,  payable  monthly  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  bonus  is  paid  75  per  cent  monthly,  and  the 
balance  of  the  bonus,  25  per  cent,  is  paid  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  practical  proposition,  isn't  there  a  tempta- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  employee  to  trade  at  the  store  and  charge  it 
against  his  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  accounts  are  settled  monthly  with  the 
employee. 

The  Chairman.  Does  he  know  in  advance  what  his  bonus  is  going 
to  be  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  bonus  is  figured  at  the  end  of  the  month  on 
the  New  York  price. 

The  Chairman.  Don't  you  think  it  would  be  better  to  get  rid  of 
the  bonus  and  pay  a  wage  of  whatever  should  be  paid  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  all  regret  exceedingly  that  the  bonus  system 
w^as  not  done  away  with  some  time  ago;  and  a  large  part  of  our  labor 
shortage  is  due  to  the  abnormal  returns  given  to  the  laborers  last 
year. 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  you  got  caught  in  a  trap  there? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  did. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  then,  part  of  this  strike  and  part  of  this 
protest  is  from  the  fact  that  the  man  who  had  small  pay  and  a  big 
bonus  is  now  being  forced  to  drop  back  to  small  pay  and  not  much 
bonus  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  To  drop  back  to  more  pay  than  he  received  and 
not  much  bonus. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  say  they  ascertain  the  bonus  and  pay  it  at  the 
end  of  each  month.  How  can  they  do  that?  Suppose  at  the  last 
month  the  sugar  would  rise  in  price  50  per  cent  or  25  per  cent;  would 
not  his  bonus  apply  only  to  sugar  disposed  of  on  the  New  York 
market  each  month  ?     Will  you  explain  that  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  will  ask  to  call  on  Mr.  Horner,  who  has  ad- 
justed these  bonuses  with  the  field  laborers  many,  many  times. 

The  Chairman.  Still,  until  war  prices  began  to  affect  sugar,  the 
bonus  was  never  a  big  item  to  labor  in  the  field,  was  it  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  was  quite  a  substantial  item  and  was  made  so 
that  he  could  make  a  bonus  out  of  it.  The  proposition  of  hanging  up 
a  reward  out  of  reach  is  not  one  that  works  successfully  for  any  period 
of  time.  This  bonus  was  made  on  a  basis  which  was  believed  to  be 
a  fair  profit-sharing  arrangement  with  labor,  to  make  them  happy 
and  contented,  to  make  them  interested  to  hold  on  and  stay  with  us 
and  to  share  in  the  average  results  of  the  enterprise. 

Mr.  McClellan.  You  have  not  mentioned  one  of  the  main  pur- 
poses, to  induce  them  to  give  continuous  work  by  requiring  20  days. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Of  course,  the  foundation  idea  of  the  arrangement 
is  to  induce  the  labor  to  turn  out  at  l^ast  20  days  out  of  the  month, 
so  that  there  will  be  a  continuity  of  service  and,  in  that  way,  a 


428  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

guaranty  of  our  ability  to  get  around  to  the  work  necessary  to  be  done 
during  the  year. 

Mr.  Horner.  That  bonus  system  is  about  as  follows:  The  laborers 
are  paid  on  the  15th  day  generally  of  the  month  following  the  month 
when  the  work  is  performed,  and  they  are  paid  a  regular  wage  plus 
the  75  per  cent  of  the  bonus,  based  on  the  average  price  of  sugar  in 
New  York,  no  matter  what  it  sold  for — on  the  average  quoted  price. 
The  other  25  per  cent  is  paid  at  the  end  of  the  year;  a.nd  that,  together 
with  the  first  bonus,  is  based  on  the  average  price  for  the  sugar  during 
the  entire  year. 

The  Chairman.  Is  any  bonus  paid  in  the  pineapple  field? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes.     We  have  been  paying  a  wage  bonus. 

The  Chairman.  How  is  that? 

Mr.  Horner.  We  paid  so  much  if  they  worked  20  days;  and,  if 
they  worked  less  than  20  days,  we  paid  less  money.  I  think  on  our 
place  we  paid  a  wage  of  $1.70  if  they  worked  less  than  20  days;  if  they 
worked  more  than  20  days,  I  think  the  rate  last  year  was  $3.25. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  just  exactly  what  I  v/anted  to  get  at,  that 
the  bonus  paid  on  the  sugar  plantation  interfered  with  the  wage 
scale  on  the  pineapple  plantation  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  It  surely  did. 

The  Chairman.  It  does  and  will  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  And  will,  and  in  every  other  industry.  I  am  against 
the  bonus  system  myself. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  you  think  it  would  help  relieve  the  labor 
situation  there  if  the  bonus  system  were  done  away  with  entirely  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Well,  that  is  my  impression. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Mr.  Horner,  wouldn't  it  be  to  the  interest  of  the 
islands  to  increase  the  wage  of  these  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  That  would  be  a  very  good  thing,  but  you  must  not 
forget  that  our  products  there  have  to  meet  the  competition  of  the 
products  grown  in  other  tropical  parts  of  the  world,  where  they  pay 
no  more  than  we  pay  and  their  freight  rates  to  market  are  less. 

Mr.  Sabath.  What  are  the  wages  paid  by  the  sugar  growers  to  the 
laborers  in  Cuba  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  understand  their  wage  there  is  practically  the  same 
as  ours.  I  was  in  Cuba  a  few  years  ago  and  at  that  time  the  wages 
were  practically  the  same. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Do  you  know  about  the  wages  in  Louisiana,  where 
they  grow  a  great  deal  of  sugar  cane  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  do  not;  no. 

Mr.  Sabath.  And  if  the]^  are  obliged  to  pay  50  or  100  per  cent  more 
in  Louisiana  for  the  same  labor,  would  not  Louisiana  suffer  and  could 
not  compete  with  you  people  in  growing  and  producing  sugar  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  do  not  think  they  are  paying  very  much  more  than 
we  are,  although  I  have  not  the  figures. 

Mr.  Sabath.  It  seems  to  me  $*1.15  a  day  is  a  very,  very,  low  wage. 

The  Chairman.  You  see,  that  is  the  trouble.  It  is  so  hard  to  dis- 
cuss what  the  actual  wage  is,  because  there  is  at  once  added  to  that 
wage  a  bonus  and  certain  perquisites. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Yes,  such  as  rents  and  other  advantages.  It  should 
be  taken  into  consideration,  but — • — 

Mr.  Horner.  I  think  that  those  perquisites  amount  to  somewhere- 
near  $10  a  month. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  429 

Mr.  Weeber.  They  represent  $25  a  month  to  the  laborers  them- 
selves. 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes,  if  they  had  to  provide  it  for  themselves,  but  it 
costs  the  plantation  about  $10  a  month. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  I  understand  you  to  say,  in  answer  to  a  question 
propounded  by  the  chairman  and  Mr.  Sabath,  that  the  laborer  in 
Cuba  receives  about  the  same  wage  as  the  laborer  in  Hawaii  on  the 
same  character  of  work  in  the  sugar  fields  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  When  I  was  in  Cuba  that  was  the  situation.  What 
it  is  now,  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  sugar  imported  from  Cuba  to  the  United 
States  has  to  pay  a  duty  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  One  and  six-tenths  was  what  it  used  to  pay;  I  do 
not  know  what  it  is  now. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  they  pay  no  duty  from  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Horner.  And  they  pay  no  duty  from  Hawaii.  And  let  me 
explain  right  there  that  that  tariff  or  duty  which  the  Cubans  pay  is 
all  absorbed  because  of  their  lower  cost  to  them  to  get  their  sugar 
to  the  market.  They  do  not  fertilize  and  they  do  not  irrigate  like 
we  do.  When  I  was  there,  they  did  not  fertilize  at  all;  whether  they 
do  now  or  not,  I  do  not  know.  But  those  two  items  alone  almost 
equalize  the  tariff  to  get  the  sugar  in. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  the  theory  does  not  work  out  that  a  differential 
Tate  should  go  to  the  laborer,  and  in  this  instance,  as  explained  by 
you,  it  goes  to  the  sugar  producer  in  building  up  his  crop,  etc.,  and  not 
to  the  laborer  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  do  not  think  I  understand  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  a  differential  in  the  amount  you  stated 
between  bringing  the  Cuban  sugar  to  the  United  States  and  the 
Hawaiian  sugar,  and  the  Cuban  sugar  has  to  pay  a  duty  and  the 
Hawaiian  sugar  does  not  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Rx\KER.  And  you  say  the  wages  in  Cuba  and  the  wages  in 
Hawaii  are  practically  the  same  for  the  same  character  of  work  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  instead  of  absorbing  this  amount  and  paying  a 
higher  wage  in  Cuba,  they  use  it  for  some  other  purpose,  so  that  the 
laboring  man  does  not  get  the  benefit  of  the  difierential. 

Mr.  Wilson.  They  can  produce  sugar  cheaper  than  we  can  in 
Louisiana  or  they  can  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  I  should  say  so. 

Mr.  Irwin.  In  answer  to  a  question,  Mr.  Horner,  you  said  that 
doing  away  with  the  bonus  would  eliminate  our'  labor  difficulties  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  No. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  what  you  said;  I  do  not  know  whether  you 
meant  to  say  that  or  not.  What  did  you  mean  when  you  made  that 
statement,  or  a  statement  similar  to  that  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  It  would  help  greatly  in  stabilizing  the  work  in  other 
industries. 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  would  add  nothing  to  our  labor  supply  ? 

Mr.  Horner.  No,  not  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  The  point  I  was  trying  to  make  was,  a  straight 
wage  in  lieu  of  a  bonus  would  enable  a  more  fair  presentation  of  the 
labor  situation  in  Hawaii. 


430  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   11^   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Sabath.  As  to  their  earnings  ? 

The  Chairman.  As  to  their  earnings. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  was  trying  to  have  appear  in  the  record  was 
that  this  tariff  thpy  put  on  for  the  benefit  of  labor  turns  out  now, 
so  far  as  the  Hawaiian  labor  is  concerned  and  the  Louisiana  cane- 
sugar  labor  and  the  beet-sugar  labor,  the  labor  in  Cuba  does  not  get 
the  benefit  of  the  differential. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  say  this,  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  labor,  because 
if  this  extra  cost  were  not  met  there  would  be  no  work  for  labor  in 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  Box.  I  desire  to  have  the  followidg  abstract  of  the  Japanese 
expatriation  law  inserted  in  the  record: 

AN    ABSTRACT    OP    EXPATRIATION    LAW    OP   JAPAN. 

Article  XVIII.  When  a  Japanese,  by  becoming  the  wife  of  a  foreigner,  has  ac- 
quired the  husband's  nationality,  then  such  Japanese  loees  her  Japanese  nationality.. 

Article  XX.  A  person  who  voluntarily  acquires  a  foreign  nationality  loses  Japanese 
nationalitv.  In  case  a  Japanese  subject  who  has  acquired  foreign  nationality  by 
reason  of  his  or  her  birth  in  a  foreign  country  has  domiciled  in  that  country,  he  or  she- 
may  be  expatriated  vdih  the  permission  of  the  minister  of  state  for  home  affairs. 
The  application  for  the  permission  referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph  shall  be- 
made  by  the  legal  representative  in  case  the  person  to  be  expatriated  is  younger  than 
15  years  of  age.  If  the  person  in  question  is  a  minor  above  15  years  of  age  or  a  person 
adjudged  incompentent,  the  application  can  be  made  with  the  consent  of  his  or  her 
legal  representative  or  guardian.  A  stepfather,  a  stepmother,  a  legal  mother,  or  a. 
guardian  maA^  not  make  the  application  or  give  the  consent  prescribed  in  the  preceding, 
paragraph  without  the  consent  of  the  family  council.  A  person  who  has  been  ex- 
patriated loses  Japanese  nationality. 

Article  XXIV.  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  the  preceding  six  articles  a. 
male  of  full  17  years  or  upwards  does  not  lose  Japanese  nationality  unless  he  has  com- 
pleted active  ser\dce  in  the  Army  or  Navy  or  he  is  under  no  obligation  to  enter  into  it. 
A  person  who  actually  occupies  an  official  post,  civil  or  military,  does  not  lose  Japanese 
nationality  notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  the  foregoing  seven  articles. 

Article  XXVI.  A  person  who  has  lost  Japanese  nationality  in  accordance  with 
Article  XX  may  recover  Japanese  nationality  provided  that  he  or  she  possesses  a 
domicile  in  Japan,  but  this  does  not  applv  when  the  person  mentioned  in  Article  XVI 
has  lost  Japanese  nationality.  In  case  the  person  who  has  lost  Japanese  nationality 
in  accordance  with  the  provision  of  Article  XX  is  younger  than  15  years  of  age,  the 
application  for  the  permission  prescribed  in  the  preceding  paragraph  shall  be  made 
by  the  father  who  is  the  member  of  the  family  to  which  such  person  belonged  at  the 
time  of  his  expatriation;  should  the  father  be  unable  to  do  so,  the  applicetion  shall 
be  made  by  the  mother;  if  the  mother  is  unable  to  do  so,  by  the  grandfather;  and  if; 
the  grandfather  is  unable  to  do  so,  then  by  the  grandmother. 

(The  committee  thereupon  went  into  executive  session.) 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Thursday,  June  30,  1921. 

The  committee  this  day  met,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson  (chairman)' 
presiding. 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  will  come  to  order.  Mr.  Chil- 
lingWorth,  of  the  commission,  is  present,  and  we  will  hear  him  briefly. 

STATEMENT  OF  ME.  CHARLES  F.  CHILLINGWOETH. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  My  name  is  Charles  F.  Chillingworth.  I  am 
a  member  of  the  commission  from  Hawaii  to  Congress  on  this  emer- 
gency labor  measure.     Aside  from  the  other  points  brought  out  by 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  431 

the  gentlemen  who  have  previously  made  statements  before  this 
committee,  I  would  like  to  call  the  attention  of  this  committee  to 
another  feature  of  our  economic  conditions  in  the  islands  which 
requires  careful  consideration. 

The  destruction  of  our  industrial  business  in  the  islands,  due 
to  our  labor  shortage,  is  going  to  have  this  result,  that  the  income  of 
the  Territory,  which  last  year  was  barely  enough  to  cover  our  ex- 
penses in  maintaining  and  carrying  on  our  Government  institutions, 
will  be  so  badly  crippled  by  the  losses  which  are  being  sustained  by  the 
different  plantations  and  other  industrial  business  in  the  islands, 
that  the  income  of  the  Territory,  in  my  judgment,  will  be  approxi- 
mately cut  in  half,  if  not  more.  We  appropriated  approximately 
$1,500,000  at  the  last  session  of  the  legislature,  which  adjourned 
sine  die  about  the  27th  of  April,  for  our  schools  alone.  The  total 
amount  appropriated,  as  I  remember  it  for  the  Territory,  was  about 
$6,000,000.  The  legislature,  in  making  appropriations  for  the 
different  departments,  has  endeavored  to  economize,  in  so  far  as  it 
was  possible  to  do  so,  realizing  the  labor  conditions  in  the  islands  and 
fully  appreciative  of  the  lack  of  income  to  be  expected  in  years  to 
come. 

We  have  come  on  this  mission  believing  in  the  cause  for  which 
we  have  come  and  are  sincere  in  our  representations  to  this  com- 
mittee. The  situation  has  become  even  worse  since  we  left  the 
islands.  Pioneer  stock,  which  was  selling  around  30,  is  now  down 
to  16;  Olaa  stock,  which  was  selling  at  between  8  and  9  when  we 
left  the  islands,  is  now  selling  at  4,  and  all  the  other  plantations 
are  affected  along  the  same  lines.  This  is  due  not  only  to  the  low 
price  of  sugar  but  to  the  fact  that  the  plantations  this  year  are  unable 
to  harvest  their  sugar. 

I  do  not  own  any  sugar  stock  nor  have  I  any  direct  interest  in  any 
sugar  plantation.  I  am  an  attorney  by  profession;  I  was  born  in 
the  islands,  am  part  Hawaiian,  and  have  been  in  the  Senate  of  our 
Territory  for  17  years  continuously.  In  asking  this  committee  to 
give  us  relief  I  do  so  taking  into  consideration  the  people  who  will 
be  affected  by  the  financial  crisis  which  we  are  now  facing — teachers, 
machinists,  carpenters,  contractors,  automobile  drivers,  in  fact,  men 
in  every  walk  of  life.  Nearly  every  profession  is  directly  affected  by 
the  conditions  which  now  exist  at  home.  The  loss  sustained  by  the 
plantations  is  not  sustained  only  by  a  few  but  it  is  general  and  covers 
nearly  everyone  in  the  islands.  Without  sugar  no  other  industry 
can  live.  This  I  say  taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  I  own 
no  sugar  stocks  and  am  directly  interested  in  no  sugar  plantation. 
I  know  that,  before  I  left  the  islands,  groups  of  machinists  and  pat- 
tern makers  in  the  iron  works  were  laid  off  because  of  the  lack  of 
work.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  plantations  were  unable  to 
see  their  way  clear  to  make  any  improvements  in  their  plants,  so 
that  these  industries  are  without  sufficient  work  to  keep  their  men 
employed. 

We  have  come  here  expecting  relief.  We  are  not  making  any 
complaints;  we  are  not  trying  to  find  fault;  but  we  are  something 
like  the  little  child  from  the  tenement  who  was  invited  to  a  public 
Christmas  tree  and  then  was  passed  by.  We  have  held  up  our  end 
out  in  Hawaii;  we  came  over  the  top  in  the  war  savings  stamps, 
the  Red  Cross,  Liberty  bonds,  and  everything  that  has  been  asked 


432  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

of  our  little  country.  Without  wishing  to  offend  I  would  like  to 
call  the  committee's  attention  to  the  fact  that  Hawaii  has  been 
forgotten  in  the  Smith-Towner  Bill;  in  the  physical  vocational 
training  bill,  I  find  Hawaii  missing;  and,  in  your  good  roads  bill, 
Hawaii  is  also  forgotten.  This,  as  I  say,  is  not  made  as  a  com- 
plaint, but  simply  for  the  purpose  of  putting  before  you  the  propo- 
sition as  it  appears  to  us  who  have  to  contend  with  the  legislative 
duties  of  our  little  country. 

The  situation  that  the  plantations  now  face  is  practically  the  same 
as  the  rice  plantations  faced  in  about  1904.  I  think  it  was  in  1904 
that  we  had  about  9,000  acres  of  rice  under  cultivation.  At  a  meet- 
ing which  was  held  on  about  May  2,  there  were  found  to  be  only 
about  2,800  acres  under  cultivation.  On  one  plantation  of  175  acres, 
when  the  year's  output  was  sold,  we  found  a  deficit  of  $14,000. 
These  plantations  are  worked  by  Chinese  labor,  and  what  has  hap- 
pened to  the  rice  industry  will  happen  to  the  sugar  industry. 

Aside  from  the  economic  loss  to  the  Territory  and  the  people  in  the 
Territory,  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  this  committee  to  the  fact 
that,  while  the  industries  may  go  out  of  the  control  of  American 
citizens,  they  will  still  continue  to  be  operated  as  industrial  concerns 
in  the  hands  of  aliens.  That,  I  think  is  a  condition  which  you  can 
not  permit.  If  Chinese  immigration  to  Hawaii  as  a  relief  measure 
had  been  permitted,  I  would  have  been  in  favor  of  having  a  clause  in 
the  resolution  or  regulation  which  would  compel  the  employment  of 
citizens,  say,  on  a  50  per  cent  basis,  as  machinists  and  other  skilled 
labor  in  the  islands.  The  reason  for  that  is  that  we  might  build  up 
a  citizen  population  in  the  islands  and  maintain  the  mechanics  and 
others  who  are  there  now. 

I  speak  especially  for  the  longshoremen's  association  which,  by 
resolution,  has  indorsed  the  purposes  of  this  mission,  and  which 
association  has  authorized  me  to  act  personally  for  them,  together 
with  the  other  members  of  the  labor  commission.  I  hope  this 
committee  will  see  its  way  clear  to  give  us  some  relief,  whether  it  be 
by  the  elimination  of  the  literacy  test  and  the  right  to  assist  immi- 
grants into  our  country,  or  by  other  means.  We  feel  we  can  come 
to  you  and  ask  you  to  help  us  solve  our  problem.  It  is  your  problem 
just  as  much  as  it  is  our  problem. 

In  1905,  when  we  were  permitted  to  assist  immigrants  into  our 
country,  I  introduced  an  act  which  is  known  as  the  conservation  and 
immigration  act.  Under  that  act,  over  and  above  the  regular  2 
per  cent  income  tax,  there  was  a  tax  of  1  per  cent  on  all  incomes 
over  $4,000,  the  proceeds  of  which  went  to  conservation,  and  a  1 
per  cent  tax  on  incomes  of  over  $6,000,  which  was  the  fund  from 
which  the  immigrants  were  assisted  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 
As  a  result  of  that  act,  a  commission,  consisting  of  three  members, 
was  appointed,  and  the  members  of  that  com.mission  were  designated 
as  Territorial  immigration  commissioners,  and  the  bringing  in  of 
immigrants  eligible  to  become  citizens  was  carried  on  through  that 
commission. 

The  Chairman.  Was  that  carried  on  with  any  considerable  degree 
of  sucess  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  You  have  heard  the  statements  here,  that 
we  got  the  labor  into  Hav/aii  but  it  did  not  remain. 

The  Chairman.  You  brought  Portuguese  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  433 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  We  brought  Portuguese,  we  brought  Spanish, 
and  we  brought  Russians. 

The  Chairman.  Did  not  a  good  many  of  the  Portuguese  remain  in 
the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  They  did  not  under  that  law,  but  prior  to 
that  a  number  of  Portuguese  were  brought  in  that  became  very  good 
laborers,  and  their  sons  and  daughters  are  among  the  best  types  of 
the  citizens  of  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Free.  Lots  of  Portuguese  came  over  to  the  islands  and  then 
immediately,  or  as  soon  as  they  could  get  the  finances,  came  into 
California,  and  we  have  a  very  large  Portuguese  population. 

The  Chairman.  How  large  a  population  ? 

Mr.  Free.  And  nearly  all  of  them  came  through  the  Hawaiian 
Islands. 

The  Chairman.  How  large  a  population  ? 

Mr.  Free.  I  could  not  give  you  the  figures,  but  in  my  own  county  I 
suppose  we  have  15,000  or  20,000. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  desirable  citizens  of  California  ? 

Mr.  Free.  They  are  pretty  good.  They  are  hard  workers,  and  if 
they  get  past  the  point  of  poverty  where  they  have  to  steal  they  are 
good  citizens. 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  I  may  add  that  during  the  last  six,  seven,  or 
eight  months  requests  have  come  to  Hawaii,  from  the  Portuguese  who 
left  the  Territory  and  went  to  California,  for  assistance  in  having 
them  returned  to  Hawaii.  The  Portuguese  societies  in  Hawaii  sent 
an  agent  or  a  representative  to  California  to  inquire  into  the  matter 
and  do  what  he  could  in  having  these  people  returned  to  our  country. 

The  Chairman.  The  Portuguese  arriving  in  Hawaii  came  there 
under  the  act  of  1904? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  1905. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  act  still  in  existence  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  I  think  that  at  the  last  session,  or  at  the 
session  before  the  last,  it  was  amended  to  a  certain  extent. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  still  a  tax  raised  for  immigration  pur- 
poses in  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  We  can  do  it. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  do  it  now  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  We  can,  right  now. 

The  Chairman.  Have  the  Portuguese  continued  to  come  during  the 
past  year  or  so  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  From  where  ? 

The  Chairman.  From  Portugal. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  No;  we  are  barred. 

The  Chairman.  Barred  under  the  literacy  test  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Yes;  and  on  the  question  of  assisted  immigra- 
tion. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  were  barred  by  war  conditions  also  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  During  the  war  it  would  -have  been  almost 
impossible  to  obtain  transportation  facilities,  and  the  literacy  test 
and  your  provision  against  assisting  immigrants  block  us  now. 

The  Chairman.  Have  these  Portuguese  been  leaving  Hawaii  and 
going  to  California  up  to  the  present  time  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Some  Portuguese  came  over  on  the  steamer 
with  Mr.  Dillingham  and  myself,  and  Mr.  Weeber,  and  Mr.  Horner 

56754— 21— SER  7,  PT  1 15 


434  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  leave  the  islands  on  account  of  the 
money  gotten  through  the  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  They  were  traveling  first  class,  these  I 
have  reference  to,  and  there  were  also  a  number  of  Filipinos  who 
were  traveling  first  class. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  is  that?  Can  they  leave  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
and  come  to  the  mainland  if  they  can  not  pass  the  literacy  test  ? 

Mr.  CiriLLiNGWORTH.  Yes;  there  is  nothing  to  stop  them.  There 
is  one  point  I  would  like  to  bring  out  in  so  far  as  the  rice  industry 
is  concerned.  Under  the  provisions  of  the  Japanese  agreement, 
where  an  industry  requires  the  services  of  men  specialized  in  that 
particular  line,  they  can  bring  in  even  Japanese,  and  during  the 
last  seven  months  something  like  37  Japanese  were  brought  in  by 
the  Tuna  Packing  Co.,  as  fishermen.  Now,  that  does  not  apply  to 
Chinese  under  your  exclusion  act.  For  instance,  the  rice  industry 
can  not  say,  ^'The  only  men  we  can  use  in  the  rice  industry  are 
Chinese,"  and  then  get  them  brought  into  the  country  in  the  same 
way  that  Japanese  can  be  brought  in. 

The  Chairman.  The  Japanese  fishermen  were  brought  to  Hawaii 
or  California. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  To  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  Mr.  Raker's  question  about  the  Por- 
tugese going  from  Hawaii  to  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  answered  that. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  get  his  question  again. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  The  answer  is  that  they  can  come  to  the 
United  States  because  they  did  not  have  to  pass  the  literacy  test 
when  they  came  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  my  question  was  whether  they  could  come  to 
the  United  States  without  passing  that  test. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  can  come  out  of  Hawaii  and  go  to  the 
United  States  because  they  did  not  have  to  pass  the  literacy  test 
when  they  came  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  was  no  literacy  test  when  they  were  admitted 
to  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  The  idea  being  that  once  having  been  admitted 
they  can  move  to  any  other  part  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Free.  When  they  are  once  in  Hawaii,  where  there  is  no 
literacy  test,  then  all  they  have  to  do  is  to  continue  over  to  the 
mainland,  and  that  is  what  they  do.  There  are  thousands  of  them 
in  California  who  could  not  pass  any  literacy  test. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  were  admitted  to  Hawaii  without  complying 
with  the  literacy  test  then,  after  being  in  Hawaii,  they  could  come 
to  the  mainland  whether  they  were  able  to  pass  the  literacy  test  or 
not. 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  Sabath.  But  they  can  not  get  in  now,  can  they  1 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  My  answer  is  that  if  you  are  going  to  have  us 
relieved — and  I  hope  you  are — that  you  pass  some  special  legislation 
which  affects  not  only  the  islands  of  Hawaii  but  the  other  Territory, 
Alaska;  that  the  legislation  cover  the  two  Territories. 
^  Mr.  Sabath.  But  as  it  now  stands  they  were  admitted  to  Hawaii 
without  passing  the  literacy  test?     In  other  words,  they  could  not 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  435 

pass  the  literacy  test  when  they  were  admitted  to  Hawaii,  but  after 
having  come  to  Hawaii  they  can  now  come  to  the  mainland? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  Not  under  the  theory  on  which  I  am  working. 

Mr.  Sabath.  I  say,  as  it  stands  now  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  heard  Mr.  Raker's  suggestion  yesterday  in 
regard  to  a  possible  separate  immigration  act  for  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  That  is  my  idea,  exactly. 

The  Chairman.  That  would  be  a  territorial  act,  and  by  the  very 
nature  of  things  should  include  Alaska.  Now,  then,  as  a  lawyer, 
have  you  given  any  thought  as  to  whether  it  would  be  within  our 
constitutional  rights  to  grant  that  sort  of  legislation. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  do  not  see  why  you  would  not  be  within 
your  rights  as  long  as  you  are  not  discriminating  against  one  Territory, 
although  I  am  not  attem^pting  to  pass  upon  it. 

The  Chairman.  The  natural  thought  would  be  that  inasmuch  as 
the  United  States  proper,  continental  United  States,  has  passed  acts 
which  left  Alaska  out  and  Hawaii  out,  in  regard  to  roads,  and  things 
of  that  kind,  that  such  legislation  might  be  properly  passed. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  That  is  my  idea,  exactly.  We  are  building^ 
our  roads  of  reinforced  concrete,  according  to  military  specifications, 
at  tremendous  cost;  we  are  spending  millions  down  there  in  that  work 
and  helping  the  military  authorities  by  having  good  roads  which  they 
may  use  in  case  of  any  trouble. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  get  this  clearly  in  my  mind.  At  the  present 
time  an  immigrant  can  not  come  to  Hawaii  w^ho  can  not  pass  the 
literacy  test? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  having  once  landed  on  the  islands,  those  who  are 
there,  whether  they  are  illiterate  or  not,  may  come  to  the  mainland 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Yes,  sir;  under  the  law  as  it  now  stands. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that  if  the  provision  requiring  a  literacy  test  were 
raised  or  an  exception  made  as  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned,  then  there 
would  have  to  be  a  law  which  would  in  some  way  prohibit  them  from 
coming  to  the  mainland  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  That  is  exactly  my  point. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  the  arrangement  now  in  regard  to  the 
Japanese.  The  Japanese  in  Hawaii  are  not  permitted  to  come  to  the 
mainland. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  the  law,  or  is  it  a  regulation  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  It  is  a  regulation  made  by  the  President  under  the 
immigration  law  of  1907. 

Mr.  Free.  Is  that  a  part  of  the  '^ gentleman's  agreement"  ? 
'     Mr.  Weeber.  No. 

Mr.  Free.  Or  is  that  some  other  understanding  the  President  has 
with  Japan  ? 

Mr.  Weeber.  No;  I  do  not  believe  it  is  an  understanding  he  has      . 
with  Japan  at  all.     The  immigration  law  of  1907  contains  a  provision  </ 
that  the  President  may,  by  regulation,  prohibit  the  emigration  of 
Japanese  laborers  from  Hawaii  to  the  mainland,  and  he  has  used 
that  power  and  prohibited  it. 

Mr.  Free.  When  did  he  promulgate  that  regulation  ?  '*" 


436  LABOR    PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII 

Mr.  Weeber.  Do  you  remember  the  date  of  that  proclamation, 
Mr.  Mead  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  the  date,  but  it  is  based  on  that  provision 
of  the  law  which  says  that  whenever  the  President  finds  that  people 
of  foreign  countries  are  using  their  passports  which  entitle  them  to  go 
to  the  insular  possessions  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  continental 
United  States,  that  he  may  by  proclamation  prohibit  such  immigra- 
tion, and  he  has  done  so  by  proclamation. 

Mr.  Free.  May  that  proclamation  be  inserted  in  the  record? 

Mr.  Weeber.  It  has  been  inserted  in  the  record. 

Mr.  Sabath.  How  long  ago  was  that  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  proclamation,  I  think,  was  issued  in  1913,  if  I  am 
not  mistaken. 

Mr.  Raker.  When  a  Japanese  is  in  Hawaii  and  takes  a  boat  to 
the  mainland,  to  San  Francisco,  for  instance,  and  he  did  not  require 
any  passport  or  anything  to  go  to  Hawaii,  and  he  lands  at  Angel 
Island,  Calif.,  to  be  admitted,  is  he  excluded  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  If  his  passport  reads  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  not  speaking  of  a  passport. 

Mr.  Mead.  Then  he  can  not  do  it,  that  is  all. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  He  has  to  show  his  passport. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  can  not  leave  Hawaii  without  a  passport  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Raker.  No  matter  how  long  he  has  been  there  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  That  is  right. 

The  Chairman.  Unless  he  were  born  there  ? 

Mr.  CiiiLLiNGWORTH.  I  am  speaking  about  aliens.  If  he  were  born 
there  he  would  not  need  a  passport. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that  none  of  the  Japanese  who  have  landed  in 
Hawaii  since.  1907 

Mr.  Chillingworth  (interposing).   1913. 

Mr.  Raker  (continuing).  Have  gone  from  Hawaii  to  the  main- 
land? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Not  that  I  know  of;  I  do  not  believe  any 
have  except,  perhaps,  students,  who  have  come  through  to  Hawaii 
and  who  have  finally  gotten  their  papers  there  so  that  they  could  get 
in;  otherwise  I  do  not  know  of  any. 

Mr.  Rawlins.  There  was  an  exception  during  the  war,  when  an 
act  was  passed  providing  that  any  man,  irrespective  of  his  nationality, 
who  served  under  the  colors  of  this  country,  should  be  entitled  to 
naturalization,  and  under  that  a  lot  of  Japanese  have  come  over 
since  they  got  their  certificates  of  naturalization.  They  went  into 
California.  They  were  extended  the  right  to  go  to  California  and 
they  were  not  stopped  or  detained  because  they  had  these  naturaliza- 
tion certificates. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  understand  that,  but  what  law  or  regulation  is  in 
force  relative  to  the  Japanese  who  have  come  to  the  islands  since 
1913  leaving  Hawaii  and  going  to  the  mainland? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Before  any  alien  can  leave  the  Territory  he 
must  first  go  to  the  immigration  station  in  Honolulu  and  get  a  permit; 
he  must  have  his  papers  vised  by  his  consul,  and  if  he  does  not  get 
his  permit  they  will  not  sell  him  a  ticket;  they  will  not  allow  him  to 
travel.  I  may  say  that,  before  this  visit,  1  had  not  been  in  the 
United  States  for  14  years,  the  last  time  I  was  in  the  United  States 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  437 

being  in  1907 ;  and  when  we  arrived  at  San  Francisco  I  was  very  much 
surprised  at  the  fact  that  we  were  required  to  fill  out  an  immigration 
blank  before  we  could  land,  and  were  examined  as  to  our  citizenship. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that  if  that  has  been  in  force  by  regulation  your 
view  is  that  there  would  be  no  international  difficulty  and  no  diffi- 
culty as  far  as  the  Constitution  of  this  country  is  concerned  in  making 
it  apply  generally  to  those  who  from  now  on  immigrate  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  I  do  not  see  any  reason  why  it  can  not  be 
done  through  the  passage  of  a  relief  measure  which  will  permit  us  to 
bring  immigrants  into  Hawaii  without  reference  to  the  literacy  test 
and  which  will  permit  us  to  assist  them  through  our  government  or 
through  a  board  of  commissioners.  You  have  done  it  in  the  case  of 
the  Japanese  and  others,  and  I  do  not  see  why  you  can  not  do  it  now. 

Mr.  Raker.  Could  you  tell  us  approximately  the  number  that 
were  assisted  and  brought  to  Hawaii  within  the  last  15  years  from 
Porto  Rico,  Russia,  Portugal,  and  Spain  that  were  illiterate  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  could  not  answer  that,  and  I  do  not  know 
whether  Mr.  Mead  can. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  was  no  literacy  test,  and  therefore  there  were  no 
records  kept  as  to  whether  they  were  literate  or  illiterate. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Mr.  Rawlins  just  informs  me  that  the  last 
shipment  of  Portuguese  from  Portugal  showed  that  87  per  cent  of 
those  who  were  brought  in  over  14  years  of  age  were  illiterate. 

The  Chairman.  That  was  in  the  old  days,  prior  to  our  immigra- 
tion act,  and  under  your  assisting  labor  act. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the  protests  of 
organized  labor  in  Honolulu  are  made  either  without  a  full  compre- 
hension of  the  situation  in  all  the  islands  or  that  they  are  not  the  pro- 
tests of  all  laborers? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  know  quite  a  number  of  those  who  are 
directly  taking  an  active  part  in  the  leadership  of  the  different  unions 
in  the  islands,  and  I  think  the  protests  are  made  because  of  a  lack  of 
information.  Mr.  Wright,  who  is  the  president  of  the  federation  or 
council  there,  is  a  very  intelligent  man,  but  as  far  as  I  know  the 
statement  he  made  to  the  commission  on  the  Saturday  night  prior 
to  the  Wednesday  morning  we  left  Hawaii  was  confined  to  Oahu. 

For  instance,  he  made  the  statement  that  while  he  admitted  a 
shortage  on  Oahu,  and  that  the  shortage  there  was  due  to  the  strike, 
he  did  not  admit  that  that  was  true  on  the  other  islands,  but  the  fact 
is  that  the  other  islands  were  in  the  same  condition  during  the  strike, 
and  that  during  the  strike  every  other  line  of  business  was  demor- 
alized; it  did  not  only  apply  to  American  institutions,  but  it  extended 
to  Japanese  growers;  they  were  in  as  bad  condition  as  we  were,  be- 
cause the  strikers  would  not  even  work  for  the  Japanese,  so  as  to 
prevent  those  men  from  going  to  work  on  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  that  connection,  suppose  you  commenced  to  bring 
various  people  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  to  labor  on  the  plantations — 
the  sugar  plantations,  the  pineapple  plantations,  or  otherwise — in 
order  to  fill  up  what  you  present  as  the  shortage,  and  that  the  Japanese 
who  are  now  working  on  the  plantations  should  quit  work,  you  would 
then  have  to  fill  their  places  with  more  imported  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  That,  of  course,  is  not  very  desirable,  and  we 
do  not  want  them  to  come  in  one  lump  on  account  of  the  expense 


438  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAH. 

attached  to  it,  but  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  danger.  If  we  go  back 
with  some  rehef ,  if  we  go  back  there  and  show  the  people,  all  the 
people,  that  the  Committee  on  Immigration  and  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  have  given  us  relief  and  have  recognized  our  right  to 
some  relief,  I  do  not  think  we  would  have  any  trouble. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  What  is  the  real  thing 
underneath  that  leads  you  to  give  us  that  idea  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  As  has  been  explained  to  you,  and  the  other 
members  of  this  committee,  we  are  short  of  labor;  we  depend  for  the 
greater  part  of  our  labor  on  the  Japanese  population,  and  unless  we 
get  relief  we  have  to  look  to  them  absolutely  for  help  in  the  carrying 
on  of  our  work.  Now,  it  is  a  mere  matter  of  psychology  to  figure  out. 
Put  yourself  in  their  place. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  to  say,  they  can  strike  whenever  they 
please  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  They  can  dictate  terms,  and  we  do  not  want 
to  be  put  in  that  situation.  I  am  giving  them  credit  for  the  ordinary 
intelligence  that  a  man  is  supposed  to  be  credited  with,  and  if  I  were 
in  their  place  what  would  I  do  ?  That  is  the  situation  and  that  is 
what  I  am  looking  at. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  not  that  apply  to  any  people  who  might  be 
working  there  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Of  one  nationality  controlling  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  That  is  true,  and  that  is  just  the  point. 

The  Chairman.  Except  that  here  is  a  race  of  people  who  are  not 
admissible  to  citizenship. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  And  do  not  assimilate. 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  and  who  do  not  assimilate. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Perhaps  it  is  particularly  our  fault  that  we 
do  not  give  them  a  chance  to  assimilate. 

The  Chairman.  And  they  are  easily  controlled  by  influences  from 
their  own  home  government. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Yes. 
jj^Mr.  Raker.  You  said  you  did  not  give  them  a  chance  and  you  dc 
•  )T-opose  to  give  them  a  chance, to  assimilate  so  far  as  the  inter- 
their  ini  ^^  ^^^  races  is  concerned,  do  you  ?     You  do  not  approve  oi 

Mr.  Ci^?^r^yi°g  •       T  ^        .  .K  .  *       T  A 

not  take  th  ^^^^rth.  I  do  not  even  mean  that  far;  I  mean  we  dc 

Mr  Rafe^  T^  ^^^  clubs. 

*       /.       *    ./^^9.n  you  are  even  going  further.     You  do  not  pro- 
Hf^™      ^^  ^'^ s^?  ^merican  population  is  concerned,  to  favor  the 

uTo^rf^"  °^  ^^'^  ''^anese  with  white  people  ?  i 

marrying  *^''™' '^^H'  **^«  ^"""^  ^^  t^^*  *^^y  ^""^  """^  i"*'''"- 

=t„T!j^^^<.'^^'^*lt^'  ^  ^\^^\ 'lat  is  all.  The  Committee  has  heard  youi 
statements  with  much  mtei.^t,  Mr.  Chilhngworth. 

ADDITIONS  STATEMENT  of  ME.  WALTEE  F.  DIILINGHAM. 

c^^"";^^^"^^™"*-"? •  i'^ould  ^h  to  make  a  short  statement  and  pu 
ITJ  }TTf^  '""^  tlie  record,  i^  the  last  two  or  three  days  I  hav< 
JhtT^  t\T'1^  telegrams,  jablegrams,  and  radios  from  Hawaii 
which  I  would  like  to  have  put  i:^  the  record. 


LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  439 

(The  telegrams,  cablegrams,  and  radios  referred  to  follow :) 

Honolulu,  121  1/71, 
Walter  Dillingham, 

New  Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D»  C: 

Congressmen  who  disapprove  of  our  present  condition  should  remember  that  the 
responsibility  for  it  is  shared  by  Congress,  The  original  Hawaiian  immigration  policy 
was  dependent  on  maintaining  balance  of  numbers.  Accordingly  we  stopped  the 
immigration  of  Japanese  in  1897.  Annexation  reopened  it  and  Congress  did  nothing 
until  the  gentlemen's  agreement.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  preponderance 
of  this  nationality  came  to  Hawaii.  We  ought  now  to  send  back  every  Japanese  who 
does  not  propose  to  make  Hawaii  his  home  and  his  children  American  citizens.  Intro- 
ducing Chinese  will  help  accomplish  this  and  insure  our  future.  This  project  far 
more  important  than  rehabilitation, 

George  R.  Carter,  Former  Governor. 


Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Largely  attended  special  meeting  chamber  unanimously  indorse  joint  resolution 
authorize  Secretary  of  Labor  permit  importation  alien  labor  for  agricultural  and 
domestic  work  in  Hawaii,  , 

Commerce, 

Honolulu,  June  29,  1921^ 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington: 

Maui  Chamber  of  Commerce  unanimously  adopted  following  resolution  on  June  27: 
"Besolved,  That  the  Maui  Chamber  of  Commerce,  a  nonpolitical  organization  having 
at  heart  the  continued  American  control  of  Hawaii's  chief  agricultural  industries, 
strongly  urges  upon  Congress  and  indorses  the  passage  of  joint  resolution  introduced 
in  the  United  States  Senate  under  date  of  June  20,  1921,  permitting  importation  into 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii  for  limited  periods  of  time  sufficient  agricultural  labor  to 
relieve  the  present  local  labor  shortage." 

Case,  Secretary. 

Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Rotary  Club  unanimously  indorses  labor  resolution. 

Stuart  Johnson,  President. 

Honolulu,  June  24,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Commercial  Club  of  Honolulu  indorses  labor  resolution. 

L.  H.  Underwood,  Vice  President, 


.     Honolulu, /une  ^5,  i9^^. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D,  C. 

Honolulu  Press  Club  unanimously  indorses  joint  resolution  vitally  important. 


Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington. 

Kaneohe  Rice  Mill  Co,  indorses  joint  resolution. 

Haneberg. 


Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  (?,; 

Honolulu  Automobile  Club  unanim^ously  indorses  resolution. 

Warren,  President. 


440  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.     ' 

Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Outdoor  circle  unanimously  indorses  labor  resolution. 

Campbell. 

This  is  a  civic  organization  composed  of  the  women  of  Honolulu. 

Honolulu,  June  26,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  I).  C: 
Housewives  League  of  Hawaii  heartily  and  unanimously  indorse  joint  resolution. 

Cecilie  Knudsen,  Secretary, 

That  is  a  society  of  women  in  Honolulu  who  are  organized  to 
assist  in  bringing  down  the  high  cost  of  living. 

Honolulu,  June  30,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Labor  resolution  heartily  indorsed  by  Hawaiian  Islands  Hotel  and  Restaurant 
Associations. 

A.  J.  Pederson,  President. 


Honolulu,   June  26,  1921, 
Dillingham,  • 

New  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Medical  society,  Hawaii,  indorses  labor  resolution. 

(Note. — "Retlaw"  is  a  code  word  meaning  ''Walter  Dillingham,"  used  as  an 
address  to  save  cable  tolls.) 

Putnam. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Do  I  understand  that  these  organizations  would  ' 
not  indorse  any  other  legislative  plan  but  this  one  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  think  you  would  be  justified  in  that  con- 
clusion. As  far  as  the  people  in  Hawaii  go,  they  know  of  one  resolu- 
tion which  is  before  Congress  to-day,  and  approve  of  that  resolution. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  But  any  other  resolution  that  solved  the  difficulties 
would  meet  with  their  approval  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  people  there  want  the  problem  solved. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  And  they  are  not  particularly  bent  on  seeing  the 
adoption  of  this  resolution  permitting  the  admission  of  Chinese 
solely — that  is  what  I  had  in  mind  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  the  people  of  Hawaii  have  come  to  a 
very  definite  conclusion  about  the  matter  and  believe  that  the  only 
way  to  solve  our  problem  is  by  admitting  some  Chinese  into  the 
country,  and  that  conclusion  is  formed  from  their  knowledge  of  the 
local  conditions.  Whether  or  not  that  is  the  only  way  to  settle  it, 
I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  wondered  whether  the  people  realized  that 
they  are  asking  a  good  deal  in  coming  to  Congress  with  one  short 
resolution  which,  if  enacted  knocks  down  three  big  laws  that  have 
been  tried  and  made  effective. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Johnson,  when  any  individual  or  group  of 
individuals  are  in  a  death  struggle  they  want  relief,  and  whether  it 
requires  the  knocking  down  of  three  laws  or  three  men  or  300  laws 
is  not  the  point  with  them.     It  is  a  question  of  getting  relief. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  But  they  ought  to  take  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  they  are  doing  that,  ought  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  think  the  people  on  the  islands  are  fairly  intelli- 
gent; at  least,  they  are  so  rated;  and  I  think  they  realize  that  it  is 
going  to  require  a  very  strong  stand  on  the  part  of  intelligent  men  to 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  441 

bring  about  this  relief,  because  for  23  years  we  have  been  denied  relief 
from  a  situation  which  has  been  pointed  out  in  official  and  other 
reports  by  various  branches  of  the  Federal  Government  and  also  by 
the  local  government  and  local  interests.  So  they  are  aware  of  the 
fact  that  it  is  not  an  easy  solution  for  which  they  are  asking. 

This  commission  believed  that  it  would  be  possible  to  present  to 
this  committee  the  labor  situation  in  Hawaii  without  submitting  cer- 
tain facts  relating  to  national  issues.  As  a  result  of  the  telegram  from 
Mr.  George  W.  Wright,  president  of  the  Honolulu  Central  Labor 
Union,  dated  June  26,  1921,  presented  by  Mr.  Edgar  C.  Wallace,  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  which  raises  a  question  as  to 
whether  or  not  there  is  a  national  issue  at  the  bottom  of  the  trouble  in 
Hawaii,  we  feel  in  duty  bound  to  submit  evidence  to  refute  the  state- 
ments made  in  that  telegram. 

We  also  feel  obligated  to  show  that  not  only  have  we  not  misstated 
facts,  but  that  we  have  conclusive  evidence  to  prove  that  a  national 
issue  does  exist.  Moreover,  we  wish  particularly  to  emphasize  to  this 
committee  that  that  issue  is  of  immediate  and  far-reaching  importance 
to  the  United  States  and  not  merely  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

The  cablegram  from  Mr.  Wright,  presented  to  your  committee  on 
June  27  by  Mr.  Wallace,  contains  seven  separate  misstatements  of 
fact,  which  we  list  as  follows  : 

First.  That  Hawaii's  Emergency  Labor  Commission  is  misrepre- 
senting conditions. 

Second.  That  there  is  no  actual  labor  shortage  in  the  Territory. 

Third.  That  men  were  driven  from  the  plantations  by  intolerable 
conditions. 

Fourth.  That  no  labor  organization  has  indorsed  the  plan  under 
consideration. 

Fifth.  That  the  planters  are  intentionally  limiting  production  and 
planning  an  artificial  unemployment  campaign. 

Sixth.  That  the  charge  of  a  Japanese  conspiracy  to  control  the 
industries  of  the  Territory  is  a  ridiculous  falsehood. 

Seventh.  That  the  Japanese  are  striving  for  American  ideals  and 
standards  and  that  there  are  no  national  issues  involved. 

The  truth  of  each  and  all  of  these  seven  statements  is  absolutely 
denied  by  this  commission.  Of  these  seven  statements,  Mr.  Horner 
has  already  answered  the  misrepresentation  of  conditions,  the  exist- 
ence of  an  actual  labor  shortage,  and  the  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the 
planters  to  develop  an  artificial  shortage  and  to  limit  production. 

The  statement  that  this  resolution  has  not  been  indorsed  by  any 
labor  organization  has  already  been  disproven  by  the  two  formal 
indorsements  introduced  in  testimony  on  June  24.  To  these  indorse- 
ments we  now  add  a  cablegram  from  the  president  of  the  Honolulu 
Chamber  of  Commerce  to  the  effect  that  the  indorsement  of  the 
Marine  Engineers'  Benefit  Association,  an  organization  affiliated  with 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  was  mailed  to  this  commission  on 
June  22.     That  message  reads  as  follows: 

Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Indorsement  Marine  Engineers'  Benefit  Association  mailed  22d.     Membership  80. 

Oral. 


442  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

It  was  this  same  organization,  the  Marine  Engineers'  Benefit  Asso- 
ciation, which  protested  against  permitting  the  Japanese  Federation 
of  Labor  to  become  affiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Labor  conditions  in  Hawaii  have  continuously  improved  from  1915 
as  to  quarters,  wages,  and  welfare  work.  We  have  already  cited 
quotations  from  a  report  of  the  Department  of  Labor  on  ^' Labor 
Conditions  in  Hawaii,"  made  in  1915,  showing  that  the  general  con- 
ditions for  agricultural  labor  in  Hawaii  were  far  in  advance  of  those 
in  any  other  tropical  country  in  the  world  and  compared  favorably 
with  conditions  on  the  mainland  of  the  United  States.  Plantations 
have  provided  athletic  fields,  hospitals  of  the  most  modern  type, 
welfare  workers  on  practically  every  plantation,  and  sanitary  officers, 
Territorial  and  private;  and,  while  the  conditions  vary  somewhat  on 
different  plantations,  there  is  no  difference  so  far  as  the  shortage  of 
labor  goes  which  would  indicate  that  the  reason  for  the  absence  of 
adequate  labor  is  the  lack  of  proper  treatment  and  accommodations. 

Concerning  this  statement  we  beg  to  quote  from  a  report  of  the 
director  of  the  bureau  of  labor  of  the  Philippine  Islands  to  the  presi- 
dent of  the  National  Labor  Protective  Association  of  the  Philippine 
Islands,  dated  September  10,  1920.  After  reciting  the  advanatges  of 
employment  in  Hawaii,  as  compared  with  those  in  the  Philippines, 
he  says: 

PeriodicaUy  about  500  or  more  a  year  of  Filipino  laborers  from  Hawaii  return  to 
these  islands.  This  constitutes  the  best  propaganda  for  the  immigration  to  Hawaii, 
as  these  laborers  on  leaving  the  Philippines  were  ill-dressed,  but  upon  their  return 
they  are  decently  dressed  and  have  a  standard  of  living  much  higher  than  the  laborers 
who  stayed  in  this  country.  These  of  course  attract  their  friends.  But  this  is  not 
enough;  the  money  orders  which  the  Filipino  laborers  of  Hawaii  are  sending  periodi- 
cally to  their  families  here  constitute  a  most  effective  propaganda  of  the  recruiting 
agents,  because  with  that  money  earned  in  foreign  land  not  only  the  condition  of  the 
families  of  the  immigrants  is  improved  but  they  also  become  owners  of  parcels  of  land 
and  comfortable  houses  like  those  now  existing  in  Siquijor,  Cebu  and  the  Ilocos 
country. 

The  commissioner  of  labor  also  stated  that — 

the  measures  taken  by  this  office  (the  Bureau  of  Labor  at  Manila)  to  counteract  the 
exodus  of  laborers  to  Hawaii  is  the  same  campaign  of  insular  intermigration,  but  the 
result  is  not  as  satisfactory  as  it  should  be  in  view  of  the  good  and  material  advan- 
tages which  Filipino  agricultin-al  laborers  could  get  by  working  in  the  plantations  of 
Hawaii  in  comparison  with  the  conditions  he  could  secure  in  the  Philippines. 

This  commsission  has  called  attention  to  the  racial  solidarity  of  the 
Japanese  people  in  Hawaii,  but  no  charge  of  conspiracy  has  been 
made  by  us.  We  ask  your  committee,  however,  to  decide,  from  the 
evidence  presented  before  it,  whether  or  not  there  are  nationalistic 
issues  involved  and  whether  or  not  there  is  any  idea  or  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  Japanese  to  control  all  activities  in  Hawaii. 

Whether  or  not  this  country,  with  safety  to  itself,  can  permit  a  con- 
dition to  continue  that  is  moving  toward  the  Japanese  domination 
and  possession  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  for  you  to  decide.  We 
have  controlled  the  interests  of  Hawaii  for  America  for  100  years. 
Our  hands  are  tied  to-day  by  imimigration  laws  which  prevent  us 
from  going  any  further.  We  have  done  and  are  doing  our  utmost, 
but  we  can  not  meet  the  situation  that  now  confronts  us  without 
your  assistance. 

Keference  has  been  made  in  the  hearings  to  the  effort  which  the 
people  of  Hawaii  have  made  to  control  the  publication  of  Japanese 


LABOR  PBOBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  443 

newspapers.  The  reason  for  this  was  that  articles  from  these  Japa- 
nese papers  have  been  called  to  the  attention  of  the  authorities  in 
Hawaii  and  show  conclusively  that  there  is  not  only  a  failure  to 
back  up  the  principles  and  ideals  of  America  in  Hawaii  but  that 
there  is  a  distinct  effort  to  wean  away  and  controvert  the  efforts 
made  to  bring  the  children  of  the  Japanese  under  the  spirit  and 
influence  and  up  to  the  ideals  of  American  citizenship.  With  that 
in  view,  the  head  of  the  American  Legion  in  Hawaii,  Major  Butler, 
introduced  in  the  legislature  a  bill  for  the  control  of  the  alien  language 
press  of  the  islands.  After  a  good  deal  of  discussion,  a  bill  was 
finally  passed  looking  to  the  control  of  this  very  important  educa- 
tional feature. 

The  gentleman  who  signed  the  telegram  to  which  I  have  just 
referred;  Mr.  George  W.  Wright,  is  the  editor  of  the  Labor  Review 
of  Hawaii.  On  the  front  page  of  the  issue  of  this  paper,  dated 
April  26,  we  have  this  comment  on  this  attempt  to  control  the  Jap- 
anese press  of  the  islands,  ^^  Press  gag  bill  to  become  law."  In  the 
editorial  column,  on  page  3,  of  the  same  issue,  is  this  editorial: 

it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  anything  more  reactionary  and  undemocratic  than  the 
press  gag  bill  which  was  brought  into  being  by  the  senate  of  the  Territory.  The  father 
of  this  illegitimate  m.onstrosity  can  be  surmised  from  the  striking  family  resemblance 
which  it  bears  to  the  other  offspring  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'.  Association. 
It  is  to  be  deplored  for  the  sake  of  the  honorable  members  of  the  American  Legion 
who  were  true  to  the  traditions  and  the  ideals  of  Americanism  that  certain  of  its 
officers  should  ha\e  tried  to  involve  the  legion  in  this  disgraceful  proceeding. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Have  you  a  copy  of  that  bill  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  have  one  downstairs. 

Mr.  Raker.  May  it  go  in  the  record  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  made  a  statement  in  regard  to  newspaper  articles 
.that  demonstrated  a  certain  condition.  Have  you  copies  of  those 
articles  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No;  I  have  not  those  copies. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  they  procurable  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  are  available.  As  stated  the  other  day  to 
this  committee,  they  are  in  the  hands  of  Government  officials  who 
will  turn  them  over  to  this  committee. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Y\fh.o  issues  this  Labor  Review? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  says,  ''Published  weekly  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Honolulu  Central  Labor  Council  at  the  offices  of  the  New 
Freedom,  15-19  Pauahi  Street,  Honolulu." 

Mr.  Box.  What  is  the  New  Freedom? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  New  Freedom  is  the  only  Democratic  pub- 
lication we  have  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  that  the  name  of  a  paper? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes.  On  page  3,  at  the  head  of  the  editorial 
column,  is  carried  this  expression: 

The  Labor  Review  of  Hawaii. 

Editorial  committee:  Wright,  Baker,  Wilson. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  able  to  determine  from  a  reading  of  the 
various  issues  of  this  newspaper  whether  the  publisher  of  the  paper 
is  pro-Japanese  or  anti-Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  wish  to  offer  an  opinion 
on  that,  but  I  do  offer  the  telegram  from  Mr.  Wright,  the  editor  of 


444  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAH. 

this  paper.     There  is  one  other  editorial,  which  appeared  in  the  issue 
of  May  3,  which  reads  as  follows: 

On  the  second  pao:e  of  this  issue  we  print  the  roll  call  on  the  press  bill,  which,  to 
our  minds,  forms  the  test  by  which  we  will  judge  our  friends  and  foes.  The  issue  was 
clean  cut  and  unmistakable,  and  there  is  no  excuse  in  the  future  for  the  ones  who  say 
they  "didn't  know  it  was  loaded."  For  ourselves  we  do  not  care  a  rap  about  such 
laws  as  that;  we  will  continue  to  sjjeak  out  in  meetins;  as  the  spirit  moves  us,  and 
whenever  we  have  anything  that  needs  to  be  said.  But  we  are  sorry  for  the  poor 
fish  that  voted  for  this  bill,  and  for  some  of  the  archconspirators  in  whose  distorted 
and  vindictive  minds  the  thing  was  hatched.  It  will  be  blazoned  across  the  face  of 
the  earth  as  the  "shame  of  Hawaii"  and  those  who  participated  in  the  frameup  will 
find  that  their  names  will  be  kept  fresh  upon  the  tablets  of  memory,  over  against 
the  time  when  another  election  day  rolls  around. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  what  was  the  purpose  of  the  bill  to  which  he 
was  opposed  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  will  ask  Mr.  Irwin  to  explain  the  bill  because 
he  is  more  familiar  with  it  than  I  am. 

The  Chairman.  It  was  a  bill  aimed  at  the  foreign-language  news- 
papers. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes. 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  is  a  rather  long  and  involved  bill  and  I  would 
prefer  to  have  the  bill  before  attempting  to  explain  it.  It  is  not  now 
immediately  available  because  it  was  borrowed  by  the  Department 
of  the  Interior  a  couple  of  days  ago.  In  a  few  words,  the  first  section 
of  the  act  prohibits  publication  of  certain  kinds  of  things,  things 
which  tend  to  incite  racial  illfeeling,  things  which  tend  to  incite 
sabotage,  and  things  of  that  kind.  That  is  the  first  section.  The 
second  section  provides  that  every  foreign-language  newspaper 
published  in  Hawaii  shall  file  with  the  Attorney  General  a  copy  of 
his  paper  upon  publication.  The  next  section  provides  that  if  the 
newspaper  publisher  fails  to  do  that  he  may  be  punished  criminally. 
The  next  section  provides  that  books  printed  in  a  foreign  language, 
other  than  newspapers  and  periodicals  of  that  kind,  must  be  inter* 
preted  and  filed  with  the  Attorney  General's  Department. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  What  do  you  mean  by  'interpreted" — translated? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Eleczka.  And  the  same  applies  to  newspapers  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No.  But  the  duty  is  laid  upon  the  Attorney  General 
to  examine  the  newspapers,  the  editorial  matter,  and  all  that  kind 
of  thing,  in  order  to  find  out  whether  the  first  section  of  the  act  has 
been  violated  by  the  publication  of  prohibited  matter.  The  next 
section  provides  that  if  any  one  of  these  newspapers  is  convicted  of 
publishing  prohibited  matter  that  thereafter  the  newspaper  shall 
then  be  compelled  to  file  with  the  Attorney  General  a  translated 
copy  of  the  paper.  Those,  in  brief,  are  the  terms  of  the  act.  I  will 
get  a  copy  of  the  act  and  file  it  with  the  committee. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  The  purpose  of  it  was  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
sedition,  sabotage,  and  anarchy? 

Mr.  Irwin.   Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Particularly  in  the  foreign-language  newspapers  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Does  the  bill  describe  sabotage  and  all  the  various 
things  that  are  prohibited  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Not  in  any  great  particularity. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  left  to  the  Attorney  General  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  445 

Mr.  Irwin.  To  some  extent,  yes;  and  to  the  courts  finally. 

Mr.  Raker.  A  man  can  print  anything  he  wants  to  print  without 
filing  a  translation.  If  he  is  convicted,  then  he  has  to  print  the 
paper  and  file  a  translation  with  the  Attorney  General  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  After  he  is  convicted  and  files  his  translation,  then 
what  do  you  do  with  him  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Punish  him.  The  first  offense  is  punishable  by  a  term 
of  imprisonment  of  six  months  and  a  fine  of  $500,  as  I  now  recall  it, 
and  the  second  offense,  and  all  offenses  thereafter,  call  for  an  im- 
prisonment of  one  year  and  a  fine  of  $1,000.  I  ain  speaking  from 
memory  now,  but  I  think  that  is  a  fairly  accurate  statement. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  that  covers  it,  and  we  will  have  the  bill 
introduced  in  the  record. 

(The  bill  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 

[Act  216  (S.  B.  No.  ni).]  |«-Vii 

AN  ACT  To  prohibit  the  publication,  circulation,  or  distribution  of  articles  or  matter  of  a  nature  con- 
trary to  the  public  welfare,  and  to  provide  regulations  and  penalties. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii:  Section  1.  Any  person 
who  shall  print,  publish,  sell,  distribute,  or  circulate,  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  any 
written  or  printed  article  or  matter,  in  any  form  or  language,  which  shall  advocate  or 
incite  or  be  intended  to  advocate  or  incite  the  commission  of  any  act  of  violence,  such 
as  sabotage,  incendiarism,  sedition,  anarchy,  rioting,  or  breach  of  the  peace,  or  which 
shall  directly  or  indirectly  advocate  or  incite  or  be  intended  to  advocate  or  incite  the 
use  or  exercise  of  force,  fear,  intimidation,  threats,  ostracism,  or  blackmail,  for  the 
purpose  of  restraining  or  coercing  or  intimidating  any  person  from  freely  engaging  in 
lawful  business  or  employment  or  the  enjoyment  of  rights  of  liberty  or  property,  or 
which  by  deliberate  misrepresentation  shall  be  designed  and  intended  to  create  or 
have  the  effect  of  creating  distrust  or  dissension  between  peoples  of  different  races  or 
between  citizens  and  aliens,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  upon  the  first 
conviction  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  one  thousand  dollars 
(11,000.00)  or  imprisoned  not  more  than  one  year,  and  upon  a  second  conviction  for 
again  violating  this  section  within  five  years  of  the  first  conviction  shall  be  punished 
by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  five  thousand  dollars  (15.000.00)  or  by  imprisonment  of 
not  more  than  one  year,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Sec,  2,  Any  person  or  persons  who  shall  publish  in  a  foreign  language  any  news 
paper,  or  prints  of  like  nature  for  the  dissemination  of  news  or  information,  shall  file 
a  full  and  true  copy  of  each  and  every  such  newspaper  or  print  in  the  office  of  the 
attorney  general  of  the  Territory  forthwith  upon  the  publication  thereof. 

Sec  3.  Whenever  any  person  shall  print,  issue,  or  publish  in  a  foreign  languagein 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii  any  books,  paper,  pamphlet,  bulletin,  circular,  hand  bill, 
dodger,  or  other  form  of  written  or  printed  matter  or  article  not  included  in  section  2 
of  this  act,  which  shall  relate  or  refer  to  the  Government  or  any  law  of  the  United 
States  or  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  or  to  any 
principle  of  government,  or  the  administration  of  law,  or  rights  of  persons  or  property, 
or  to  any  racial,  industrial,  or  class  question  or  conditions,  or  to  any  of  the  matters 
mentioned  in  section  1  of  this  act,  such  person  shall  in  each  case  include  therein  a 
statement  of  the  name  or  names  and  places  of  residence  or  business  of  the  author  or 
authors  thereof,  and  of  the  publisher  or  publishers  of  the  same,  and  shall  also  file  a  full 
and  true  copy  thereof  in  the  office  of  the  attorney  general  of  the  territory,  a  true  and 
correct  English  translation  thereof,  under  the  oath  of  its  author  or  publisher. 

Sec.  4.  If  any  person  shall  be  convicted  of  publishing  or  circulating  any  article  or 
matter  of  a  nature  contrary  to  any  provisions  of  section  1  of  this  act,  and  such  person 
shall  thereafter  publish  or  circulate  in  the  manner  described  in  section  2  of  this  act, 
any  article  or  matter  in  any  foreign  language  which  shall  relate  or  refer  to  the  Govern- 
ment or  any  law  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  or  any  political 
subdivision  thereof,  or  to  any  prinqiple  of  government,  or  the  administration  of  law, 
or  the  rights  of  persons  or  property,  or  to  any  racial,  industrial  or  class  question  or 
conditions,  or  to  any  of  the  matters  mentioned  in  section  1  of  this  act,  he  shall  file 
with  each  such  article  a  true  and  correct  English  translation  thereof,  under  oath. 


446  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Sec.  5.  Any  person  required  under  either  section  3  or  section  4  of  this  act  to  file  a 
true  and  sworn  English  translation  of  any  article  or  matter  published  in  a  foreign 
language,  who  shall  knowingly  file  a  false  or  incorrect  translation  of  such  article  or 
matter,  or  any  person  who  knowing  that  the  translation  made  by  him  of  such  article 
or  matter  is  to  be  so  filed,  shall  knowingly  make  a  false  or  incorrect  translation  of  such 
article  or  matter  for  the  purpose  of  the  same  being  so  fded,  shall  be  guilty  of  perjury 
and  be  published  as  by  law  provided  in  the  case  of  perjury. 

Sec.  6.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  attorney  general  of  the  territory  to  examine  the 
matter  so  required  to  be  filed  in  his  office  to  such  extent  as  to  him  shall  seem  reason- 
ably necessary  or  advisable  to  determine  the  nature  or  effect  thereof,  and  to  prosecute 
all  offenses  under  this  act  which  shall  come  or  be  brought  to  his  attenjiion,  and  any 
such  offenses  may  also  be  prosecuted  by  any  county  or  city  and  county  attorney. 

Sec.  7,  It  shall  not  be  necessary  for  matter  filed  in  the  office  of  the  attorney  general 
under  this  act  to  be  preserved  for  more  than  one  year,  and  the  attorney  general  may 
thereafter  at  any  time  in  his  discretion  destroy  or  otherwise  dispose  of  the  same. 

Sec.  8.  All  matters  filed  in  the  office  of  the  attorney  general  under  either  of  sections 
2,  3,  or  4  of  this  act  shall  be  open  for  public  inspection. 

Sec.  9.  Any  person  (other  than  a  corporation)  v/ho  shall  be  con\'icted  of  a  viola- 
tion of  any  provisions  of  this  act  for  which  a  penalty  is  not  otherwise  provided  in 
this  act  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  one  thousand  dollars  ($1,000.00), 
or  by  imprisomnent  for  not  more  than  one  year  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprison- 
ment, in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

If  any  provision  of  this  act  shall  be  violated  by  any  corporation,  such  corporation 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  in  a  sum  not  more  than  double  the  amount  of  the  fine 
which  could  be  imposed  under  the  preceding  terms  of  this  section  upon  an  individual 
for  a  like  ^delation. 

Sec.  10.  Definitions. — The  word  "person"  as  used  in  this  act  shall  also  include  any 
persons,  company,  association,  or  corporation  or  the  officers,  agents,  or  employees  of 
such  corporation,  except  where  such  meaning  is  expressly  excluded. 

Any  language  other  than  English  and  Hawaiian  shall  be  deemed  to  be  a  foreign 
language  within  the  meaning  of  this  act. 

Sec.  11.  If  any  section,  sub-section,  sentence,  clause,  or  phrase  of  this  act  is  for 
any  reason  held  to  be  invalid  or  unconstitutional,  such  decision  shall  not  affect  the 
validity  of  the  remaining  portions  of  the  act. 

Sec.  12.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  approval. 

Approved  this  27th  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1921. 

C.  J.  McCarthy, 
Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 

Mr.  Raker.  Wliat  became  of  the  bill  in  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  '^ 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  passed  the  legislature. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  it  is  now  the  law  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  But  it  has  not  been  tested  in  the  courts  as  yet  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No.  There  is  one  statement  I  want  to  make,  if  you 
will  allow  me,  in  order  to  correct  a  misstatement  made  yesterday 
with  reference  to  the  Japanese  trouble  that  took  place  in  1897  or 
1898.  The  bare  statement  was  made  that  to  the  best  of  our  recol- 
lection the  Japanese  were  allowed  to  come  in,  but  they  were  not; 
they  were  sent  back. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  those  on  the  ships  1 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes.  That  is  found  in  "A  brief  history  of  the  Hawaiian 
people,^'  by  Alexander.  It  is  a  short  paragraph,  and  if  the  committee 
desires  I  will  read  it. 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  read  it  into  the  record. 

Mr.  Irwin  (reading) : 

During  the  years  1896  and  1897  certain  Japanese  emigration  companies  made  strenu- 
ous efforts  to  induce  large  numbers  of  their  countrymen  to  emigrate  to  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  Having  ascertained  that  extensive  frauds  were  being  practiced  on  these 
people,  and  that  the  immigration  laws  were  being  evaded,  the  Hawaiian  Government 
caused  a  strict  examination  to  be  made  and  on  the  23d  of  March,  1897,  forbade  the 
landing  of  several  hundred  Japanese  immigrants.  In  all  about  1,100  immigrants  on 
different  occasions  were  obliged  to  return  to  Japan,  where  this  severe  action  incited 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  447 

intense  feelinp;.  The  Japanese  Government  sent  the  cniiser  Nonvwa  in  May  with  a 
special  commissioner  to  investigate  the  matter.  After  a  lengthy  correspondence  the 
difiiculty  was  amicably  compromised  the  next  year  by  the  payment  of  an  indemnity 
of  $75,000  to  Japan.  This  was  done  at  the  instance  of  the  United  States  Government 
to  remove  a  possible  hindrance  to  annexation. 

Mr.  Box.  From  what  book  are  you  reading  ? 
Mr.  Irwin.  From  Alexander's  History  of  the  Hawaiian  People. 
Mr.  Raker.  And  from  what  page  ? 
Mr.  Irwin.  Page  321. 

(Thereupon  the  committee  went  into  executive  session,  after  which 
it  adjourned.) 

Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Washington,  July  7,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  would  like  the  Delegate  from 
Hawaii,  Mr.  Kalanianaole,  to  make  a  statement  concerning  the 
situation  in  the  islands,  in  regard  to  labor.  We  have  left  you  to 
the  last,  and  without  objection  we  will  call  upon  you  this  morning. 

STATEMENT  OF  HOET.  J.  KUEIO  KALAmAMAOLE,   DELEGATE 

m  coNaRESs  from  the  territory  of  ha  wait. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  have  not  much  to  say,  Mr.  Chairman, 
unless  the  committee  wishes  to  ask  me  questions.  The  matter  has 
been  gone  over  somewhat  thoroughly  by  the  commission. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  realized  for  a  long  time  the  Japanese 
situation  in  Hawaii;  in  fact,  you  were  one  of  the  first  to  see  it  com- 
ing on  and  to  predict  what  has  actually  happened  in  the  islands,  were 
you  not  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  is  true.  About  10  or  11  years  ago 
I  called  the  attention  of  the  administration  to  the  danger  of  the 
political  domination  of  Hawaii  by  the  Japanese.  I  made  my  protest 
to  the  administration  and  the  administration  sent  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  to  investigate  the  matter.  He  visited  the  islands;  but 
was  not  there  very  long,  and  upon  his  return  to  Washington,  did 
not  make  a  report.  My  protest  is  filed  in  the  Interior  Department, 
a  formal  protest  to  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  there  a  report  made  by  the  Secretary  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  No;  he  never  made  a  report. 

The  Chairman.  You  filed  a  formal  protest  11  years  ago? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  about  11  years  ago,  of  the  conditions 
in  the  islands;  that  is,  fear  of  the  domination  of  the  Japanese  and, 
because  of  that  domination,  that  the  citizens  of  that  Territory  would 
in  time  lose  political  control  of  the  islands. 

The  Chairman.  Lose  their  control? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  mean  political  control.  I  was  fighting 
from  a  citizen's  point  of  view.  In  fact,  the  statement  I  made  at 
that  time  was  that,  in  10  years,  the  Japanese  who  were  then  going 
to  school  provided  they  exercised  their  rights  as  citizens  and  voted, 
would  control  the  electorate  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 


448  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  You  made  that  prophecy  pubHcly  in  the  islands 
from  time  to  time  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes.  And  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  those 
people  who  criticized  me  at  that  time  are  now  realizing  that  the  fight 
I  made  then  was  for  their  own  good  and  the  good  of  all  the  people 
of  Hawaii.  As  stated  by  the  commission,  not  only  are  we  now  in 
danger  politically,  but  industrially  and  economically. 

The  Chairman.  In  your  opinion,  the  prominent  Japanese  in  the 
islands  know  that  this  feeling  exists  not  only  among  your  people  and 
themselves,  the  voters  in  Hawaii,  but  among  the  people  in  the  United 
States  in  regard  to  Hawaii;  that  is,  the  Japanese  people  there  must 
know  it  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  There  is  no  question  about  it. 

The  Chairman.  And  it  is  discussed  from  time  to  time  in  their 
newspapers  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Whether  it  was  discussed  in  their  newspapers 
or  not  I  do  not  know,  but  the  fact  remains  that  not  only  the  citizens 
but  the  Japanese  themselves  were  aware  of  that  fact. 

The  Chairman.  And  discussed  frequently  in  the  English  printed 
newspapers  in  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  danger  of  the  domination  by  the  Japanese 
of  our  political,  economic,  and  industrial  situation  as  stated  by  the 
commission  is  now  more  acute  than  at  the  time  I  made  my  protest. 
In  the  protest  I  filed  at  that  time  I  stated  that  the  administration  was 
un-Americanizing  that  Territory  instead  of  Americanizing  it.  By 
legislation  in  Congress,  I  have  sought  to  make  that  Territory  Ameri- 
can. I  have  never  succeeded  in  doing  that  in  the  United  States 
Congress,  and  it  is  only  in  the  last  few  months  that  we  have  had 
legislation  passed  as  the  first  step  toward  Americanizing  that 
Territory.  That  first  step  is  that  all  Government  work  should  be 
done  by  American  citizens,  the  same  as  has  been  carried  on  by  the 
Territory,  county,  and  city  governments. 

The  Chairman.  That  paragraph  remained  in  the  rehabilitation 
bill? 

Mr.  KIalanianaole.  That  paragraph  remained  in  the  rehabilita- 
tion bill. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  wonder  why  the  Delegate  did  not  think  to  put  in  that 
bill  a  provision  that  land  should  not  be  owned  by  those  who  are  not 
eligible  to  become  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  have  inserted  a  provision  in  the  rehabilita- 
tion bill  prohibiting  aliens  from  buying  Government  lands,  but  they 
have  been  purchasing  Government  lands  in  the  name  of  their  minor 
children  and  having  themselves  appointed  guardians  of  such  children, 
thus  acquiring  the  control  of  the  land.  The  legality  of  these  trans- 
actions is  now  being  tested  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Raker.  Don't  they  own  some  of  this  land  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  do  not  know.  Perhaps  the  attornej^ 
general  may  know  of  the  amount  of  land  they  own. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Navy  Department  pro- 
tested the  insertion  of  that  clause  in  your  rehabilitation  bill  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  No;  the  representative  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment in  Hawaii  protested,  apparently  believing  in  Japanizing  the 
country  by  employing  Japanese  aliens. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  449 

Mr.  Raker.  Why  should  the  Navy  Department  and  the  War 
Department  control  the  civil  part  of  the  Government  relative  to  the 
ownership  of  the  lands  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  They  don't.  The  United  States  Congress  is 
responsible. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  another  matter;  the  rehabilitation  bill 
carried  one  paragraph  to  the  effect  that  citizens  or  those  eligible 
to  become  citizens  only  should  be  employed  on  Federal  works. 
The  big  Federal  works  there  are  the  Navy  works  and  the  Army  works, 
and  both  departments  protested  against  the  carrying  of  that  para- 
graph in  the  rehabilitation  bill. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  you  succeeded  in  getting  it  in  ? 

The  Chairman.  We  kept  it  in.  Now,  the  next  step  is  what  to  do 
to  offset  the  Japanese  domination  of  the  islands,  and  I  thought  we 
ought  to  hear  the  Prince  and  get  his  views. 

Mr.  Box.  I  notice  the  statement  shows  that  the  Hawaiian  people 
are  diminishing  in  numbers  and  have  been  since  the  first  settlement 
of  the  islands. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  full-blooded  Hawaiians;  yes. 

Mr.  Box.  Why  is  that  so  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Well,  I  suppose  the  change  of  life — civiliza- 
tion.    They  could  not  withstand  the  changed  conditions. 

Mr.  Box.  In  other  words,  civilization  killed  them  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  suppose  so.  The  undesirable  part  of  civili- 
zation is  what  killed  them. 

Mr.  Box.  They  appropriated  the  bad  part  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  They  were  a  primitive  people.  Civilization 
changed  the  nature  of  their  habits;  and,  as  civilization  came  on, 
diseases  followed  and  towns  and  cities  grew.  They  left  their  country 
homes  and  the  life  that  their  ancestors  had  lived  for  generations  and 
ceased  to  follow  agricultural  pursuits.  They  went  into  the  cities 
and  into  the  tenements  and  into  surroundings  that  were  not  fit  or 
good  for  a  people  who  had  spent  their  lives  in  the  open. 

Mr.  Raker.  Ask  him  what  particular  part  of  the  civilization  killed 
these  people  off. 

Mr.  Box.  Judge  Raker  asks,  very  pertinently,  that  we  be  particu- 
lar and  ascertain  what  particular  things  in  civilization  it  was  that 
destroyed  them. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Rum  and  disease. 

Mr.  Box.  Venereal  diseases  for  one  thing,  was  it  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Smallpox  and  measles,  particularly. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Measles  raised  more  havoc  there  than  anything 
else. 

Mr.  Box.  Measles,  smallpox,  and  drinking  liquor  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Well,  liquor  always  does  harm  to  any  race 
of  people. 

Mr.  Box.  Who  are  more  or  less  primitive  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Primitive  or  civilized. 

Mr.  Box.  And  you  succeeded  in  wiping  that  out  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Looking  back  over  our  history,  you  will  find 
that  one  of  the  greatest  struggles  we  had  in  Hawaii  was  to  keep 
civilized  countries  from  bringing  liquor  into  the  islands.  Our  Kings 
prohibited  liquor  from  being  brought  in,  but  the  French  and  other 

56754— 21— SER  7.  pt  1 16 


450  LABOE   PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Governments  seeking  to  build  up  their  trade  by  force  overrode  our 
laws  and  we  were  not  able  to  keep  liquor  out. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  same  old  story.  The  fellow  who  has 
trade  wants  to  continue  it. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  is  the  greed  of  trade  and  commerce. 

The  Chairman.  If  you  have  not  heard  of  their  legislation  regu- 
lating bathing  costumes,  they  introduced  in  one  branch  of  the 
legislature  over  there  a  bill  regulating  the  use  of  bathing  suits. 
Complaint  was  made  that  the  bathers  at  this  famous  Waikiki  Beach 
were  running  around  on  the  beach  of  Honolulu  in  these  very  limited 
bathing  suits,  and  a  bill  was  introduced  in  their  senate  by  Senator 
Desha,  a  Hawaiian,  and  he  made  a  very  brief  speech  which  carried 
the  bill,  and  his  speech  was  about  like  this,  that  100  years  ago  the 
Americans  came  to  the  islands  and  put  clothes  on  the  natives  there, 
and  now  it  becom.es  necessary  for  the  Hawaiians  to  put  clothes  on 
the  American  women  that  came  there.     And  his  argument  won. 

Mr.  Box.  Now,  Prince,  as  to  the  prospect  for  the  future.  What 
about  the  outlook  for  the  Hawaiian  people  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Well,  I  think  our  future  is  very  bright. 
Congress  has  just  passed  a  bill  to  give  the  Hawaiian  race  an  oppor- 
tunity to  try  to  save  itself.  The  idea  is  to  take  them  out  of  the 
tenements  of  the  cities  and  put  them  back  on  the  land,  with  the  aid 
of  the  Government;  that  is,  they  are  given  financial  aid  with  which 
to  develop  these  lands  into  agricultural  lands.  If  Congress  enacts  a 
law  permitting  Europeans  to  enter  the  Territory  and  at  the  same 
time  compel  them  to  remain  until  they  are  naturalized,  which  would 
give  them  an  opportunity  to  become  accustomed  to  our  community 
and  be  a  part  of  our  permanent  population,  I  am  positive  that  such 
a  condition  would  benefit  the  Hawaiian  people.  The  standard  of 
living  and  citizenship  would  be  raised. 

Mr.  Box.  Your  hope  is,  then,  they  will  not  go  as  the  American 
Indian  finally  went  ? 

Mr.  E^ALANiANAOLE.  We  hope  not.  It  has  never  been  tried  before 
except  in  New  Zealand.  The  British  Government  has  tried  this 
scheme  with  the  Maori  people,  and  the  Maori  people  are  identically 
the  same  race  of  people  as  the  Hawaiians,  and  it  has  been  proved  that 
after  the  experiment  was  begun  the  Maoris  increased  and  to-day  are 
the  only  branch  of  the  Polynesian  race  that  is  increasing  in  numbers. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  considered  any  other  source  from  which  you 
can  get  people  ?  You  seem  to  be  greatly  in  need  of  the  right  kind  of 
people.  This  resolution  involves  the  bringing  of  Chinese  into  the 
islands  and  you  are  familiar  with  the  general  sentiment  in  Congress. 
I  would  like  to  know  what  you  have  thought  along  those  lines,  about 
a  solution  of  the  confessedly  acute  problem  that  your  people  have. 

Mr.  Kj^lanianaole.  In  my  protest  to  the  administration  11  years 
ago,  my  contention  was  that  it  was  up  to  the  administration,  now 
that  we  are  an  American  Territory,  to  see  to  it  that  the  right  people 
be  brought  in,  so  that  they  can  assimilate  with  the  American  people 
and  thereby  Americanize  that  Territory.  My  view  has  always  been 
that  Europeans  are  the  only  solution  to  this  problem.  It  is  the 
white  people  you  should  bring  in  there  in  order  to  make  that  countryi 
what  you  think  it  ought  to  be. 

Mr.  Box.  Whatever  may  be  your  appreciation  of  the  present! 
distress,  you  do  realize  that  the  bringing  of  Chinese  there  won't  work| 
out  your  problem  permanently,  don't  you  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII.  451 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  will  work  it  out  for  the  time  being. 

Mr.  Box.  I  mean  permanently;  I  put  the  accent  on  the  word 
^'permanently." 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Well,  permanently,  you  must  look  to  Europe. 
But  if  our  situation  now,  as  has  been  laid  before  the  committee  by 
the  commission,  is  such,  and  if  the  needs  of  the  Territory  are  such 
that  we  ought  to  have  Chinese  labor,  I  do  not  see  why  you  should 
prohibit  us  from  supplying  our  needs  with  that  labor.  At  the  same 
time,  of  course,  you  should  work  out  a  permanent  solution  of  the 
problem  of  bringing  in  a  class  of  labor  which  will  in  time  build  up  a 
citizen  population  of  the  right  kind.  But  if  you  refuse  us  Chinese 
labor  in  the  emergency  situation  which  exists  now,  and  work  out 
the  permanent  solution  at  this  time,  it  may  take  10  or  20  years  before 
anything  can  be  done.     What  will  we  do  in  the  meantime  ? 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  believe  that  the  two  will  work  togehter?  For 
instance,  if  it  is  known  among  those  European  people  who  furnish 
desirable  labor  that  the  islands  are  to  be  filled  with  Chinese  to  supple- 
ment the  present  Japanese,  do  you  believe  that  that  will  be  an  induce- 
ment to  the  people  who  will  make  your  Territory  a  desirable  place 
for  your  own  people  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Not  to  that  extent  in  that  this  is  not  a  prop- 
osition to  supplement  the  Japanese,  as  I  understand  it,  but  to  meet  an 
immediate  emergency  which  can  not  be  relieved  by  waiting  for  any 
permanent  immigration  legislation  for  the  islands. 

The  permanent  legislation  should  have  in  it  the  fact  that  the 
standard  of  labor  must  be  raised,  so  as  to  permit  the  Americanizing 
of  the  islands  by  the  immigration  of  people  who  are  eligible  to  become 
citizens. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  studied  the  history  of  California  in  dealing 
with  the  Chinese  question  ? 

Mr.  KLA.LANIANAOLE.  I  havc  studied  it  in  a  way;  yes. 

Mr.  Box.  You  remember  that  in  the  beginning,  about  1862,  they 
absolutely  prohibited  American  vessels  from  even  hauling  Chinese 
across — Congress  did — at  the  demand  of  China  and  California;  and 
vou  remember  the  riots  they  have  had  and  the  terrible  feeling? 
People  from  there  tell  me  if  you  know  where  to  look,  you  will  find  a 
lot  of  bones  of  Chinese  in  California. 

Mr.  K^ALANIANAOLE.  That  was  not  the  condition  in  Hawaii;  that 
is,  there  was  no  actual  hostile  feeling  against  the  Chinese;  but  he  was 
the  butt  for  the  small  boys  and  the  people  generall}^, 

Mr.  Box.  Are  the  Chinese  numerous  now  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  have  a  Chinese  population;  yes.  We 
have  Chinese  citizens  there  of  whom  we  are  proud.  They  make  fine 
citizens. 

Mr.  Box.  Does  a  comparison  with  the  Japanese  citizen  make  you 
proud  of  them,  or  is  it  a  change  in  their  character  that  makes  you 
proud  of  them  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  are  proud  of  our  Chinese  citizens  in 
Bawaii  for  the  reason  that  they  have  adopted  American  ideals  to  a 
^ery  much  greater  extent  than  the  Japanese,  and  are  American  as 
nearly  as  any  foreign  people  can  ever  be. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  hnd  a  strong  tendency  among  the  Chinese  to 
become  Americans  ? 


452  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAH. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  Chinese  we  have  in  Hawaii  are  just  as 
good  Americans  as  anybody  else. 

Mr.  Box.  Let  us  see  how  far  that  goes.     They  do  not  intermarry? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  They  have  intermarried  with  the  Hawaiians 
but  to  a  Hmited  extent  only. 

Mr.  Box.  What  has  been  the  result  of  their  intermarriage  with 
Hawaiians  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  has  been  a  fine  result  to  both  races. 

Mr.  Box.  They  have  made  industrious  citizens  ? 

Mr.  E^alanianaole.  Yes. 

Mr.  Box.  Are  they  inclined  to  be  moral  and  law  abiding? 

Mr.  E^ALANiANAOLE.  The  Chinese  are  a  moral  and  law-abiding 
people. 

Mr.  Box.  They  do  not  intermarry  with  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  E^ALANiANAOLE.  Not  that  I  know  of. 

Mr.  Box.  Or  with  the  few  Americans  there;  I  mean  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Where  they  are  part-Chinese  and  part- 
Hawaiian  they  have  married,  yes. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  developed  a  race  over  there  of  mixtures  be- 
tween Chinese  and  Hawaiians  and  other  races  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  are  not  looking  to  making  a  race  of  that 
kind;  we  are  looking  to  making  a  race  that  you  ought  to  be  proud  of. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  what  we  are  thinking  about  and  I  am  sure  it  is 
what  you  are  thinking  about — the  permanent  character  of  it.  Now 
you  have  just  stated  that  they  do  marry  and  of  co'urse  if  they  marry 
they  have  offspring,  and  you  have  said  that  that  offspring  is  good  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  offspring  of  those  Chinese  citizens  in 
Hawaii,  yes. 

Mr.  Box.  And  that  offspring,  of  course — they  are  Americans  in 
every  sense  of  the  word  and  if  you  get  any  considerable  number  of 
them,  you  of  course  understand  they  will  have  all  the  rights  of  other 
Americans,  including  the  right  to  live  in  the  continental  United 
States. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  You  mean  the  ones  we  want  to  bring  into  the 
country  ? 

Mr.  Box.  No,  I  mean  their  offspring. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Well,  I  suppose  they  have,  if  any  are  born 
there. 

Mr.  Box.  You  will  have  to  continue  this  system,  if  we  adopt  it, 
for  some  years;  you  can  not  say  for  certain  it  will  end  in  five  years — 
it  will  be  going  on  almost  indefinitely  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  And  in  the  meantime  we  can  work  out  another 
method  of  improving  our  citizenship.  The  condition  that  stares  us 
in  the  face  to-day  makes  immediate  relief  necessary.  Now  if  Euro- 
pean immigrants  are  a  solution  of  it,  well  and  good;  let  us  have  them: 
but  to  my  mind  it  is  not  the  solution  at  the  present  moment.  The 
only  solution  at  the  present  moment  from  my  point  of  view  is  that 
we  have  to  have  the  Chinese.  Then,  within  the  five  years  during 
which  relief  is  thus  provided,  the  Congress  can  enact  legislation  to 
encourage  Europeans  to  come  to  Hawaii,  and  within  five  years,  ten 
years,  or  twenty  years  we  may  have  a  population  there  of  white 
people. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL  453 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  studied  the  industrial  history  of  the  South  in 
its  demand  for  negro  Labor  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  have  not. 

Mr.  Box.  But^  you  do  know  the  tragedy  that  the  South  has  gone 
through  as  a  result  of  that,  do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  know  whether  or  not  the  leading  men  of  the 
South,  75  years  ago,  stated  over  and  over  again — the  records  are 
full  of  it — that  if  they  did  not  have  this  slave  labor  the  industries  of 
the  South  would  be  ruined  ?  Do  you  know  whether  they  have  said 
that  or  not  ? 

Mr.  KALANIANAOLE.  Oh,  yes.     I  think  it  was  said  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Box.  Yes,  I  think  it  was  said  from  the  time  they  were  first 
carried  there,  and  those  of  us  who  live  there  know  what  the  results 
are  and  have  been,  and  that  is  a  factor,  I  think,  in  the  minds  of 
Congress  and  every  member  of  the  committee  who  has  studied  it. 
I  just  suggest  that  you  give  that  your  attention  in  working  out  this 
very  acute  problem  for  your  own  people,  that  you  see  what  the  race 
problem  of  the  South  now  is  and  what  the  South's  history  has  been 
resulting  from  its  use  of  a  subordinate  and  subservient  people  to 
perform  its  labor. 

Mr.  KALANIANAOLE.  But  I  do  not  think  you  can  say  that  that  con- 
dition has  existed  or  will  exist  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Box.  I  just  make  that  suggestion. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  feeling  of  hatred 
between  any  races  in  Hawaii — either  the  Japanese,  Chinese,  or  Euro- 
peans. It  is  not  for  the  reason  that  we  hate  the  Japanese  that  we 
are  coming  to  Congress  in  this  emergency.  We  wish  to  keep  our 
Territory  under  American  control  and  do  not  wish  to  allow  it  to  pass 
into  the  control  of  a  race  of  people  whose  ideals  are  absolutely  opposed 
to  ours. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  not  your  people  ask  for  them  as  laborers  ? 

Mr.  kalanianaole.  Who  ? 

Mr.  Box.  The  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  never  asked  the  United  States  to  give  us 
Japanese. 

Mr.  Box.  I  know  you  did  not,  but  you  asked  them  to  come  or  per- 
mitted them  to  come. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  tried  to  prohibit  them  from  coming. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  not  you  say  your  protest  was  not  favorably  con- 
sidered by  your  own  people  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  By  some  of  our  own  people  and  by  the  ad- 
ministration in  Washington. 

Mr.  Box.  Yes,  I  understand  that;  but  didn't  you  say  here  a  while 
^go  you  were  glad  the  warnings  you  gave  them  were  confirmed  here 
and  you  are  glad  to  see  that  those  views  are  now  appreciated  by  the 
members  of  this  commission? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  And  we  are  all  in  one  and  the  same  position 
to-day. 

Mr.  Box.  That  indicates  you  have  not  always  been  so. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Some  of  our  people,  10  or  12  years  ago,  did 
not  realize  the  situation  as  I  did;  but  I  am  glad  now  that  we  are 
unanimous  in  that  feeling. 

Mr.  Box.  I  think  you  were  wise  as  to  that. 


454  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IIT  HAWAII. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  all  see  the  danger  now  because  it  is 
staring  us  directly  in  the  face  and  we  can  not  get  away  from  it. 

Mr.  Box.  I  am  sure  you  realize  this  fact,  in  connection  with  all 
these  problems;  For  instance,  California  was  greatly  alarmed  when 
they  saw  the  Chinese  were  present  in  great  numbers  and  continuing 
to  come.  When  the  acuteness  of  that  danger  passed  and  they  de- 
creased in  numbers,  then  they  forgot  that  they  were  afraid  of  them 
before  and  killed  them  and  asked  that  they  be  excluded,  and  later 
they  became  alarmed  by  the  Japanese  and  said,  ^'If  you  do  not  keep 
them  out,  we  are  ruined."  Now,  you  seem  at  one  time  to  have  been 
very  hostile  to  the  Chinese;  later  the  facts  made  you  very  fearful  of 
the  Japanese,  and  now  you  feel  again  a  new  attitude  of  friendliness 
toward  the  Chinese;  you  think  they  can  help  you. 
J  Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  were  never  hostile  to  the  Chinese  to  the 
extent  of  a  hatred  toward  them  as  a  people.  The  feeling  that  we 
had  against  the  Chinese  was  that  he  was  a  person  of  no  consequence; 
he  was  buffeted  about  by  all  the  children  as  a  joke;  but  there  was 
no  hostility  against  the  Chinese  as  a  race  or  as  a  man  which  made 
him  a  danger  to  our  industrial  condition  in  Hawaii.  There  was  no 
such  feeling  as  that. 

Mr.  Box.  There  is  nothing  masterful  about  his  nature,  and  there 
is  with  the  Japanese  \ 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  Japanese  control,  political  and  industrial, 
is  a  live  issue  in  Hawaii.  We  have  no  feeling  of  hatred  toward  them 
as  a  people.  I  don't  know  whether  it  is  the  Hawaiian  atmosphere, 
but  the  way  the  different  races  have  lived  harmoniously  in  Hawaii 
should  be  a  lesson  to  the  people  on  the  mainland  as  to  how  races  can 
live  in  one  country  in  peace  and  harmony.  Even  now  that  we  realize 
danger  of  an  alien  control,  we  do  not  hate  that  alien  race.  We  do 
say,  however,  that  Congress  should  relieve  us  from  a  danger  which 
has  been  brought  about  without  fault  on  our  part. 

Mr.  Box.  I  think  you  would  discover,  if  you  would  visit  California 
and  her  coast  and  study  the  question  there,  that  there  is  not  much 
personal  bitterness  toward  the  Japanese  there,  except  that  which 
grows  out  of  the  very  alarm  that  you  mention. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  which  grows  out  of  that  alarm,  but  there 
is  that  danger  in  Hawaii  of  being  controlled  by  these  aliens  if  no 
solution  is  provided. 

Mr.  Box.  I  believe  the  committee  appreciates  that.  I  think  I  do. 
I  have  no  further  questions,  Mr.  Chairman. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  ask  the  Delegate  a  few  questions.  Did  you 
ever  read  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  on  the 
adoption  of  the  resolution  to  annex  Hawaii  % 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  have  read  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  call  it  to  your  attention  and  read  it  in  the  record 
before  I  get  through.  That  report  then  stated,  when  Hawaii  was 
annexed  and  the  committee  made  its  report  to  the  House,  that  the 
question  then,  the  danger,  was  the  domination  of  the  Japanese  in  the 
islands.  Do  you  remember  that  as  one  of  the  questions  of  the  danger 
of  annexation?     That  is  in  the  report  and  I  will  read  it. 

The  Chairman.  How  do  you  square  that  with  the  fact  that  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  as  a  republic,  shut  out  the  Japanese  % 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  it  here  and  I  want  to  read  it  in  the  record,  but 
'first  I  want  to  ask  a  question  right  in  that  connection.     That  being 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWxVIL  455 

the  fact  (and  I  will  read  it  to  you) ,  what  has  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 
throup^h  its  officials,  its  legislature,  and  otherwise,  done  relative  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  Japanese  since  annexation? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Nothing. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  What  could  it  do  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  could  do  nothing  except  by  protesting  to 
the  administration  here,  or  Congress,  or  by  seeking  legislation  of 
Congress  to  do  away  with  that  evil,  and  the  Territory  has  done  that 
since  annexation  through  certain  legislation,  for  which  they  have 
asked  and  are  now  asking. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  put  you  in  the  same  attitude,  in  the  sense 
that  you  are  not  an  agitator  nor  a  propagandist,  but  are  here  pre- 
senting facts  that  really  are  a  serious  menace  to  the  islands.  That 
is  right,  is  it  not,  Mr.  Kalanianaole  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  that  is  my  view  of  it.  If  conditions 
continue  as  at  present  the  time  vfill  come  when  Congress  or  this 
Government  must  make  Hawaii  a  military/  government  or  a  commis- 
sion government,  and  that  we  do  not  want. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  in  regard  to  civilization.  Your  answer  sort  of 
astounded  me  a  little  while  ago,  that  the  advance  of  civilization  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  has  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent  eliminated  the 
Hawaiian  people. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  do  not  quite  understand  your  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  the  Hawaiian  people  have  decreased  in  numbers 
because  of  the  advance  of  civilization.     Is  that  what  you  mean  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  meant  to  say  that  civilization  is  always  a 
detriment  physicrJly  to  an  aboriginal  race.  As  time  goes  on  they 
become  accustomed  to  the  changed  methods  of  living  and  will  even- 
tually be  able  to  hold  their  own  with  other  races. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Judge,  it  is  very  interesting  to 
note  that  of  all  the  people  that  have  ever  taken  on  civilization,  the 
Hawaiian  people  have  taken  it  on  the  fastest  and  best. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes ;  but  what  I  am  getting  at  now  is  that  that  is  true 
to  an  extent,  but  there  is  a  reason  for  it.  Like  the  American  Indian, 
we  kicked  him  and  buffeted  him  around,  we  had  our  fights  with  him 
and  then  we  let  him  die  by  disease  and  provided  rum  and  whisky 
and  everything  for  him  so  that  he  woidd  be  disposed  of  early,  and  I 
suppose  the  same  thing  occurred  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Not  to  the  same  extent,  but  all  primitive 
peoples  are  more  or  less  subject  to  deterioration  and  decay  wiien  they 
nrst  come  in  contact  with  civilization. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know,  but  there  must  be  some  reason  for  that. 
Intoxication  affected  them  very  much  indeed,  didn't  it? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  think  it  affects  the  Hawaiian  no  more  than 
it  does  the  white  man. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right.     But  you  have  eliminated  that  now. 

Mr.  KALANIANAOLE.  We  tried  to  eliminate  it  long  before  you 
eliminated  it,  as  I  told  you  a  moment  ago.  Your  civilized  nation 
insisted  on  bringing  in  liquor  because  of  your  commercial  greediness ; 
insisted  that  the  Hav/aiian  Government  admit  liquor  into  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  Our  Kings  had  prohibited  those  things,  but 
right  could  not  prevail  against  might. 

Mr.  Box.  And  if  the  American  Government  did  insist  on  it,  of 
course  you  would  take  liquor  over  there  and  sell  it? 


456  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  KIalanianaole.  I  presume  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  had  commerce  in  liquors  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
between  the  States  and  also  foreign  countries? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  You  mean  under  the  Territorial  Government? 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  after  annexation,  liquor  could  be  obtained  in 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  KALANIANAOLE.  Certainly. 

Mr.  Raker.    Now,  when  has  it  ceased  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Since  the  war. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  did  not  have  it  before  that  time? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Do  you  mean  prohibition? 

The  Chairman.  Oh,  yes;  you  had  prohibition  back  in  the  Mon- 
archy. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  talking  about  after  we  took  their  islands  and 
annexed  them,  the  use  of  liquor  was  not  prohibited  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  No. 

Mr.  Raker.  From  the  time  of  annexation  until  prohibition;  that 
is  right,  isn't  it? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now  what  other  thing  was  conductive  to  retarding 
the  development  of  the  Hawaiian  people  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  terribly  busy  and  want  to  attend 
this  hearing,  and  while  I  would  like  to  hear  the  discussion  I  can  not 
see  that  it  has  anything  to  do  with  the  question  before  the  committee. 
I  do  not  want  to  be  discourteous,  but  I  want  to  be  here  to-day  and  I 
was  asked  to  be  here,  and  I  can  not  see  where  this  rambling  inquiry 
takes  us. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  think  about  it,  Judge  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Oh,  it  is  leading  up  to  the  vital  point  of  the  question. 

The  Chairman.  There  has  been  presented  to  us  a  volume  with  a 
concise  history  of  the  islands,  and  it  is  most  interesting.  I  think  that 
their  history,  next  to  the  history  of  France  and  Mexico,  is  the  most 
interesting  history  that  we  can  find. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  getting  down  now  to  the  question  of  the  races, 
which  are  involved  in  this. 

Nothing  else,  Mr.  Delegate,  has  had  an  effect  in  retarding  the 
development  of  the  Hawaiian  people  that  you  know  of,  has  it? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  What  do  you  mean  by  development  of  the 
people  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  They  have  been  progressing  right  along? 

Mr.  ILalanianaole.  Oh,  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  there  is  nothing  in  the  way  of  their  progress? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Absolutely  nothing. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  the  United  States  has  done  since  annexation? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Nothing  that  I  know  of. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  development  in  the  last  20  years  has  been  phe- 
nominal  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes,  I  think  so.  But,  of  course,  you  must 
understand  we  were  already  a  developed  community  before  we 
were  annexed. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  it  has  developed  marvelously  in  the  last  20 
years  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes. 


I^ABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  457 

Mr.  Kaker.  You  would  not  be  in  favor  of  an  intermingling  of 
the  people  of  Hawaii  in  the  way  of  intermarriage  between  them  and 
the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.    Kalanianaole.  I  do  not  quite  understand  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  not  in  favor  of  intermarriage  between  the 
Hawaiian  people  and  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  is  a  personal  matter  with  the  indi- 
vidual, whether  he  desires  to  marry  a  Japanese  or  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  I   am   asking  for  your   opinion. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  would  not  advocate  such  intermarriage. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  asking  has  there  been  any  intermarrying  of  the 
people  of  Hawaii  and  the  Chinese. 

Mr.  Kj^lanianaole.  There  has  been  some,  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  in  favor  of  that  intermarriage  or  against 
it? 

Mr.  KIalanianaole.  I  have  no  opinion  to  give  on  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  No  personal  opinion  to  give  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  No;  no  personal  opinion. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  you  brought  the  Chinese  over  to  Hawaii,  would 
you  be  opposed  to  their  marriage  with  Hawaiians  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  is  their  business. 

Mr.  Free.  What  was  your  answer? 

Mr.  E^ALANIANAOLE.  That  is  the  business  of  the  individual  whether 
he  wants  to  marry  a  Japanese  or  Chinese  or  anybody  else.  * 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  bring  them  there 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  do  not  believe  in  legislating  against  mar- 
riage. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  is  the  point,  Mr.  Delegate,  that  you  are  asking 
for  these  Chinese  people  to  come  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  are  asking  for  them  to  come  there  to 
solve  the  labor  problem  which  exists  to-day. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right.  Now,  would  you  put  any  restrictions 
upon  their  remaining  there  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  would. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  restrictions  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  restriction  of  ^ve  years,  as  called  for 
by  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  you  put  any  restrictions  upon  their  mode 
and  method  and  manner  of  work? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Well,  that  is  up  to  you.  We  are  presenting 
our  case  and  if  you,  as  legislators,  decide  that  our  case  warrants 
your  consideration,  then  it  is  up  to  you  to  give  us  that  legislation. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  presenting  the  matter  here  and  for  the 
benefit  of  the  committee,  so  that  they  can  understand  what  I  am 
getting  at.  My  question  is  whether  or  not,  after  having  brought 
the  Chinese  people  to  Hawaii,  you  would  be  in  favor  of  placing  any 
restrictions  upon  the  kind  and  character  of  work  that  they  should 
follow  after  having  once  landed  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Well,  we  want  them  in  order  to  solve  our 
labor  problem;  that  is,  we  want  labor  for  our  plantations  and  we 
need  it  badly,  and  I  would  restrict  it  to  that — yes. 

The  Chairman.  Would  it  be  all  right  to  introduce  at  this  point 
the  text  of  a  proposed  new  resolution  which  would  clear  up  the 
situation  ? 


458  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  very  satisfactory  to  me. 

The  Chairman.  The  delegate  will  present  to  the  House  to-day 
a  resolution  with  a  n  w  wording  and  I  will  call  the  attention  of  the 
committee,  before  I  read  it,  to  the  fact  that  the  new  wording  permits 
the  President  to  make  a  proclamation  as  to  an  emergency,  and  there 
is  a  slight  change  in  the  wording  as  to  the  occupations  in  which  the 
proposed  immigrants  may  engage.  This  new  resolution  has  been 
talked  over  by  myself  and  such  other  members  as  I  could  reach. 
We  have  suggested  some  of  the  modifications,  and  the  committee 
might  as  well  begin  consideration  of  them.     I  will  read: 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America 
in  Congress  assemhled,  That  for  a  period  of  five  years  from  the  passage  of  this  joint 
resolution,  whenever  the  President  shall  find  and  by  proclamation  declare  that  an 
emergency  exists  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  by  reason  of  a  serious  shortage  of  labor, 
either  general  or  of  any  particular  class  or  classes,  the  Secretary  of  Labor  shall  be, 
and  he  is  hereby,  empowered,  under  such  conditions  and  regulations  as  he  shall 
prescribe,  to  admit  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  such  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible  as 
he  may  deem  necessary  to  meet  the  existing  emergency:  Provided,  That  such  aliens 
shall  be  admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of  time,  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  only 
in  the  class  or  classes  of  labor  as  to  which  the  emergency  has  been  found  to  exist, 
that  such  admission  of  aliens  shall  not  operate  to  increase  the  number  of  persons  of 
any  one  alien  nationality  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  so  that  their  total  numbers  at 
any  one  time  shall  exceed  20  per  centum  of  the  total  population  of  the  Territory 
as  determined  by  the  last  census;  and  that  the  regulations  shall  provide  for  and 
secure  the  return  of  such  laborers  to  their  respective  countries  upon  the  expiratiori 
of  the  time  limited,  without  cost  to  the  United  States:  Provided  further ,  That  nothing 
herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  allow  any  alien  admitted  under  the  terms 
hereof  to  remove  to  any  other  place  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  would  you  be  in  favor  of  placing  restrictions 
upon  the  Chinese  who  were  brought  there,  as  to  tlie  mode  and  place 
of  work  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  think  there  should  be  some  kind  of  a 
restriction. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  failed  to  comply  with  the  restrictions  thus 
placed  upqn  them,  would  you  be  in  favor  of  apprehending  them  and 
returning  them  to  China  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Certainly,  I  do  not  see  how  you  can  do  it 
otherwise. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  the  Chinese  thus  brought,  would  you  be  in  favor 
of  allowing  them  to  build  up  homes  and  to  marry  in  Hawaii,  if  they 
desired  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  believe  that  the  Congress  ought  to  do  some- 
thing to  see  to  it  that  we  improve  our  conditions  there  from  an 
American  point  of  view  and  that  is  as  to  building  up  of  our  citizen- 
ship. We  want  a  white  American  citizenship  in  that  country,  or 
aliens  who  will  be  eligible  and  who  will  assimilate.  In  the  meantime, 
however,  we  must  have  Chinese  to  stem  the  tide  that  is  fast  carrying 
us  toward  Japanese  control. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  is  it  your  idea  that  you  should  bring  those 
Chinese  in  in  sufficient  numbers  to  drive  out  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Our  labor  problem  is  a  serious  one,  and  if  you 
do  not  legislate  for  Hawaii,  you  will  find  a  condition  that  is  so  bad 
for  the  Americans  there  that  you  will  not  know  what  may  happen. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  on  page  30,  Report  No.  1355,  Fifty-fifth  Con- 
gress, second  session,  on  the  annexation  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
made  by  Mr.  Hitt  for  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  of  date  May 
17,  1898,  I  find  the  following: 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  459 

I  make  no  charge  that  the  Japanese  Government  has  hostile  intentions  against 
Hawaii.  But.  regardless  of  the  declarations  or  intentions  of  the  Japanese  Government 
the  fact  is  that  IlaAvaii  has,  against  the  will  and  efforts  of  its  government  and  people, 
drifted  Japan -wards  during  the  past  two  years;  and  unless  radical  action  is  taken  to 
stay  the  process,  there  can  be  but  one  logical  result,  viz.,  the  ultimate  supremacy  of 
the  Japanese,  and  thereby  of  Japan,  in  Hawaii.  This  has  progressed  and  will  be 
accomplished,  in  the  teeth  of  the  American  policy  of  exclusion  of  foreign  control  in 
Hawaii,  and  with  no  tangible  overt  act  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  Government. 

Mr.  KJ^LANiANAOLE.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now  that  has  practically  come  true  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Is  that  the  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  report. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Is  that  the  report  made  by  the  commission? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  language  of  the  report  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Wlio  were  the  commissioners;  were  they  three 
from  Congress  and  two  from  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  this  is  the  report  of  Mr.  Hitt,  of  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs,  reporting  the  resolution  annexing  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  to  the  United  States.     The  report  was  made  May  17,  1898. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  was  made  after  an  investigation  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  was  made  when  the  resolution  was  submitted 
and  that  is  one  of  the  statements  found  in  the  report  referred  to. 

Mr.  Irwin.  And  made  after  an  investigation? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  suppose  it  was;  yes. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  And  since  annexation,  nothing  has  been  done 
at  all  to  remedy  that  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  I  was  trying  to  get  you  to  put  fairly  and 
clearly  in  the  record,  that  this  matter  was  called  to  the  attention  of 
Congress  in  1898,  May  17,  and  that  nothing  has  been  done  since. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  In  1911,  if  I  do  not  mistake  the  date,  that 
same  danger  was  called  to  the  attention  of  the  Administration  in 
Washington,  and  the  President  sent  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to 
Hawaii  to  investigate,  and  he  has  not  made  a  report  to  this  day. 

Mr.  Box.  That  was  in  1911  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  think  it  was  about  1911;  I  have  forgotten 
the  exact  date. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Judge  Raker,  you  do  not  maintain  that  the  Ha- 
waiians  have  the  power  to  solve  that  danger  themselves  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Oh,  no;  Mr.  Kleczka.  But  what  I  mean  is  that  there 
has  been  no  effort  by  the  Hawaiian  government  or  its  people  to  pre- 
sent the  situation  to  Congress  in  regard  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Japa- 
nese from  this  Territory  since  its  annexation. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  people  of  Hawaii  could  not  tell  Congress 
to  do  that,  but  the  people  of  Hawaii  did  call  the  attention  of  Congress 
to  the  danger  of  the  Japanese  situation  there  and  Congress  has  not 
seen  fit  to  do  anytling. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  been  trying  to  get  into  the  record — and  I  am 
met  on  all  sides  with  the  statement  there  is  a  question  whether  we 
should  go  into  this  and  whether  we  should  present  the  same  facts  that 
were  presented  in  1898  and  which  have  continued  up  to  the  present 
time,  and  when  we  did  find  the  Delegate  before  the  committee,  it  is  a 
question  of  whether  or  not  we  should  go  into  the  real  vital  question 
that  involves  your  Territory. 

The  Chairman.  We  voted  several  days  ago  to  go  into  it  and  we  are 
going  into  it  as  carefully  as  we  can,  with  much  pains  and  much  detail. 


480  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  record  shows  the  Hawaiian  Repubhc 
shut  out  the  Japanese  and  immediately  they  became  a  Territory  they 
were  forced,  under  the  suggestion  of  the  State  Department,  to  pay  a 
fine  for  refusing  to  admit  Japanese;  and  it  is  further  of  record  that 
from  time  to  time  bills  have  been  introduced  for  the  admission  of 
labor,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  the  Hawaiian 
Legislature  has  from  time  to  time  appointed  and  paid  the  expenses 
of  commissions  to  come  to  Congress  and  state  the  conditions  in  the 
Islands. 

Mr.  McClellan,  And  the  Immigration  Commission  itself  made  a 
special  investigation  and  report. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  still,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  until  the  matter  was 
presented  last  week  and  to-day,  it  has  never  been  presented  to  Con- 
gress before. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  has  been  presented  to  Congress  and  pre- 
sented to  the  President — a  protest  against  the  danger  of  the  continua- 
tion of  such  a  condition. 

Mr.  Raker.  When  was  that  presented? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  can  not  give  you  the  exact  date,  but  that  is 
on  record  in  the  Interior  Department. 

The  Chairman.  And  to  my  personal  knowledge  they  protested 
against  the  Japanese  language  schools  that  have  gone  there  from 
time  to  time. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  May  I  interject  this  right  here,  that  the  feeling 
of  the  people  of  Hawaii  is  so  strong  that  there  is  an  absolute  deaf  ear 
in  Congress  to  our  needs  and  to  our  Japanese  emergency,  that  they 
felt  that  it  was  practically  hopeless,  even  in  an  emergency,  to  get  any 
relief  from  Congress  when  this  commission  was  appointed;  but  we 
felt  we  had  to  do  something  to  register  this  fact  here. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  the  distinguished  gentleman  is  going  far  afield 
of  the  record  that  a  deaf  ear  has  been  given  it  by  the  committees  of 
Congress,  because  they  have  not  had  the  opportunity.  It  has  not 
been  presented  here  before. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  will  amend  that  and  say  the  United  States 
Government. 

The  Chairman.  I  understood  Mr.  Dillingham  to  imply  that  the 
people  from  Hawaii  in  the  past  had  been  to  Congress  and  they  felt 
that  Congress  had  a  deaf  ear,  and  they  based  that  feeling  on  the  fact 
that  Congress  refused  to  let  them  participate  in  the  good-roads 
legislation  or  the  school  legislation,  or  matters  of  that  kind.  Now, 
I  have  always  joined  the  Prince  in  the  eftort  to  put  Hawaii  into  all 
State  legislation,  but  it  has  not  been  possible  to  do  so.  I  think  the 
reason  has  been  that  we  have  the  same  form  of  government  for 
Hawaii  that  we  have  for  Alaska,  and  Alaska  is  98  per  cent  federally 
owned,  and  you  could  not,  for  instance,  put  Federal  aid  for  roads  into 
Alaska  on  a  50-50  plan,  and  Hawaii  fell  into  the  same  basket, 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know  the  Prince  understands  the  case,  that  I  am 
not  critizing  but  commending  him  for  his  efforts,  and  I  compliment 
him,  and  am  just  bringing  out  the  fact,  if  I  can,  in  a  few  words,  that 
really,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  the  first  time  that  the  Prince  has 
had  the  opportunity,  really,  in  a  public  hearing  before  a  committee, 
to  present  the  real  crucial  matter  that  affects  the  Hawaiian  people; 
is  that  true,  Prince  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAIL  461 

Mr.  ELvLANiANAOLE.  No;  I  have  had  this  matter  before  Congress 
many  times. 

Mr.  Raker.  When? 

Mr.  KalaniaNxVOLe.  I  have  had  it  before  Confess  on  three  or 
four  different  occasions,  on  the  question  of  suspending  our  coastwise 
laws  so  that  Americans  coukl  be  given  an  opportunity  to  go  to  the 
Hawaiian  Iskinds  and  see  the  situadon  there,  and  be  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  travel  on  American  boats  and  go  to  Hawaii  and  live  there. 
That  has  been  presented  before  Congress,  and  I  called  attention  to  the 
reason  why  we  wanted  Americans  to  come  there,  but  you  have  pro- 
hibited an  American  from  traveling  from  one  American  port  to 
another  American  port. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  this  is  the  first  time  you  have  really  presented  it 
to  a  committee  like  you  have  to-day  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  first  time  before  the  Committee  on 
Immigration,  yes;  but  it  is  not  the  first  time  in  Congress.  I  have 
presented  this  matter  to  Congress  on  three  or  four  different  occasions 
and  called  the  attention  of  Congress  to  our  situation. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Chairman,  it  would  not  make  any  difference 
whether  it  had  been  presented  forty  times  or  once.  That  is  not  the 
matter  we  are  interested  in.     I  wish  this  thing  could  be  hurried  along. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  satisfied  that  the  new  resolution  which 
I  have  read  is  an  improvement  over  the  one  heretofore  under  con- 
sideration ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  it  is  better.  The  suggestion  that  the 
President  declare  the  emergency  by  proclamation  is  certainly  an 
improvement. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  we  all  agree  on  that.  The  substitute 
might  be  offered  by  the  committee,  but  it  will  be  better,  perhaps, 
for  the  Delegate  to  present  it,  and  we  can  then  act  on  it. 

The  Chairman.  Are  there  any  further  questions  that  you  desire 
to  ask  of  the  Delegate  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  would  like  to  have  the  record  clear  on 
some  of  the  questions  asked  by  Judge  Raker  as  to  the  progress  of 
the  Hawaiian  people.  He  did  not  state  whether  he  meant  that  as  a 
race  or  in  an  economic  way.  I  just  want  to  say  to  the  committee 
that  the  depopulation  of  the  Hawaiian  people  in  the  islands  was  due 
not  so  much  to  liquor,  which  of  course  had  its  bad  results,  but  to 
disease.  Smallpox  carried  out  10,000  or  12,000  at  a  time.  Measles 
carried  out  thousands  and  thousands  of  them.  Then  they  changed 
their  mode  of  living.  They  were  used  to  the  open  air  out  in  the 
mountains  and  upon  their  little  kuleanas,  where  they  grew  potatoes, 
etc.  What  was  the  result?  Conditions  got  so  that  they  had  to 
move  into  the  towns;  they  had  to  go  into  the  tenements.  They 
could  not  afford,  on  the  wages  they  received,  to  live  in  a  bungalow 
or  in  places  where  there  was  plenty  of  air.  It  is  a  race  that  has 
been  used  to  very  little  clothing.  Their  skin  was  exposed  to  the  sun 
all  the  time.  They  went  into  the  tenements  and  put  on  the  white 
man's  clothes,  with  the  result  that  to-day  45  per  cent  of  the  cases 
of  tuberculosis  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  are  among  the  Hawaiians. 

By  the  rehabilitation  bill,  on  which  Judge  Raker  has  questioned 
the  Delegate,  the  Delegate  has  in  mind  getting  these  people,  our 
people,  back  to  the  land  away  from  the  tenements,  decreasing  the 


462  LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

tendency  to  tuberculosis  and  building  up  the  race.  There"  is  no 
question  but  that  the  Hawaiians  have  died  and  are  dying  out.  Our 
mortality  records  are  full  of  it.  There  is  no  immediate  prospect,  or  for 
the  next  10  years,  for  that  matter,  that  the  race  will  increase  in  any 
large  number. 

Mr.  Raker.  Has  this  large  loss  in  population  occurred  since  it  has 
been  a  Territory  of  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  was  before  ? 

Mr.  Chilling  WORTH.  That  was  before,  sir;  but  tuberculosis,  how- 
ever, is  increasing.  We  have  done  everything  to  prevent  it.  Our 
appropriation  for  the  health  department  is  very  heavy;  it  is  a  bur- 
den to  the  Territory,  but  we  are  carrying  on  because  we  feel  the  great 
necessity  for  it.  I  just  wanted  to  clear  up  the  fact  that  while  perhaps 
in  an  economic  way  the  Hawaiians  have  progressed  in  the  last  20 
years,  sickness  and  living  in  tenements,  living  in  the  city,  with  a 
change  of  food,  eating  the  white  man's  food  and  wearing  his  clothes, 
has  not  been  conducive  to  the  good  health  of  the  Hawaiians,  and,  in 
my  mind,  has  reduced  their  stamina  and  resisting  powers.  It  was 
only  to  clear  up  that  point  that  I  made  the  statement. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Mr.  Delegate,  if  Hawaii  were  given  unrestricted  im- 
migration, including  certain  Europeans  but  excluding  orientals,  would 
that  solve  your  present  year's  shortage  of  labor  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Not  so  far  as  the  labor  situation  at  the  present 
time  is  concerned;  no. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  You  do  not  believe  the  European  would  be  adapted 
to  the  work  Hawaii  affords  in  this  particular  line  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  I  dare  say  they  would  be,  but  it  would 
take  time  to  do  that. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  How  much  time  do  you  think  would  be  required  to 
get  people  to  the  island  and  have  them  acclimated  and  settled  down  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  could  not  say,  but  a  man  would  have  to 
go  to  Europe,  I  suppose,  to  select  immigrants  and  take  them  to 
Hawaii.  How  long  that  v/ould  take  I  do  not  know.  Now,  the  ques- 
tion is.  Can  you  solve  our  present  emergency  by  so  doing?  I  do  not 
think  so. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  can  not,  if  you  work  the  way  this  committee  works. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  am  opposed  to  all  Asiatic  labor,  as  far  as 
that  is  concerned,  but  under  the  present  conditions  I  think  that  you 
must  solve  the  emergency  question  first.  Secondly,  of  course,  you 
must  improve  the  citizenry  of  the  Territor}^  by  bringing  in  Europeans 
later  on.  But  to  relieve  the  emergency  at  this  time  we  must  have 
Chinese  labor — there  are  no  two  wa^^s  of  looking  at  it.  I  am  opposed 
to  this  kind  of  labor,  but  at  this  time  I  am  in  favor  of  it,  if  this  will 
be  the  means  of  opening  the  doors  of  Hawaii  to  Europeans,  but  I  am 
opposed  to  it  if  you  are  only  going  to  have  Chinese  and  no  Europeans 
in  the  future. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  ask  you  a  question.  How  long  do  you 
think  it  would  take,  if  this  could  be  enacted  within  60  days,  to  set 
up  agreements  to  bring  the  Chinese  in  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole,  The  Chinese  are  next  door  to  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  immediately  needed;  are  they  needed 
for  work  this  fall  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  4.63 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  They  are  needed  immediately.  If  we  can 
get  them  in  30  days  or  6  months,  so  much  the  better.  We  must 
have  them. 

The  Chairman.  If  the  legislation  was  reduced  in  the  period  of 
time  from  five  years  to,  say,  three  years,  would  that  afford  you  any 
relief  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  think  so.  but  why  change  it  when  it  is  in 
the  power  of  the  President  under  this  resolution  to  stop  it  at  any  time 
within  the  five-year  period. 

The  Chairman.  Would  three  years  be  a  long  enough  time  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  would  be  long  enough 
because  I  am  not  familiar  with  the  time  it  would  take  to  bring  in  a 
permanent  class  of  immigrants. 

The  Chairman.  If  this  bill  should  be  made  three  years,  and  the 
Kleczka  and  Raker  proposition  added  to  it,  would  it  not  be  a  less 
objectionable  bill;  that  is  to  say,  if  the  admission  of  Chinese  for  three 
years  carried  a  subsequent  plan  for  the  admission  of  nonadmissibles  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  could  not  give  an  intelligent  answer  to  that 
question.  I  would  rather  have  it  answered  by  those  men  who  have 
made  a  study  of  the  situation,  and  who  have  been  sent  here  by  the 
Territorial  government.  They  can  answer  these  questions.  The  only 
(question  I  can  answer  is  this:  That  I,  as  delegate,  the  representative 
in  Congress  of  the  people  of  Hawaii,  feel  that  the  Chinese  should  be 
brought  into  the  territory  as  soon  as  possible,  for  the  Territorial 
government  and  the  people,  as  a  whole,  are  in  favor  of  this  proposition. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  not  believe  that  if  conditions  get  really  acute, 
relative  to  the  saving  of  the  sugar  and  the  pineapple  crops,  the 
people  of  Hawaii  would  take  the  matter  up  and  relieve  themselves  of 
that  situation,  rather  than  to  open  the  doors  to  oriental  coolie  labor, 
under  a  system  of  peonage  ? 

Mr.  KALANIANAOLE.  If  you  leave  this  to  the  people  of  Hawaii,  and 
they  had  anything  to  do  with  this  legislation,  they  would  not  wait 
one  minute ;  they  would  solve  the  problem  immediately  by  a  restricted 
immigration  of  Chinese.     We  know  our  troubles,  and  you  do  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  would  you  solve  it  ? 

Mr.  ELalanianaole.  We  would  solve  it  by  bringing  in  exactly 
those  people  we  are  asking  Congress  now  to  bring  in.  We  have 
done  it  before  annexation.  The  immigration  question  is  not  a  new 
one  for  Hawaii.  Since  1850  we  have  brought  many  races  into 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Under  contract  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Call  it  contract,  or  call  it  anything  you  like. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  was  under  contract,  was  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  under  contract. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  you  do  not  want  to  do  that  again,  do  you? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  do.  That  is  the  only  way  to  solve  the 
problem. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  delegate  does  not  mean  that  he  would  bring  in 
these  people  under  contract  as  they  did  before  annexation,  does  he? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  do  not  understand  what  you  mean  by 
contract  or  by  peonage;  I  do  not  understand  what  you  mean  by  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  means  that  these  people  are  brought  in  there  and 
they  have  to  work  just  where  you  tell  them. 


464  LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  is  bringing  them  in  in  the  way  the  resolu- 
tion says.  If  you  call  that  contract,  call  it  contract;  if  you  call  it 
peonage,  call  it  peonage. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  bring  them  in  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Bring  them  in.  If  Congress  does  not  feel 
they  ought  to  be  brought  in,  let  it  say  so;  but,  if  Congress  does 
think  the  conditions  are  such  that  Congress  would  be  warranted  in 
passing  such  legislation,  then  do  so. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Chairman,  would  I  be  considered  selfish  if  I  asked 
three  or  four  questions  ? 

The  Chairman.  No;  we  would  be  glad  to  have  you  do  so. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  am  sincere,  and  I  do  not  want  to  interrupt  the  flow 
of  thoughts  of  any  of  the  distinguished  people  who  know  all  about 
this  proposition.  I  shall  confess  at  the  outset  that  I  do  not  know 
anything  about  it.  After  attending  one  or  two  meetings  up  here  I 
thought  I  had  a  pretty  fair  understanding  of  the  situation,  but  I  do 
not  go  back  any  and  I  do  not  advance  any;  I  am  right  where  I  was 
after  the  first  two  or  three  meetings.  If  this  condition  has  been 
so  serious  over  there  for  so  many  years,  and  there  have  been  so 
many  hearings  upon  the  matter,  why  is  it  that  nothing  has  been 
done?     That  is  question  No.  1. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  asking  me,  or  the  Delegate  ? 

Mr.  Free.  I  might  answer  about  some  things  that  you  do  not 
know.  These  people  have  tried,  as  I  understand,  in  one  way  or 
another  to  bring  all  classes  in  there.  The  Portuguese  were  brought 
in  from  time  to  time,  and  the  Portuguese  took  it  simply  as  an  op- 
portunity to  get  a  foothold  on  the  island,  and  then  make  a  hop 
over  to  California.  I  have  figured  we  got  thousands  and  thousands 
of  these  people.  That  is  what  has  happened  to  them.  They  have 
taken-  a  lot  of  labor  into  Hawaii,  but  it  has  all  gotten  away  from 
them  because  they  have  used  it  as  a  stepping  stone  to  get  on  the 
mainland. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  They  even  sent  vessels  over  from  California 
to  take  our  laborers  away,  and  we  had  to  pass  a  law  in  the  Territory 
to  prohibit  it. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  we  are  assuming  that  this  is  a  serious  problem 
over  there  and  needs  some  attention. 

The  Chairman.  We  all  agree  to  that. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  we  all  agree  that  we  are  going  to  do  something  ? 

The  Chairman.  Well,  the  bill  is  still  under  consideration.  We  are 
trying  our  best  to  get  as  full  a  hearing  as  possible.  The  assumption, 
Mr.  Shaw,  is  this,  that  if  this  committee  reports  out  this  legislation,  or 
any  substitute  or  any  modification,  we  are  then  in  duty  bound  to  try  to 
pass  the  thing  by  all  honorable  methods.  To  do  that  we  must  be 
prepared  to  answer  every  kind  of  a  question.  If  the  bill  is  sent  out, 
we  want  it  in  shape  to  secure  the  strongest  possible  support.  Oppo- 
sition will  arise  from  various  sources  with  a  great  array  of  data  and 
statistics  and  figures  and  charges.  The  weather  has  been  very  warm 
and  we  have  held  half-day  hearings  every  day  that  has  been  con- 
venient to  the  visiting  delegation  sent  by  the  Territorial  legislature, 
who  are  entitled  to  full  hearings  because  they  rank  in  importance 
with  the  legislature  of  a  State,  and  just  below  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives itself.  This  is  the  first  time  we  have  taken  up  this  ques- 
tion as  coming  from  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  Territory  of 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  465 

Hawaii.  The  resolutions  for  the  admission  of  Chinese  before  this  com- 
mittee before  have  had,  say,  but  two  or  three  witnesses  behind  them, 
and  while  Judge  Raker  and  those  of  us  from  the  Pacific  coast  have 
known  the  seriousness  of  the  Japanese  danger,  we  have  not  made 
any  headway,  even  in  regard  to  the  danger  on  the  Pacific  coast,  the 
public  generally  looking  at  it  lightly  because  of  the  smallness  of 
numbers.  I  expect  the  judge  and  myself  have  been  called  Japophobes 
many  thousands  of  times.  Now  we  are  getting  along  with  this  hear- 
ing. We  have  had  to  go  slowly  and  carefully,  for  the  reason  that  it 
is  possible  that  some  of  this  problem  may  run  to  the  State  Depart- 
ment and  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations. 

Personally,  I  am  very  anxious  to  see  this  legislation  modified, 
carrying  with  it  some  practical  plan,  enacted  at  the  earliest  possible 
date,  for  I  do  realize  that  the  United  States  Government,  in  an  efi'ort 
to  handle  immigration  to  its  continental  part,  has  passed  the  literacy 
test  which,  in  itself,  cuts  off  the  class  of  people  who  would  go  to  work 
on  the  sugar  plantations,  which  is  the  hardest  kind  of  labor,  and  on 
top  of  that  we  have  barred  the  people  from  oriental  zones,  except  the 
Japanese,  and  then  on  top  of  that,  by  agreement,  we  obliged  the 
Japanese  to  stop  sending  the  picture  brides,  under  the  gentlemen's 
agreement,  and,  finally,  on  top  of  that,  we  have  adopted  a  3  per  cent 
restriction.  All  of  these  things  may  be  very  good  for  continental 
United  States,  and,  in  fact,  we  have  always  thought  so,  but  you  can 
readily  see  that  they  do  not  fit  a  tropical  country,  and  the  statistics 
brought  here  by  these  Territorial  senators  showing  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  the  islands,  and  how  it  is  divided  among  the  white  people, 
the  Portuguese,  the  Filipinos,  the  Japanese,  the  Chinese,  and  other 
people  on  the  Pacific,  are  interesting  and  astonishing.  They  show 
that  we  must  find  a  lot  of  labor  adaptable  to  tropical  countries. 

Now  we  are  about  to  conclude  the  public  hearings  and  I  am  ready 
to  get  busy  with  you  on  this  as  fast  as  we  can  work,  and  see  if  we  can 
get  anything  out  of  it.  We  have  produced  a  modified  and  improved 
resolution.  It  is  up  to  the  committee  whether  the  members  desire 
more  evidence,  more  exhibits,  or  whether  we  shall  proceed  to  discuss 
the  two  resolutions  with  a  view  to  coming  to  a  vote.  Or  we  can  wait 
and  see  if  we  can  take  care  of  Hawaii  and  Alaska  in  some  way  in  the 
permanent  bill  which  we  must  soon  produce. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  am  not  criticizing  the  chairman  nor  the  committee 
for  having  a  full  hearing,  but  it  seems  to  me  there  is  too  much  of  this 
'^  ring-around- a-rosey"  business.  Is  it  possible  that  anybody  on  the 
committee  is  pussy-footing  and  is  not  saying  what  he  really  thinks  ? 
I  am  not  afraid  to  say  what  I  think  about  the  situation,  and  is  not 
that  the  way  to  get  down  to  the  principle  of  the  thing  and  decide 
what  to  do,  and  do  it  fearlessly? 

Mr.  Kleczka.  What  is  your  second  question? 

Mr.  Shaw.  The  second  question  is:  What  is  Judge  Raker's  pro- 
vision that  you  referred  to  a  moment  ago?  I  would  like  to  know 
what  that  is. 

The  Chairman.  The  judge  developed  a  plan  here,  or  a  suggestion 
here — all  legislation  has  to  come  up  b;^  suggestion — the  other  day  in 
debate  here  which  was  at  the  conclusion  of  one  of  the  public  hear- 
ings, or  to  be  more  accurate.  Judge  Raker  and  Mr.  Kleczka  rather 
took  the  lead  in  discussing  and  developing  a  plan  by  which  aliens 
who  were  admissible  to  the  United  States  but  for  the  literacy  test 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 17 


466  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

might  be  permitted  to  go  to  Hawaii  or  Alaska,  there  to  remain  until 
they  had  acquired  citizenship. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  was  the  suggestion  presented  to  the  committee 
by  Mr.  Mead. 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  it  was  presented  originally  by  Mr.  Mead. 

Mr.  Mead.  Not  as  a  substitute,  but  as  a  practical  piece  of  legis- 
lation. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  ask  Mr.  Dillingham,  do  you  think  that 
anything  could  be  accomplished  by  shortening  the  five-year  period 
mentioned  in  this  resolution  158,  or  rather  the  new  resolution,  and 
at  the  same  time  adding  to  it  a  permanent  provision  of  the  kind 
suggested  here  by  the  Mead  plan  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  You  gentlemen  know  a  great  deal  more  about 
the  process  of  legislation  here  than  we  will  ever  know.  This  legis- 
lation, as  amended  by  the  Delegate,  I  submit  would  put  the  power 
in  the  President  to  decide  the  emergency.  That  is  not  a  new  form 
of  legislation.  There  is  something  similar  to  that  plan  in  operation. 
The  President  can  carry  that  obligation,  as  I  see  it,  and  can  decide 
how  long  that  emergency  lasts.  I  am  afraid  of  cumbering  up  this 
legislation  with  suggestions  which  will  tend  to  draw  away  the  thought 
from  the  great  emergency  which  is  presented.  The  Delegate  this 
morning  has  hit  the  nail  on  the  head.  We  have  got  to  do  something, 
and  do  it  quickly,  and  we  have  been  glad  to  go  into  the  last  corner 
for  information  which  would  be  of  value  to  this  committee,  to  show 
exactly  what  the  conditions  are,  as  we  see  them,  and  put  you  in  a 
position  to  judge  as  to  the  seriousness  of  our  condition.  I  feel  that 
we  in  Hawaii  should  be  considered  in  your  permanent  immigration 
legislation.  That  is  where  we  belong  for  our  permanent  population. 
I  see  nothing  binding  about  this.  I  see  no  horrible  bugbear  in  the 
future,  no  development  of  the  problem  of  race  issues,  and  so  on,  in 
this  arrangement.  It  can  be  stopped  practically  at  any  time.  It 
can  be  tried,  and  if  it  does  not  work  it  can  be  stopped.  I,  of  course, 
take  no  stock  at  all  in  peonage  and  contract  labor  and  so  on,  because 
all  of  those  points  have  been  covered  by  lawyers  in  whom  I  have  the 
greatest  confidence,  who  tell  me  there  is  nothing  in  it  at  all  but  a 
talking  point,  so  what  we  are  asking  is  wholly  consistent,  as  we  see  it, 
with  the  policy  of  the  United  States  Government,  which  must  be  the 
protection  of  American  interests  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. 
That  is  where  Hawaii  comes  in.  Your  new  resolution  puts  it  up  to 
the  President  to  initiate  action  by  proclaiming  that  an  emergency 
exists  if  he  so  finds. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  If  the  period  was  limited  to,  say,  three  years,  or 
two  years,  and  if  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  the  emergency  existed, 
you  could  not  have  this  act  extended,  it  would  remove  a  great  deal 
of  the  objection  that  is  apparent  at  the  present  time  to  the  passage 
of  this  legislation. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Kleczka,  we  are  not  coming  here  again  for 
any  extension  or  change  in  any  legislation  that  is  not  necessary;  we 
are  too  busy  at  home.  Congress  as  well  as  business  men  have  to 
have  confidence  in  leaders,  and  Congress  must  look  to  the  leader  of 
the  Nation  to  decide  certain  matters,  and  it  seems  to  me  this  matter 
comes  wholly  within  his  prerogative.  It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  it 
is  stretching  things  to  leave  it  in  his  hands.  If  he  can  dictate  condi- 
tions in  time  of  war,  it  seems  to  me  he  can  dictate  conditions  to 
prevent  war,  and  that  is  the  object  of  this  legislation. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL  467 

SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT  OF  MR.  HARRY  IRWIN,  ATTOR- 
NEY  GENERAL  OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII. 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  has  been  suggested,  during  the  course  of  this  hearing, 
that  the  people  of  Hawaii  have  been  negligent  in  failing  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  United  States  Government  to  the  condition  confront- 
ing the  Territory  with  respect  to  the  danger  which  now  threatens 
its  economic  and  political  life,  through  the  preponderance  in  popu- 
lation of  one  alien  race. 

We  earnestly  claim  that  we  have  done  everything  that  we  could  do 
in  the  past  to  keep  the  proper  officials  of  the  Federal  Government 
informed  on  these  matters,  but  with  no  apparent  results.  It  is  only 
when  the  danger  has  become  so  acute  and  threatening  that  the 
governor  and  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii  became  extremely  alarmed 
over  the  situation  and  thereupon  created  this  commission  and  au- 
thorized it  to  lay  our  case  directly  before  Congress. 

The  danger  of  Japanese  control  has  been  recognized  in  Hawaii  as 
far  back  as  the  days  of  the  monarchy.  The  Government  of  the  King- 
dom of  Hawaii,  recognizing  the  danger  of  an  unbalanced  population, 
prohibited  the  immigration  to  Hawaii  of  aliens,  except  under  certain 
restricted  conditions.  In  the  enforcement  of  those  immigration 
laws,  the  government  of  the  kingdom  refused  to  allow  several  ship- 
loads of  Japanese  immigrants  to  land  and  they  were  compelled  to 
return  to  their  homes. 

This  incident  and  the  controversy  which  grew  out  of  it  are 
reviewed  by  Prof.  \¥.  D.  Alexander  on  page  321  of  his  '^History  of 
the  Hawaiian  people,"  as  follows: 

Difficulty  with  Japan. — During  the  years  1896  and  1897  certain  Japanese  emigration 
companies  made  strenuous  efforts  to  induce  large  numbers  of  their  countrymen  to 
emigrate  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Having  ascertained  that  extensive  frauds  were 
being  practiced  on  these  people,  and  that  the  immigration  laws  were  being  evaded, 
the  Hawaiian  Government  caused  a  strict  examination  to  be  made,  and  on  the  23d 
of  March,  1897,  forbade  the  landing  of  several  hundred  Japanese  immigrants.  In  all, 
about  1,100  immigrants  on  different  occasions  were  obliged  to  return  to  Japan,  where 
this  severe  action  excited  intense  feeling.  The  Japanese  Government  sent  the 
cruiser  Naniwa  in  May,  with  a  special  commissioner,  to  investigate  the  matter.  After 
a  lengthy  correspondence,  the  difficulty  was  amicably  compromised  the  next  year  by 
the  payment  of  an  indemnity  of  $75,000  to  Japan.  This  was  done  at  the  inst'ance  of 
the  United  States  Government,  to  remove  a  possible  hindrance  to  annexation 
(p.  321). 

It  is  thus  seen  that  as  early  as  1896  the  danger  of  this  alien  influence 
was  recognized  by  the  Hawaiian  Republic  and  an  attempt  made  to 
avert  it,  and  that  the  attention  of  the  United  States  Government  was 
then  very  directly  called  to  it  with  the  result  that,  acting  on  the  advice 
of  the  American  Government,  the  little  Republic  was  forced  to  pay  a 
considerable  sum  by  way  of  damages  for  its  attempt  to  protect  itself 
against  this  alien  horde. 

Coming  down,  now,  to  the  year  1898,  at  about  the  time  of  annexa* 
tion,  Congressman  Hitt,  for  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  sub- 
mitted to  the  House  of  Representatives  Report  No.  1356,  in  which 
he  deals  with  the  conditions  in  Hawaii,  and  as  showing  that  the  very 
danger  which  now  actually  threatens  us  was  then  plainly  predicted, 
the  following  excerpts  are  taken  from  the  report  in  question: 

The  Japanese  are  intensely  Japanese,  retaining  their  allegiance  to  their  Empire 
and  responding  to  suggestions  from  the  Japanese  officials.     Very  many  of  them  served 


468  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

in  the  recent  war  with  China.  The  Japanese  Government  not  long  ago  demanded 
of  the  Hawaiian  Government,  under  their  construction  of  a  treaty  made  in  1871,  that 
the  Japanese  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  should  have  equal  privileges  with  all  other 
persons,  which  would  include  voting  and  holding  office.  This  claim  was  made  when 
a  flood  of  Japanese  subjects,  under  the  supervision  of  the  Government  of  that  country, 
of  from  1,000  to  2.000  per  month,  were  being  poured  into  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  threat- 
ening a  speedy  change  of  the  Government  into  Japanese  hands,  and  ultimately  to  a 
Japanese  possession.  The  demand  was  resisted  by  the  little  Republic  and  a  treaty 
of  annexation  with  the  United  States  arrested  it  for  a  time. 

Japan  protested  earnestly  to  our  Government  against  that  treaty,  but  our  Secretary 
of  State  refused  to  consider  their  protest;  yet  the  Japanese  Government  has  not  with- 
drawn its  demand  on  the  Hawaiian  Government  and  is  waiting  to  renew  and  press  it 
with  more  energy  and  success  if  annexation  to  the  United  States  is  rejected  by  this 
Congress.  It  could  then  in  a  few  months  throw  many  thousands  of  Japanese  sulDJects 
into  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  completely  overwhelming  all  other  influences  (pp.  3,  4). 

Hawaii  has  attempted  to  stay  this  invasion  by  legislation  against  contract  laborers 
and  paupers  identical  with  that  of  the  United  States,  and  has  thereby  become  involved 
in  its  present  controversy  with  Japan,  the  latter  country  refusing  to  recognize  the 
validity  of  such  legislation  and  practically  claiming  the  absolute  right  of  emigration 
by  her  people  to  Hawaii. 

Even  though  the  Hawaiian  legislation  referred  to  is  sustained,  immigrants  who  do 
not  come  within  its  terms  will  soon  give  an  overwhelming  Japanese  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  country. 

Under  the  existing  constitution  of  Hawaii  the  Japanese  are  not  citizens  and  are 
ineligible  to  citizenship;  but  an  energetic,  ambitious,  warlike,  and  progressive  people 
like  the  Japanese  can  not  indefinitely  be  prevented  from  participating  in  the  govern- 
ment of  a  country  in  which  they  become  dominant  in  numbers  and  the  ownership  of 
property. 

Already  they  are  restless  under  the  restrictions  imposed  upon  them,  and  with 
their  growing  wealth,  commerce,  and  numbers  it  will  be  impossible  for  any  local 
independent  government  to  long  withhold  political  privileges  from  them. 

Even  though  political  privileges  may  for  some  time  be  withheld  from  them,  their 
commercial  men  are  active  and  progressive  and  are  rapidly  establishing  themselves 
in  Hawaii. 

Experience  has  shown  that  in  Hawaii,  as  elsewhere,  blood  is  thicker  than  water 
(p.  30). 

HAWAII   DRIFTING   JAPAN  WARDS. 

I  make  no  charge  that  the  Japanese  Government  has  hostile  intentions  against 
Hawaii.  But,  regardless  of  the  declarations  or  intentions  of  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment, the  fact  is  that  Hawaii  has,  against  the  will  and  efforts  of  its  government  and 
people,  drifted  Japanwards  during  the  past  two  years;  and  unless  radical  action  is 
taken  to  stay  the  process  there  can  be  but  one  logical  result,  viz,  the  ultimate  suprem- 
acy of  the  Japanese,  and  thereby  of  Japan,  in  Hawaii.  This  has  progressed  and  will 
be  accomplished  in  the  teeth  of  the  American  policy  of  exclusion  of  foreign  control 
in  Hawaii,  and  viith.  no  tangible  overt  act  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  Government 
(pp.  30,  31). 

The  present  Hawaiian-Japanese  controversy  is  the  preliminary  skirmish  in  the 
great  coming  struggle  between  the  ci\T.lization  and  the  awakening  forces  of  the  East 
and  the  civilization  of  the  West. 

The  issue  is  whether,  in  that  inevitable  struggle,  Asia  or  America  shaU  have  the 
vantage  ground  of  the  control  of  the  naval  "key  of  the  Pacific,"  the  commercial 
' '  crossroads  of  the  Pacific . " 

All  that  has  held,  and  is  now  holding,  Hawaii  for  the  United  States  is  a  handful  of 
resolute  and  determined  men  who,  against  heavy  odds,  are  doing  all  that  is  within 
the  bounds  of  possibility  to  prevent  Hawaii  from  retrograding  into  an  Asiatic  outpost 
and  to  hold  the  country  to  that  destiny  which  American  statesmen  have  for  50  years, 
regardless  of  party,  outlined  for  it.  But  there  is  a  limit  to  their  strength,  and  if  help 
from  the  great  Republic  is  to  come  in  time,  it  must  come  soon  (p.  31). 

It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  powerful  and  direct  warn- 
ing than  is  contained  in  this  official  report  which,  in  the  light  of 
present  events,  has  now  all  the  force  of  prophecy. 

In  the  year  1904  Gov.  George  R.  Carter,  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 
in  his  annual  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  called  the  atten- 
tion of  that  department  of  the  United  States  Government  to  the 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  469 

necessity  of  bringing  in  to  the  Territory  other  classes  of  immigrants 
which  would  have  the  effect  of  bringing  about  a  more  balanced  popu- 
hition.     In  this  connection,  he  said: 

Under  the  existing  laws  of  immigration  it  is  impossible  for  Hawaii  to  get  immigrant 
classes  from  Europe  or  other  occidental  countries.  Hawaii  is  5,000  miles  from  the 
point  where  the  great  numbers  of  immigrants  land  in  the  United  States.  Hawaiian 
interests  have  tried  the  experiment  of  bringing  immigrants  from  Atlantic  ports  of  the 
United  States  to  Hawaii  and  have  failed.  We  are  therefore  forced  to  take  immigrants 
from  the  Orient  or  go  without,  and  to  go  without  means  the  ruin  of  Hawaiian  industries, 
a  condition  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  can  not  afford  to  permit,  much 
less  to  exist,  as  it  certainly  would  be  making  a  failure  of  the  industrial  situation  in 
Hawaii  by  the  continued  application  of  such  a  drastic  measure.  No  class  of  American 
citizens  would  be  injured  by  the  special  legislation  above  referred  to,  permitting  a 
restricted  immigration  of  field  laborers  from  China;  on  the  contrary,  the  interests  of 
all  Hawaiian  citizens  and  producers  as  well  as  of  the  planters  themselves  would  be 
furthered  by  such  legislation.  The  population  thus  created  would  increase  the  Ha- 
waiian market  for  American  products  and  be  for  the  direct  interests  of  workmen  on 
the  Pacific  coast  and  in  all  industries  supplying  goods  to  the  Territory,  while  it  would 
not  be  a  competing  element  upon  the  mainland. 

By  the  acquisition  of  distant  territory  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  the  domain  of  the  United 
States  is  extended  in  such  a  degree  that  in  making  laws  existing  conditions  should  be 
recognized.  In  matters  of  immigration  the  restrictions  which  are  required  for  the 
protection  of  the  mainland  may  be  very  injurious  for  distant  possessions,  and  a  dis- 
tinction should  be  made  by  special  legislation,  so  that  classes  not  desired  on  the 
mainland  can  be  excluded  and  the  distant  possessions  provided  for  as  their  needs 
may  require  (pp.  11,  12). 

Again  in  the  same  year,  1904,  Mr.  Lucius  E.  Pinkham,  who  was 
then  the  president  of  the  Territorial  board  of  health  and  later  gov- 
ernor of  Hawaii,  acting  on  the  suggestion  of  Gov.  Carter,  organized  a 
joint  committee  of  six,  representing  the  labor  council  and  the  several 
trade-unions  in  Hawaii.  This  committee  was  organized  for  the 
express  purpose  of  making  a  critical  study  of  the  labor  situation 
throughout  the  Territory,  and,  in  making  this  study,  the  committee 
covered  practically  every  foot  of  ground  in  the  islands.  The  report 
which  the  committee  made  is  on  file  in  the  public  archives  in  Hono- 
lulu, fills  four  portfolios,  and  was  given  the  widest  publicity  at  the 
time  it  was  prepared.  The  report  of  the  investigation  is  well  sum- 
marized in  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Samuel  Gompers,  pre'sident  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  by  the  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu,  in 
the  year  1905.     From  this  letter  the  following  excerpts  are  quoted: 

Said  joint  committee  virtually  covered  every  foot  of  the  islands.  *  *  *  "We  saw 
everything  and  are  in  a  position  to  speak  on  the  matter.  These  islands  can  not  be 
classed  with  the  mainland  in  any  shape,  form,  or  manner.  The  object  of  this  com- 
mittee was  to  advance  the  interests  of  white  labor  in  this  Territory  and  to  endeavor 
to  secure  for  white  mechanics  positions  now  held  by  Asiatics. 

After  a  full  and  thorough  investigation,  the  majority  of  this  committee  concluded 
that  white  men  would  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and,  if  they  would,  they  could  not 
be  obtained. 

We  brought  the  matter  of  such  a  large  number  of  Japanese  holding  mechanical 
positions  to  the  attention  of  the  managers  of  the  plantations,  and,  without  exception, 
they  state  that  they  would  prefer  white  mechanics,  but  that  if  they  were  to  let  them 
go,  the  Japanese  as  a  whole  would  quit,  and  as  they  predominate  in  such  large  numbers, 
it  would  simply  cripple  the  sugar  industry;  that  if  they  had  some  labor  to  counteract 
the  Japs,  they  would  be  in  a  position  to  fill  these  mechanical  positions  with  whites. 

In  1907,  the  governor  of  Hawaii,  in  his  annual  report  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  called  the  attention  of  that  department  to 
the  local  attempts  which  were  then  being  made  to  offset  the  pre- 
ponderating Japanese  population  and  said: 


470  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  most  significant  effort  made  during  the  past  year,  as  regards  immigration,  has 
■been  the  carrying  out  of  a  policy  to  offset  the  oriental  population  in  Hawaii  with 
Europeans. 

In  the  year  1912  the  Delegate  to  Congress  from  Hawaii  filed  with 
the  President  and  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  a  formal  protest 
against  the  then  existing  conditions  in  the  Terrritory  with  special 
reference  to  the  large  and  preponderating  Asiatic  influence  and  the 
failure  of  the  Government  more  completely  to  Americanize  the 
Territory.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  thereupon  visited  Hawaii 
and  made  an  extensive  study  of  conditions  on  the  ground.  He  held 
many  public  hearings  throughout  the  islands.  What  conclusions 
were  reached  by  him  we  do  not  know,  for  no  report  of  those  conclusions 
or  findings  was  ever  published. 

In  the  year  1913  the  governor  of  Hawaii  again  called  the  attention 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  the  Territory's  need  for  special 
legislation,  to  the  end  that  it  might  obtain  a  more  diversified  popula- 
tion. On  page  9  of  his  report  for  that  year,  we  find  the  following 
statement: 

Legislation  by  Congress,  if  any  should  be  enacted,  imposing  a  literacy  test  upon 
immigrants,  should  except  from  the  test  Caucasian  immigrants  to  Hawaii.  The 
reasons  advanced  for  such  a  test  in  the  case  of  European  immigration  to  the  mainland 
do  not  apply  to  such  immigration  to  Hawaii.  The  former  is  largely  of  self -selected 
single  men,  while  the  latter  is  almost  exclusively  of  Government-selected  agricul- 
turist families,  whose  children,  as  experience  has  shown,  quickly  become  educated, 
worthy  American  citizens.  Local  racial  conditions  also  in  Hawaii  differ  from  those 
on  the  mainland,  and  if  only  literates  could  be  introduced  the  Americanizing  of  the 
Territory  would  not  be  as  rapid  as  would  otherwise  be  the  case.  Legislation  should 
be  enacted  by  Congress  also  to  prevent  Caucasian  immigrants  introduced  into  Hawaii 
by  the  Territory  from  proceeding  from  the  Territory  to  the  mainland  unless  they  con- 
form to  the  immigration  laws  in  respect  of  literacy  and  also  unless  they  reimbiu*se  the 
Territory  for  the  expense  of  bringing  them  to  Hawaii.  At  present  a  large  percentage 
of  the  immigrants  thus  brought  from  Europe  apparently  take  advantage  of  the  assist- 
ance offered  by  the  Territory  merely  to  go  from  Europe  to  the  Pacific  coast,  using  Hawaii 
as  a  stepping-stone,  thus  taking  an  unfair  advantage  of  the  Territorial  government  and 
evading  the  spirit  of  the  Federal  immigration  laws. 

In  the  year  1919,  when  the  Hawaiian  Legislative  Commission 
appeared  before  the  House  Committee  on  the  Territories,  the  atten- 
tion of  that  committee  was  very  directly  and  positively  called  to  the 
danger  which  confronts  the  Territory  in  this  regard. 

During  the  past  10  years  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii  has  invited  four 
different  parties,  consisting  of  Members  of  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
to  visit  Hawaii  at  the  expense  of  the  Territory.  It  was  felt  that  the 
first-hand  information  thus  gained  by  Members  of  Congress  would  be 
of  the  greatest  value  to  them  in  legislating  for  Hawaii.  On  the 
occasion  of  each  of  these  visits,  the  attention  of  Senators  and  Con- 
gressmen was  called  to  these  conditions  and  to  the  danger  of  sub- 
sequent Japanese  control  unless  some  method  should  be  devised  to 
offset  their  growing  influence. 

Finally,  driven  desperate  by  the  condition  which  now  actually 
confronts  us  and  by  the  apparent  lack  of  interest  taken  in  our  previous 
appeals,  we  come  here  as  an  official  commission,  representing  the 
people  of  Hawaii,  formally  to  present  our  case  to  Congress  for  relief. 

Any  statement  that  we  have  not  previously  warned  the  Federal 
Government  of  the  danger  that  has  now  grown  acute  is  not  correct. 
We  have  repeatedly  cried  a  warning  and  pointed  to  the  danger,  and 
to-day  we  cite  it  again.     The  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  threatened  with 


LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  471 

total   alienation  from  the  American  Nation.     We  beseech  you   to 
prevent  such  a  calamity  by  affording  us  the  relief  that  we  seek. 

The  Chairman.  If  there  is  no  objection  I  think  the  public  hearings 
might  be  closed.  Mr.  Dillingham,  all  will  agree  with  the  statement 
made  by  Mr.  Wilson  that  you  and  the  members  of  your  commission 
from  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  have  made  a  strong  case;  that  the 
Americans  in  Hawaii  are  making  a  strong  fight,  and  holding  up  under 
odds  is  apparent.  Whether  this  form  of  emergency,  form  of  relief,  is 
the  thing,  I  am  not  prepared  just  now  to  say,  but  to  me  it  is  clear 
that  something  must  be  done.  Whether  such  a  resolution  can  pass 
the  House  and  Senate,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say,  but  I  feel  that  you  and 
all  members  of  your  commission  have  shed  much  light  .on  the  whole 
situation,  which,  while  it  seems  to  be  one  thing  as  an  immediate  emer- 
gency, is  really  another  thing  more  subtle,  more  dangerous,  and  com- 
pared to  which  the  loss  of  a  few  sugar  crops  is  nothing.  If  you  lose 
your  crops  and  your  business  and  your  plantations,  none  of  these 
things  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  Americans  of  either  high  or  low 
estate.     For  the  committee,  I  thank  the  commission. 

*  (Whereupon  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  in  executive  session, 
to-morrow,  July  8,  at  10.30  o'clock.) 

(Note. — Hearings  were  resumed  July  22,  and  will  be  published  as 
part  2,  serial  7.) 


Appendix  I. 


INDORSEMENTS  OF  THE  RESOLUTION  UNDER  CONSIDERATION  AND  OF  THE  METHOD 
OP  RELIEF  PROPOSED  THEREIN,  FROM  CIVIC  AND  COMMERCIAL  ORGANIZATIONS  AND 
INDIVIDUALS. 

Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

A  largely  attended  special  meeting  of  the  chamber  unanimously  indorse  joint 
resolution  to  authorize  the  Secretary  of  Labor  to  permit  the  importation  of  alien 
labor  for  agricultural  and  domestic  work  in  Hav/aii. 

Commerce. 


Honolulu,  June  28,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

The  Honolulu  Press  Club  unanimously  indorses  joint  resolution.     Vitally  important. 


Honolulu,  June  26,  1921. 
Dillingham,  New  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

The  Medical  Society  of  Hawaii  indorses  labor  resolution. 

Putnam. 


Honolulu,  June  SO,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Labor  resolution  is  heartily  indorsed  by  Hawaiian  Islands  Hotel  and  Restaurant 
Associations. 

A,  J.  Pederson,  I'resident. 

Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington: 

Kaneohe  Rice  Mill  Co.  indorses  joint  resolution. 

Haneberg. 

Honolulu,  June  26,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Housewife's  I;eague  of  Hawaii  heartily  and  unanimously  indorse  joint  resolution. 

Cecilie  Knudsen,  Secretary. 


472  LAB  OK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  June  25,  1921, 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Outdoor  Circle  unanimously  indorses  labor  resolution. 

Campbell. 

Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Indorsement  by  Marine  Engineers  Benefit  Association  mailed  22d.     Membership  80. 

Oral. 


Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Rotary  Club  unanimously  indorses  labor  resolution. 

Stuart  Johnson,  President. 


Honolulu,  June  25,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Honolulu  Automobile  Club  unanimously  indorses  resolution. 

Warren,  President. 

Honolulu,  June  24,  1921.^ 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

The  Commercial  Club  of  Honolulu  indorses  labor  resolution. 

L.  H.  Underwood,  Vice  President. 


Honolulu,  June  29,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington: 

Maui  Chamber  of  Commerce  unanimously  adopted  the  following  resolution  on 
June  27: 

Resolved,  That  the  Maui  Chamber  of  Commerce,  a  nonpolitical  organization  having 
at  heart  the  continued  American  control  of  Hawaii's  chief  agricultural  industries, 
strongly  urges  upon  Congress  and  indorses  the  passage  of  joint  resolution  introduced 
in  the  United  States  Senate  under  date  of  June  20,  1921,  permitting  importation  into 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii  for  limited  periods  of  time  sufficient  agricultural  labor  to 
relieve  the  present  local  labor  shortage. 

Case,  Secretary. 

(Note.— "Retlaw"  is  a  code  word  meaning  *  Walter  Dillingham,"  used  as  an 
address  to  save  cable  tolls.) 

[Telegram.] 

Honolulu, 

Walter  Dillingham, 

New  Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Congressmen  who  disapprove  of  our  present  condition  should  remember  that  the 
responsibility  for  it  is  shared  by  Congress.  The  original  Hawaiian  immigration  policy 
was  dependent  on  maintaining  balance  of  numbers.  Accordingly,  we  stopped  the 
immigration  of  Japanese  in  1897,  annexation  reopened  it  and  Congress  did  nothing 
until  the  gentlemen's  agreement.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  preponderance 
of  this  nationality  came  to  Hawaii.  We  ought  now  to  send  back  every  Japanese  who 
does  not  propose  to  make  Hawaii  his  home  and  his  children  American  citizens.  Intro- 
ducing Cliinese  will  help  accomplish  this  and  insure  our  future.  This  project  far 
more  important  than  rehabilitation. 

Geo.  R.  Carter,  Former  Governor. 


Honolulu,  July  5,  1921. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

The  following  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Woman's  Club  of  Maui: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Maui  Woman's  Club,  a  nonpolitical,  nonsectarian  organization, 

composed  of  the  women  of  Maui,  with  a  membership  of  approximately  180,  and  whose 

chief  purpose  is  that  of  promoting  the  highest  welfare  of  Maui,  indorse  and  urge  the 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AIL  473 

passage  of  the  joint  resolution  recently  introduced  in  the  United  States  Senate  per- 
mitting the  importation  into  the  Territor}-  of  Hawaii  for  limited  periods  of  time  of 
sufficient  agricultural  labor  to  relieve  the  present  acute  labor  shortage." 

Mrs.  W.  0.  Aiken,  Secretary. 


B.oisiOLVLV,  July  S,  192J. 
Retlaw,  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

The  Kona  Improvement  Club  strongh'  favors  the  admission  of  alien  labor  to 
Hawaii. 

McKiLLOP,  Secretary. 

Honolulu,  July  6,  1921. 
Walter  Dillingham, 

Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D .  C: 

The  Honolulu  Welding  &  Machine  Co.  employ  dozens  of  skilled  mechanics,  who 
individually  and  collectively  indorse  and  urge  the  importation  of  oriental  labor  as 
requested  by  your  commission.  It  is  the  only  solution  to  save  Hawaii's  chief  industry, 
which  will  collapse  under  present  conditions. 

Frank  Howes,  President. 

Hilo,  Hawaii,  July  14,  1921. 
Retlaw, 

Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Board  of  trade  Hilo  approves  labor  resolution. 


Marine  Engineers'  Beneficial  Association,  No.  100, 

Affiliated  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 

Honolulu,  June  18,  1921 . 
Mr.  Walter  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Hawaii  Labor  Committee,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  The  members  of  the  Marine  Engineers'  Beneficial  Association,  No.  100, 
of  Honolulu,  desire  to  express  their  full  accord  with  the  proposed  measure  to  admit 
Chinese  agricultural  laborers  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Having  from  the  nature  of  our  occupation  special  opportunities  to  see  conditions 
on  the  various  sugar  plantations,  and  being  for  the  greater  part  old  residents  of  Hawaii 
who  have  seen  the  several  classes  of  labor  tried  out  at  this  work,  we  feel  competent 
to  express  an  opinion  upon  this  subject  and  would  say  that  of  all  the  labor  that  has 
been  employed  by  the  plantations  the  Chinese  have  been  the  best  suited  to  the 
climate  and  class  of  work. 

With  this  conviction,  and  considering  the  handicap  that  the  sugar  and  pineapple 
industries  labor  under  with  the  labor  at  present  available  and  the  distance  that  has  to 
be  covered  to  place  their  products  on  the  market.  We  feel  that  we  should  give  our  fullest 
approbation  to  a  measure  that,  if  passed,  will  assure  the  prosperity  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands;  if  rejected,  will  mean  practically  their  ruin. 

With  the  concurrence  of  our  80  members  and  ^vishing  you  the  fullest  success  in  your 
efforts,  we  are, 

Yours,  very  trulv, 

M.  E.  B.  A.,  No.  100, 

Honolulu,  T.  H., 

By  C.  B.  Cottrell, 
J.  T.  Boyd, 
James  H.  Davis, 

Committee . 


Mokuleia,  Waialua,  June  15,  1921. 
To  the  Hawaiian  Labor  Commission. 

Gentlemen:  I  would  like  to  bring  to  your  attention  the  serious  labor  shortage  now 
existing  on  this  section  of  the  Waialua  Agricultural  Sugar  Co.  under  my  charge,  an 
acute  one,  which  not  only  jeopardizes  this  plantation  but  every  sugar  plantation 
and  every  agricultural  industry  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 


474  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

I  am  the  irrigation  and  cultivation  overseer  of  the  Mokuleia  section,  one  of  seven 
sections  which  constitute  the  Waiahia  Agricultural  Sugar  Co.,  and  have  under  my 
charge  1,600  acres  of  irrigation  cane  lands,  requiring  approximately,  figuring  (as  we  do) 
at  9  acres  per  man,  178  men;  instead  I  have  at  present  the  large  sum  of  49  men  and 
10  women;  total  of  59,  or  a  shade  over  one-third  of  the  required  number  necessary  to 
keep  this  section  in  shape. 

This  number  is  not  necessarily  required  for  irrigation  and  cultivation  the  whole 
year  round,  it  being  the  rule  during  winter  rains  (various  fields  having  attained  their 
full  growth)  to  draw  on  a  portion  of  this  force  and  put  them  to  work  m  various  tasks 
such  as  cleaning  and  repairing  storm  ditches  and  waste  ditches,  road  repairs,  and 
such  like,  but,  most  important  of  all ,  repairs  to  and  concreting  of  some  of  my  long 
mainwater  supply  ditches,  which  run  for  a  good  many  miles  through  this  section. 

This  is  all  very  necessary  work,  particularly  the  cementing  of  our  supply  ditches, 
in  order  to  conserve  our  irrigation  water,  which  we  are  alv/ays  very  short  of  in  the 
dry  summer _ months .^  This  work  has  to  be  done  in  the  winter,  because  even  under 
normal  conditions  it  is  impossible  to  spare  men  from  the  fields  at  any  other  time. 

Now  (as  I  said  above),  important  as  this  work  is,  I  liave  been  unable  to  do  any  of 
it  for  the  last  two  years,  simply  on  account  of  the  labor  shortage,  which  is  growing 
yearly  and  daily  worse. 

The  crop  now  being  harvested  (1921 1  will  show  great  less  not  only  due  to  strike  of 
last  year,  which  reduced  the  tonnage  of  cane  and  sugar  tremendously,  but  to  the  lack 
of  suflacient  and  efficient  hands  to  terminate  the  grinding  in  the  proper  season,  thereby 
causing  deterioration  of  juice  by  long  standing. 

Now,  in  regard  to  the  growing  crops  (so  far  only  dealing  with  1922)  again,  oAving  to 
the  late  harvesting  of  this  crop,  are  all  undermanned,  and  all,  I  regret  to  say  (with  the 
exception  of  one  field  of  H109  late  plant),  disheartingly  overgrown  Avith  weeds,  and 
although  being  under  cultivation  for  the  last  three  months,  has  only  had  one  and  one- 
half  rounds  of  water,  where  it  should  have  had  at  least  four.  I  might  mention  here 
that  150  acres  of  the  above-mentioned  area  are  short  ratoons,  which  were  short  ratoons 
last  year,  and  should  have  been  harvested  then;  but  owing  to  strike,  had  to  stand  over 
till  the  early  part  of  this  year. 

Another  field  of  74  acres,  originally  intended  for  short  ratoons,  has  not  had  any 
attention  so  far,  and  unless  irrigated  soon  will  die  out  completely. 

About  600  acres  of  my  1923  crop  "will  be  needing  attention  very  shortly,  and  I  have 
to  give  thought  to  the  p^roblem  ahead,  for  I  can  not  see  where  the  labor  is  coming  from 
to  handle  it,  and  feel  sure  that  if  this  situation  (which  I  assure  you  is  very  acute)  is 
not  relieved  immediately,  a  great  portion  of  this  area  will  have  to  be  abandoned. 

In  regard  to  the  class  of  labor,  I  have  here,  at  present,  Japs  and  Koreans. 

Japanese  in  the  past  have  been  very  satisfactory  and  industrious  and  peaceable ; 
but  of  late  have  grown  discontented  and  dissatisfied,  and  hundreds  of  them  are  return- 
ing to  Japan. 

My  experience  vdth  Koreans  is  that  they  are  inefiiicient,  stupid,  stubborn,  and  lazy, 
and  by  comparison  with  the  Jap  are  not  to  be  considered;  even  these  are  very  scarce, 
and  as  agriculturists  they  are  a  failure. 

Now,  this  shortage  of  labor  threatens  the  life  of  the  islands,  every  industry  is  suffer- 
ing from  it,  and  unless  new  labor  is  obtained  the  situation  will  be  very  serious. 

The  Chinese  coolies  seem  to  be  our  only  salvation;  they  have  proved  themselves 
efficient  in  the  past,  industrious,  and  peaceable. 
^  The;/  do  not  (like  the  Jap)  engage  in  trades  or  professions;  but  are  content  to  "be 
tillers  of  the  soil,"  and  so  make  good  field  laborers. 

We  feel  confident  you  fully  realize  the  gravity  of  the  situation  and  know  you  will 

do  your  utmost  to  convince  the  "powers  that  be"  in  Congress  to  readjust  lav/s  in 

order  to  obtain  for  these  islands  permission  to  admit  Chinese  labor  in  sufficient  numbers 

to  save  the  life  of  our  industries. 

I  remain,  respectfully, 

W.  B.  Greenfield, 
Section  Overseer,  Mokuleia  Waialua  Agriculiural  Co.  {Ltd  ^. 


Waialua,  Hawaii,  June  14,  1921. 
Hawaiian  Labor  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen:  Being  employed  by  the  Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.)  as  an  over- 
seer, taking  care  of  approximately  1,500  acres  of  cane  land,  I  am  directly  interested 
in  the  labor  situation  in  Hawaii. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  475 

Personal  observation  has  convinced  me  that  there  is  immediate  need  of  an  addi- 
tional supply  of  labor  for  carrying  on  the  field  work  on  this  and  other  plantations  in 
these  islands.  On  this  plantation  the  shortage  of  labor  is  so  acnte  that  the  fields 
are  being  neglected  and  as  a  result — 

(a)  They  are  overgrown  with  weeds; 

(6)  Are  not  being  properly  irrigated ; 

(c)  Cane  that  should  be  harvested  during  the  period  when  the  sucrose  content 
is  highest  must  be  left  standing  on  the  fields;  and 

(d)  No  planting  can  be  undertaken  for  the  crops  of  1922  and  1923. 

This  shortage  obtains  on  all  sections  of  this  plantation.  From  information  I  have 
received  of  intimate  friends  on  other  plantations  in  these  islands,  the  scarcity  of 
labor  is  general,  and  it  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  that  great  losses  will  be  entailed 
if  relief  from  some  source  is  not  forthcoming  at  an  early  date. 

I  have  had  occasion  to  supervise  Chinese  laborers  and  in  all  cases  they  have  given 
very  satisfactory  results.  The  Chinese  as  a  rule  are  honest,  industrious,  law-abiding, 
can  adapt  themselves  readily  to  conditions  existing  on  Hawaiian  plantations,  and 
consequently  their  output  is  aliove  the  average  of  most  of  the  other  classes  of  labor 
now  available. 

The  activities  of  the  military  and  naval  establishments  in  Hawaii  and  the  rapid 
development  of  the  pineapple  industry,   homesteading  and  other  small  farming 
have  seriously  aiiected  the  supply  of  labor  for  field  work,  and  it  is  urgently  requested 
that  remedial  action  be  taken  as  soon  as  possible. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Fred  A.  Escolona, 
Overseer  Kemoo  Section, 
Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.),  Waialua,  Hawaii. 


Waialua,  June  11,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Hawaiian  Labor  Commission^  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  In  reply  to  a  request  for  an  opinion  on  our  labor  shortage,  will  say  that 
conditions  in  Hawaii  are  in  a  mighty  precarious  state,  and  will  be  much  worse  in  a  few 
months  from  now  unless  we  can  get  more  agricultural  labor. 

I  am  employed  by  the  Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  as  section  overseer  over  2,600  acres; 
have  had  over  20  years'  experience  in  the  sugar  business,  the  most  of  which  time  has 
been  spent  directly  with  field  labor— chiefly  unskilled. 

Through  shortage  of  labor  on  this  section  alone  harvesting  of  crop  1921  has  been 
delayed  4  months.  This  not  only  means  a  loss  of  at  least  3,000  tons  of  sugar,  but  it 
will  set  back  the  1923  crop  to  the  extent  of  4,000  to  5,000  tons  of  sugar  unless  we  can 
get  labor  right  now  to  save  it.  The  1922  -crop  has  already  suffered  a  reduction  of 
approximately  4,000  tons  of  sugar,  and  this  through  the  shortage  alone  of  labor. 

Besides  all  crop  losses,  there  is  the  maintenance  of  water-heads,  reservoirs,  wads, 
and  buildings,  etc.,  which  simply  has  had  to  be  left  alone.  This  means  extra  labor 
and  more  cost  in  the  future  if  we  expect  to  get  things  in  shape  again. 

Chinese  labor  of  the  agricultural  class,  beyond  a  doubt  would  fill  the  breach.  My 
experience  with  them  is  they  have  staj'-ed  more  with  the  agricultural  work  than  any 
other  labor  that  has  come  to  these  islands. 

Aside  from  importing  Chinese  for  field  labor  the  A*ery  fact  that  we  have  them  here 
wrill  be  a  fortification  to  the  welfare  of  Hawaii. 

Trusting  that  you  and  your  honorable  committee  shall  be  successful  in  convincing 
Congress  how  serious  the  situation  is. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Geo.  M.  Robertson. 


Kawailoa,  Waialua,  Oahu,  June  11,  1921. 
Hawaiian  Labor  Commission, 

Washington. 

Dear  Sirs:  During  all  my  25  years'  experience  on  plantations  I  have  never  wit- 
nessed a  shortage  of  labor  such  as  exists  to-day.  On  the  Kawailoa  section,  where  I 
have  been  for  the  past  11  years,  we  are  only  able  to  take  care  of  and  cultivate  about 
one-third  of  the  area  that  we  did  in  former  years.  All  the  fields  that  has  been  harvested 
since  January,  1921,  are  still  laying  as  the  harvesters  left  them.  And  owing  to  the  slow 
harvesting  of  the  crop  there  will  be  no  labor  available  to  do  any  necessary  work  on 
them.     Which  means  that  all  fields  that  should  be  growing  the  1923  crop  will  have  to 


476  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

be  abandoned.     Should  we  be  unable  to  get  a  supply  of  labor  from  outside  the  Territory 
there  is  no  hope  for  the  plantations  but  to  close  down. 

According  to  my  own  experience  and  observation,  the  Chinese  is  by  far  the  most 
superior  agricultmists  to  anything  we  have  on  the  plantation  to-day. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

George  Wilson. 


Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Kawailoa,  June  11,  1921. 
Chairman  Hawaiian  Labor  Commission,  * 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir:  The  members  of  the  sugar  industry  of  these  Islands  are  anxiously  awaiting 
the  result  of  your  activities  in  Washington. 

We  sincerely  hope  that  you  can  convince  Congress  of  the  absolute  necessity  of 
procuring  Chinese  labor  for  the  production  of  sugar. 

The  labor  situation  on  the  plantations  at  the  present  is  deplorable. 

The  harvesting  on  my  section  has  been  considerably  delayed,  with  the  result  that 
at  least  25  per  cent  of  the  canes  will  be  unfit  to  send  to  the  mill,  as  they  will  be  com- 
pletely "dried"  out.  After  same  has  been  harvested,  there  will  not  be  a  laborer 
available  to  get  the  fields  in  shape  for  the  1923  crop.  The  management  have  decided 
to  abandon  400  acres  of  excellent  sugar  cane  lands— a  loss  of  approximately  2,400  tons 
sugar  that  is  only  on  one  section. 

I  have  handled  Chinese  labor  in  various  parts  of  the  world  and  they  have  always 
given  entire  satisfaction  as  agricultural  laborers  and  are  in  my  estimation  100  per  cent 
more  efficient  than  the  Filipino  as  a  field  laborer. 

Trusting  this  data  will  be  of  use  to  you  in  your  efforts  to  procure  the  labor  that  is 
so  vital  to  the  sugar  interests  of  these  islands. 
I  am,  yours,  sincerely, 

O.    S.    CONSIN, 

Water  Luna,  Waimea. 

Wmalua  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Oahu. 


Honolulu,  T.  H.,   June  10,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,   Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  The  need  for  laborers  for  the  cane  fields  is  beginning  to 
show  in  the  slack  work  in  the  two  iron  works  of  this  city  and  both  shops  have  laid  off 
a  number  of  men  because  of  lack  of  work.. 

This  is  because  the  plantations  are  not  prosperous  and  are  suffering  because  they 
do  not  have  men  to  properly  take  care  of  the  cane  now  growing  and  to  plant  more  cane 
or  to  harvest  that  which  is  ready  for  cutting. 

I  hope  that  you  can  soon  get  permission  to  bring  laborers  to  Hawaii.  I  have  been 
a  workingman  in  the  islands  for  23  years  and  know  that  the  plantations  must  have 
laborers  that  can  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  white  men  can  not  do  this  kind  of 
work. 

Yours,  truly,  C.  W.  Kiesel,  Coppersmith. 


Oahu  Railway  &  Land  Co., 
Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  3,  1921. 
The  Hawaii  Emergency  Labor  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen:  The  Oahu  Railway  &  Land  Co.,  in  common  with  other  employers  of 
labor  throughout  the  Territory,  has  been  decidedly  handicapped  in  carrying  out  its 
obligations  to  the  traveling  public  and  other  customers,  due  to  the  shortage  of  labor  in 
the  Territory. 

We  have  been  compelled  to  double  track  15  miles  of  our  main  line  in  order  to  handle 
the  pineapple  shipments  during  the  canning  season  each  3^ear.  This  work,  while  it 
will  be  completed  in  time  for  the  coming  season,  has  been  delayed  not  less  than  two 
months,  due  to  our  inability  to  secure  enough  laborers  to  carry  out  the  work.  This 
delay  has  prevented  the  repairs  to  one  of  our  branch  lines  which  was  seriously  damaged 
bv  the  heavv  storms  of  last  January. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IK   HAWAII.  477 

We  have  also  had  [o  j^xstpone  the  movint^  of  a  station  and  ronstriiction  of  additional 
tracks  at  Scliofield  Barracks,  work  which  is  urgently  needed  for  the  convenience  of 
the  Government  and  the  personnel  at  Schofield  Barracks. 

In  order  to  accomplish  as  much  as  we  have  in  this  program  it  has  been  necessary  to 
take  labor  from  regular  section  gangs  and  improvise  or  (construct  devices  for  unloading 
and  spreading-  material.  We  h.ave  been  paying  a  considerably  higher  rate  of  wages 
for  our  labor  than  is  reported  to  obtain  on  either  sugar  or  pineapple  plantations.  If 
our  information  is  correct,  we  are  now  paying  more  than  a  dollar  a  day  above  the  wages 
paid  similar  classes  of  labor  in  these  industries;  this  without  securing  additional 
labor. 

Several  months  ago  we  had  printed  in  the  Japanese  papers  advertisements  for 
laborers.  These  advertisements  were  not  over  the  signature  of  the  railway,  but  that 
of  one  of  its  Japanese  foremen.     No  results  were  noticeable  from  these  advertisements. 

In  our  judgment,  an  additional  supply  of  labor  is  urgently  needed.  All  of  the 
plantations  served  by  this  road  are  very  much  behind  v/ith  the  present  crop  of  sugar, 
due  to  a  shortage  of  labor  to  harvest  the  cane;  the  conditions  will  surely  be  worse  in 
July  and  August,  when  the  pineapples  have  to  be  harvested,  and  unless  some  relief 
is  obtained  a  decided  curtailment  of  output  must  result. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Oahu  Railway  &  Land  Co. 
Geo.  p.  Denison,  General  Manager. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  Maij  3,  1921. 
W.  F.  Dillingham,  Esq., 

Chairman  of  Labor  Commission. 

Dear  Sir:  As  a  workingman  who  has  the  interest  of  American  workingmen  at 
heart  and  as  a  citizen  who  prizes  his  citizenship  higher  than  St.  Paul,  I  wish  you 
success  in  your  mission  to  Washington  to  secure  for  the  agricultural  interests  of  this 
Territory  25,000  Chinese  laborers. 

I  have  resided  in  this  Territory  32  years,  being  engaged  by  the  late  B.  F.  Dillingham 
in  San  Francisco  to  build  cars  for  his  railroad.  I  am  still  building  cars  for  the  same 
railroad.  During  those  years  I  haA'-e  consistently  worked  for  the  Americanization  of 
the  islands,  helped  to  organize  the  Republican  Party,  was  a  member  of  its  first  execu- 
tive committee,  and  served  one  term  in  the  legislature. 

I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  in  Chinese  labor  for  our  sugar  plantations  and  pineapple 
canneries,  because  the  very  life  of  those  industries  depends  on  this  labor,  and  the 
commercial  and  business  life  of  the  Territory  depends  absolutely  on  these  industries. 

To  say  that  white  men  can  or  will  work  on  the  torrid  sugar  plantations  cutting  and 
loading  cane  is  an  absurdity.  The  time  is  past,  if  it  ever  was,  when  he  would  do  it. 
It  is  contrary  to  nature's  laws  for  white  men  to  toil  at  hard,  laborious  work  under  an 
equatorial  sun;  even  the  Japanese  quit  at  the  earliest  possible  time. 

I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  in  Chinese  labor,  because  from  a  national  and  business 
point  of  view  it  is  wrong  to  allow  Japanese  nationals  to  hold  by  the  throat — and  can 
throttle  at  any  moment— the  business  and  commercial  life  of  an  American  Territory. 

I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  Chinese  labor  here  because,  in  the  world's  chaotic  state, 
China  is  our  loyal  friend.  Our  Chinese  business  men  are  honest  and  progressive  and 
there  is  no  more  loyal  and  patriotic  American  than  our  Chinese- American.  Thirty 
thousand  Chinese  will  help,  not  hinder,  the  Americanization  of  this  Territory,  because 
they  are  honest  and  industrious  workers  and  because  they  will  squeeze  out  an  un- 
American  and  undesirable  element. 

There  is  no  one  longs  more  ardently  for  the  day  to  come  7:'':.on  over  our  great  land 
all  will  be  good  and  loyal  citizens,  all  shall  live  in  peace  and  prosperity.  To  bring 
about  this  condition  Hawaii,  if  allowed,  will  surely  do  her  part.  She  can  not,  how- 
ever, do  it  if  she  is  made  a  desert  of,  and  a  refusal  of  your  request  by  Congress  would 
tend  to  that  result. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

John  A.  Hughes. 


Honolulu,  H.  T.,  May  3,  1921. 
Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  the  Hawaiian  Emergency  Labor  Commission, 

Honolulu,  H.  T. 

Dear  Sir:  As  a  mechanical  engineer  and  a  resident  of  Hawaii  for  nearly  40  years,  I 

am  very  much  interested  in  the  objects  of  your  mission  to  Washington  in  an  effort  to 

secure  Chinese  labor  for  agricultural  purposes.     I  beg  to  state  that  my  experience  with 

this  class  of  labor  while  acting  in  an  official  capacity  on  sugar  palntations  30  years  age 


478  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

was  eminently  satisfactory  for  industry  and  reliability,  and  such  few  of  them  as  have 
remained  on  the  plantations  that  I  have  knowledge  of  are  still  giving  good  service 
there. 

Since  the  introduction  of  Japanese  labor  in  the  islands,  I  have  noted  with  regret 
and  alarm  the  steady  decrease  in  the  number  of  American  mechanics  which  I  believe 
is  largely  due  to  the  intense  competition  which  they  have  to  meet  from  semiskilled 
mechanics  who  originally  came  to  Hawaii  for  agricultural  purposes  and  whose  mode  of 
living  makes  it  impossible  for  any  white  mechanic  to  compete  with  them;  and,  when 
we  had  Chinese  labor  on  the  plantations,  such  conditions  as  these  did  not  exist. 

I  have  noted  in  the  past  few  years  that  these  semiskilled  Japanese  artisans  have 
been  lea^dng  the  agricultural  districts  and  taking  up  their  residence  in  the  towns  to 
such  an  extent  that  at  the  present  time  agricultural  industries  of  Hawaii  are  suffering 
from  a  shortage  of  labor. 

As  an  American  citizen  and  a  permanent  resident  of  Hawaii,  I  am  vitally  interested 
in  all  that  concerns  the  prosperity  of  the  islands;  and  I  view  the  present  situation  with 
some  alarm  as  the  outlook  seems  to  indicate  that,  owing  to  the  foregoing  mentioned 
conditions,  the  situation  will  get  worse  instead  of  better,  and  I  firmly  believe  that  a 
large  majority  of  the  reputable  American  citizen  residents  of  Hawaii  would  gladly 
welcome  the  reintroduction  of  Chinese  labor  for  agricultural  purposes  which  would 
tend  to  alle^'iate  our  present  industrial  conditions  and  stabilize  the  prosperity  of  the 
islands.  In  closing,  I  desire  to  say,  without  bias  or  prejudice,  that  many  of  us  con- 
sider that,  owing  to  their  intense  nationalistic  characteristics  and  dual  citizenship, 
the  ever-increasing  population  of  native-born  Japanese  are  a  distinct  and  serious 
menace  to  the  Americanization  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Hoping  that  the  special  labor  commission  will  be  successful  in  their  efforts,  I  am 
Respectfully,  yours, 

H.  G.  WooTTteN,  Engineer. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  7,  1921. 
Walter  F.  Dillingham,  Esq., 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  The  question  of  bringing  Chinese  laborers  into  Hawaii  is  now  being 
agitated,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  I  am  in  favor  of  it;  let  them  come,  we  need  them. 
Sincerely,  yours, 

John  Anderson,  Well  Driller. 
James  Armstrong,  Carpenter. 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  Hawaii,  June  10,  1921. 

The  Director  Bureau  op  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  think  the  idea  of  importing  Chinese  to  work  in  the  cane  fields  an 
excellent  one. 

How  serious  the  present  shortage  of  labor  is  can  be  easily  seen  by  those  of  us  who 
work  on  a  sugar  plantation.  It  threatens  slow  strangulation  of  the  sugar  industry Jn 
these  islands. 

The  Chinese  have  a  capacity  for  steady,  hard  work  and  a  habit  of  contentment, 
which  make  them  ideal  laborers. 

I  hope  therefore  that  the  commission  now  in  Washington  may  be  successful. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

E.  A.  Boxall. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  13,  1921. 
W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  As  a  mechanic  employed  by  one  of  the  local  fertilizer 
manufacturers,  which  business  is  dependent  upon  the  sugar  industry  in  Hawaii,  I  am 
very  much  interested  in  the  importation  of  laborers  for  work  in  the  cane  fields,,  as  the 
need  for  sufficient  labor  has  been  keenly  felt  on  the  plantations  and  this  unfavorable 
situation  is  reflected  in  all  industries  in  the  islands. 

As  soon  as  hard  iimes  hit  the  plantations,  it  affects  all  local  concerns  and  I  therefore 
hope  that  you  will  be  able  to  secure  la])orers  before  it  is  necessary  to  shut  down  the 
concern  I  am  working  for,  as  I  have  a  family  dependent  upon  me  and  do  not  want  to 
lose  m\'  job. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

Chas.  D.  Akstad. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL  479 

Honolulu,  T  Taw  ah,  June  13,  19?  1. 
W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  T).  C. 

Deak  Mr-  r»TLT.TNGHAM:  I  am  very  much  interested  in  your  efl'orts  to  secure  per- 
mission to  bring  laborers  to  Hawaii,  as  the  plantations  are  very  badly  in  need  of 
laborers  that  can  work  in  the  fields. 

Knomng  that  unless  laborers  are  seciu'ed,  most  manufacturing  concerns  in  Hawaii 
will  be  compelled  to  shut  down,  I  natiurally  do  not  want  to  lose  my  job  and  hope  that 
your  elforts  will  be  successful. 
Yours,  ^•ery  truly, 

J.  C.  Brun.<^,  Machinist: 

Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Ijahor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C: 

I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  50  years,  and  have  been  employed  as  a 
skilled  mechanic  for  many  years.  I  understand  the  labor  conditions  on  the  islands, 
and  realize  that  in  order  to  keep  industry  agoing  on  these  islands,  it  is  necessary  that 
laborers  be  brought  here  to  work  in  the  fields  only,  and  to  be  returned  after  working  a 
certain  number  of  years.  As  it  is  too  hot  in  the  open  fields  where  hard  labor  is  pei- 
formed  the  Americans  can  not  work;  and  I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legis- 
lature of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  for  plantation 
work  only. 

A.   G.    CUNHA, 

Foreman  Patternmaker. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  3,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham. 

Dear  Sir:  As  you  know,  I  have  been  on  the  islands  since  1900,  starting  in  as  a 
launchman,  and  have  been  steady  at  it  until  now. 

At  present  I  am  manager  and  control  Young  Bros.  (Ltd.),  who  have  a  fleet  of  14 
boats,  doing  all  the  towboat  and  launch  business  of  this  port. 

I  have  always  worked  with  Hawaiian  natives,  who  make  wonderful  boatmen. 

My  company  has  grown  with  the  shipping.  At  first  sailing  vessels,  with  coal  in  and 
sugar  out,  later  steamers,  cargoes  in  and  sugar  out.  Without  sugar,  our  business  would 
be  dead. 

The  islands  need  laborers,  the  Hawaiina  and  whites  can  not  work  in  the  fields,  so  our 
salvation  is  in  orientals.  No  laborers,  no  sugar;  no  sugar,  no  ships;  no  ships,  no 
business. 

Yours,  truly, 

John  A.  Young. 


San  Francisco,  May  10,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  T.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Hawaii  J^abor  Commission,  San  Francisco. 

Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  Understanding  that  you  are  going  to  Washington  in  con- 
nection with  labor  matters  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  in  order  to  relieve  conditions 
there  by  bringing  in  a  certain  number  of  Chinese  laborers,  I  wish  to  state  that  I  have 
been  in  the  general  contractixig  and  building  business  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for 
the  past  44  years,  ha\ing  arrived  there  in  1S77,  and  have  been  and  am  now  familiar 
with  labor  conditions  thi-ough  all  the  islands.  I  am  also  familiar  \vith  labor  con- 
ditions on  the  Pacific  coast.  Xowhere  is  labor  better  treated  than  in  the  islands, 
with  good,  free  accommodations,  firewood  and  lights,  and  good  working  conditions. 
The  best  and  most  orderly  and  efiicient  labor  that  we  have  had  in  the  islands  are 
Chinese,  a  class  of  labor  that  can  perform  work,  particularly  in  the  rice  fixelcls,  that  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  any  other  class  of  labor  to  perform.  Since  Chinese 
have  stopped  coming  to  Hawaii  and  those  in  Hawaii  have  left  for  China,  the  rice 
industry  has  practically  gone  to  ruin.  This  class  of  labor  does  not  compete  with  the 
white  labor,  and  there  is  a  great  need  for  them  in  Hawaii  now  with  the  shortage  of 
labor  there.  They  do  not  come  in  contact  with  the  white  mechanic.  I  am  writing 
this  from  the  standpoint  of  a  mechanic. 

Yours,  truly,  •  John  F.  Bowler. 


I 


480  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN"   HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  T.  H.,  June  6,  1921 . 
Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  sincerely  hope  that  you  will  succeed  in  impressing  on  Congress  the 
pressing  need  of  our  plantations  for  labor  and  that  your  request  for  25,000  Chinese 
laborers  for  the  islands  be  granted .  I  might  say  sugar  is  the  principal,  the  only  product 
of  our  islands;  without  it  the  commercial  life  of  the  Territory  would  die;  to  raise  it 
we  must  have  labor,  which  we  have  not  at  the  present  time.  White  men  can  not 
cut  and  load  cane  under  a  tropical  sun;  it  has  been  tried  and  failed.  And  again, 
without  any  prejudice,  alien  nal^ionals  that  can  not  and  will  not  assimilate  or  become 
Americans  should  not  control  the  industrial  and  agTicultural  business  of  an  American 
territory.  I  am  a  blacksmith,  have  resided  here  for  40  years.  I  believe  that  in 
bringing  Chinese  labor  here  it  will  help  out  every  interest  in  the  Territory. 
Yours,  truly, 

J.  Machado. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  10,  1921. 
W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission. 

Dear  Sir:  Kegarding  the  bill  passed  by  the  last  territorial  legislature  to  allow  im 
portation  of  Oriental  laborers,  I  desire  to  state  my  views  on  same. 

I  am  in  favor  of  such  importation  provided  they  are  employed  as  agricultural  and 
plantation  laborers  and  as  household  servants. 

When  they  feel  disposed  to  quit  field  and  household  work,  they  should  be  imme- 
diately deported  to  their  own  country. 

Believe  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  own  or  hold  land.     I  have  been  a  resident 
of  the  Territory  for  six  years  and  have  been  employed  as  carpenter,  carpenter  foreman, 
and  at  present  superintendent  of  construction. 
Yours,  for  a  better  Hawaii, 

B.  S.  MacIntyre. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  7,  1921, 
W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  Having  been  asked  to  forward  my  indorsement  to  your  mission  in  Wash- 
ington at  the  present  time,  I  do  so  with  pleasm'e.  I  feel  that  after  40  years'  residence 
in  Hawaii,  working  as  a  blacksmith,  gave  me  the  opportunity  to  observe  field  work  on 
the  plantations  of  these  islands. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  field  work  of  the  sugar  and  pineapple  estates  can  not  be 
worked  successfully  by  American  labor,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  our  estates  are 
going  back  in  their  production  for  the  want  of  Oriental  labor,  and  as  our  fields  are 
the  "heart-beat"  of  all  other  industries  in  these  islands,  I  wish  you  success  in  your|| 
mission  to  secure  a  modification  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  act,  that  labor  may  be  brought j 
to  Hawaii  and  the  normal  production  of  the  Territory's  industries  may  be  kept  going. 
I  am,  faithfuliy,  yours, 

Charles  Crozier. 


Waipahu,  June  10,  1921. 
The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  take  the  pri^dlege  of  writing  these  few  lines  below,  being  one  in  full 
sympathy  with  united  action  in  the  bringing  of  more  laborers  to  these  islands 

There  is  no  doubt  to  my  mind,  and  I  am  sure  to  all  here  on  these  islands,  that  the 
shortage  of  labor,  which  is  a  very  serious  fact,  must  be  immediately  remedied,  and 
do  hope  that  all  can  see  that  the  importing  of  more  laborers  is  the  only  remedy. 

The  sugar  industry  must  be  kept  going  in  full  blast,  or  go  under,  which  means  success 
or  loss  to  all  here  in  the  islands. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

W.  W.  CocKBURN,  Electric  Engineer. 
In  sympathy  with  the  above  statements. 
Julius  Weber,  Electrician. 
K.  Tokashe,  Electrician  Helper. 
K.  Shincomura,  Electrician. 
Ben  Kaleiwahea,  Electrician  Helper. 
Frank  R.  Auerbach,  Electrician. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  481 

Waipahu,  June  10,  1921. 
The  Director  Bureau  op  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  glad  to  have  this  opportimity  to  express  my  approval  of  the  pro- 
posed importation  of  Chinese  labor  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

On  account  of  the  shortage  of  labor  I  am  to-day  operating  one  of  the  largest  boiling 
houses  in  the  islands  at  a  little  less  than  two-thirds  its  capacity.  This  should  be 
sufficient  evidence  to  convince  anyone  that  the  need  of  additional  labor  for  the  success- 
ful carrying  of  the  industry  is  immediately  required. 

I  would  also  like  to  add  that  I  have  been  employed  here  in  the  islands  a  little 
more  than  one  year  and  prior  to  that  time  have  been  in  the  sugar  industry  on  the 
mainland  for  20  years,  and,  therefore,  feel  that  I  am  in  a  position  to  say  that  the  laborer 
on  the  mainland,  especially  the  Caucasian  is  not  adaptable  to  the  climate  and  condi- 
tions here.  He  has  not  the  temperament  or  desire  for  the  kind  of  work  that  is  here 
required. 

On  behalf  of  the  Chinese,  I  can  say  that  it  is  my  observation  that  he  is  the  most 
reliable  and  trustworthy  laborer  here  to-day.  He  is  intelligent  and  his  former  em- 
ployment makes  him  readily  adapted  to  the  work  and  his  standard  of  living  makes  it 
possible  to  secure  his  services  at  a  more  nearly  equal  basis  to  the  same  class  of  labor 
in  the  other  sugar-producing  countries.  He  does  not  assimilate  the  business  of  the 
country  or  create  any  social  or  political  disturbance,  and  to  my  mind  he  represents 
the  laborer  that  is  most  desired. 

Hoping  that  the  above  may  in  some  way  assist  in  securing  the  desired  results,  I  am, 
Sincerely,  yours, 

C,  J.  Fleener, 
^  Sugar  Boiler,  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.). 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  .Ju7ie  9,  1921. 
Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  very  strongly  in  favor  of  importing  Chinese  labor  to  these  islands. 
If  we  do  not  have  more  lobor  most,  and  in  fact  all,  the  plantations  will  have  to  curtail 
their  output  of  sugar.  By  doing  so  they  v\ill  cut  down  their  forces  of  skilled  and  semi- 
skilled labor  who  are  not  able  to  work  in  the  fields.  This  "ut-II  be  felt  by  all  the  trades 
in  the  islands  and  would  tend  to  cripple  all  of  the  island  industries. 
Yours,  truly, 

Chas.  Coman. 


Waipahu,  June  11,  1921. 
The  Director  Bureau  op  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  T.  H. 

Dear  Sir:  It  is  evident  to  the  most  casual  observer  of  labor  conditions  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  that  the  sugar  industry  is  suffering  from  a  very  serious  shortage  of 
unskilled  labor. 

This  condition,  coupled  with  the  present  price  of  sugar,  is  suiTiciently  serious  not 
only  to  effect  the  general  prosperity  of  the  Territory,  but  to  threaten  a  large  number 
of  the  plantations  with  financial  ruin. 

For  these  reasons,  I  am  heartily  in  favor  of  the  movement  to  import  unskilled  labor 
into  this  Territory,  as  in  my  opinion  it  is  the  best  step  that  can  be  taken  to  avert 
serious  consequences  to  our  agricultural  life  caused  by  the  present  acute  labor  shortage . 
Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  G.  Walsh, 
Cleric,  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.). 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  June  9,  1921. 

Director,  the  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Planters  Association. 

Gentlemen:  I  beg  to  put  before  you  these  few  lines  at  this  time  when  the  days  of 
strikes  and  discontentment  among  the  labor,  and  the  labor  being  very  much  depre- 
ciated in  various  ways  on  these  islands  at  the  present  day,  I  consider  that  it's  not 

56754— 21— see  7,  pt  1 18 


482  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

before  time  that  something  should  be  done  in  the  direction  of  getting  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction back  to  something  like  normal,  or  as  near  as  possible,  because  the  world  at 
the  present  day  is  in  general  suffering  greatly  from  these  causes  when  labor  has  got 
to  be  paid  at  a  higher  rate,  and  at  the  same  time  the  Japanese  especially  would  like 
to  impress  on  you  that  he  does  not  require  to  do  an  honest  day's  work,  but  he  is  very 
keen  in  figuring  out  a  percentage  or  what  he  thinks  or  what  is  probably  being  in- 
structed him  by  his  union.  It  is  a  pity  that  such  a  poor  and  destitute  state  as  China 
is  in  at  the  present  that  some  substitute  could  not  be  temporarily  got  from  there,  and 
by  doing  so  would  contribute  toward  helping  the  starving  millions.  This  place  I 
understand  is  one  of  the  largest  plantations  on  the  islands,  and  have  always  employed 
a  good  number  of  Chinese,  and  which  they  have  always  been  reckoned  to  be  the  best, 
efficient,  and  most  reliable  labor  there  is  for  this  class  of  work. 
I  am,  gentlemen. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Ernest  H.  Nisbet, 
Clerk  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  {Ltd.y    , 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  18  years  and  am  a  draftsman 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled  me- 
chanics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants,  and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the 
work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

Clarence  Hanyes. 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  June  10,  1921. 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Oahu. 

Gentlemen:  As  an  employee  of  one  of  the  sugar  planatations — Oahu  Sugar  Co. 
(Ltd.) — ^in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  I  indorse  every  effort  made  by  the  Hawaiian  Sugar 
Planters'  Association  to  help  relieve  the  labor  famine  in  the  sugar  plantations  by 
importing  30,000  Chinese  laborers  on  a  contract  laasis  of  five  years  with  an  additional 
option  of  five  years  on  condition  that  the  plantations  needed  them  and  also  on  con- 
dition that  they  proved  themselves  to  be  good  workers  and  good  residents. 

Too  much  can  not  be  said  on  this  subject.  It  has  also  been  discussed  so  much 
pro  and  con  that  it  would  be  mere  repetition  if  I  dwelt  into  the  advantages  and  dis- 
advantages of  this  move.  Moreover,  I  might  not  be  considered  an  impartial  judge 
of  the  situation  by  my  nationality.  But,  look  east,  west,  north,  south,  and  in  the 
direction  of  the  cane  fields.  Recall  the  tasseling  days  of  those  matured  fields.  Re- 
call the  days  when  you  passed  them  months  ago  and  thought  that  the  cane  was  ready 
to  be  cut  and  shipped  to  the  mill.  You  wonder  even  now  that  this  very  same  cane 
once  so  healthy,  stalwart,  and  juicy,  now  so  sickly,  dry,  and  toward  the  stage  of  fermen- 
tation, remain  in  the  fields.  Then  look  at  the  fields  of  young  cane,  now  vast  stretches 
of  Celehua,  lantana,  and  wild  grass.  Could  even  an  untrained  observer  help  con- 
cluding that  one  of  the  major  reasons  for  this  condition  of  affairs  is  that  there  is  a 
shortage  of  good,  faithful  farm  laborers,  laborers  that  are  born  agriculturists,  used  tO' 
hardships  and  accustomed  to  climatic  conditions  similar  to  ours. 
Yours,  A'ery  truly, 

A.  B.  Lau, 
Warehouse  ClerJc,  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.). 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  483 

Honolulu,  T.  H.,   June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  two  years  and  am  a  draftsman 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the 
work  on  the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portu- 
guese, who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled  me- 
chanics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own,  or  be  employed  in,  any  business  except  agricultural  fi.eld  work  and  as  house 
servants,  and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do 
the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours ,  truly, 

O.  Hansen. 


June  10,  1921. 
The  Director,  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  T.  H. 
Gentlemen:  Owing  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  great  shortage  of  labor  existing  in 
these  Islands  at  the  present  time,  I  wish  to  go  on  record  as  one  supporting  the  effort 
being  made  to  import  laborers  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

If  such  labor  shortage  is  to  continue,  it  would  mean  that  the  plantations  Avould 
have  to  reduce  the  area  now  under  cultivation,  and  to  save  an  industry  which  we  have 
tried  hard  to  keep  up,  I  believe  that  the  importation  of  such  laborers  would  be  of 
great  benefit  to  all  concerned. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

(Miss)  R.  H.  Paulsen,  R.  N., 

Nurse  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Honolulu,  T.  H.,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  years  and  am  a  draftsman  by 
trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  Islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on 
the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  Islands  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechan- 
ics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plan- 
tations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  Islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own,  or  be  employed  in,  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants  and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do 
the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly,  * 

H.  J.  Diem. 

Waipahu,  Oahu,  June  9,  1921. 
The  Directors,  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics  H.  S.  P.  A. 

Honolulu. 
Gentlemen:  As  one  of  some  years'  experience  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  these 
islands  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  study  the  labor  problem.     The  present  lack  of 
unskilled  labor  is  undoubtedly  a  serious  menace  to  the  prosperity  of  the  sugar  industry 


484  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

and  I  am  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  unless  immediate  action  is  taken  to  relieve  the 
labor  situation  the  prosperity  of  these  islands  will  be  greatly  jeopardized.     The  cli- 
matic conditions  are  apparently  against  the  successful  employment  of  Europeans  and 
I  would  strongly  advise  bringing  in  orientals,  more  especially  Chinese . 
Respectfully,  yours, 

David  H.  Kydd. 


Honolulu,   June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  was  born  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  am  a  boilermaker  by  trade.  I 
have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on  the  plan- 
tations. 

As  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechanics 
and  others  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  j)ineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is 
necessary  that  field  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

S.  Hailele  Makahili. 

Waupahu,  Oahu,  June  9,  1921. 
The  DiR'ECTORS  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics,  H.  S.  P.  A., 

Honolulu. 

Gentlemen:  I  am  a  native  of  Portugal  and  have  been  a  resident  of  the  islands  for 
the  last  39  years.  During  this  time  many  of  my  countrymen  have  come  to  the  islands 
to  work  on  the  plantations,  but  they  do  not  seem  to  care  for  the  work  after  a  year  or 
two  at  the  job. 

Most  of  them  come  to  Honolulu  after  they  have  saved  a  little  money  and  leave  to 
the  coast. 

The  orientals  appear  to  be  the  only  class  that  stays  with  the  work  on  the  plantations, 
and  if  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  to  keep  up  their  productiveness  then  the  only  thing 
is  to  have  sufficient  oriental  labor  to  take  care  of  its  industry. 
Respectfully,  yours, 

Frank  Souva. 


Honolulu,  June!,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington ^  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  was  born  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  am  a  boiler  maker  by  trade. 
I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on  the 
plantations. 

As  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechanics 
and  others  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is 
necessary  that  field  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

John  E.  Botei  ho. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham, 

Washington,  D.  C. . 
Dear  Sir:  I  am  in  favor  of  the  Chinese  being  brought  in  here  as  laborers,  they  will 
be  of  great  benefit  to  us. 
Sincerely,  yours, 

James  Card,  Well  Driller. 

J.  S.  Martin,  Tailor. 

C.  G.  BocKus,  Former  Linotyper. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AIL  485 

Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission^  Washington^  J).  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  was  born  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  am  a  boilermaker  by  trade. 
I  know  something  of  the  conditions  on  the  plantations. 

Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  as  work  for  skilled  mechanics  and 
others  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  field  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

David  Keawepoo. 


Opaeula  Division,  W.  A.  Co., 

June  10,  1921. 
To  the  honorable  Labor  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Sirs:  At  the  request  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  I  am  writing  to 
you  in  regard  to  the  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii  at  present. 

First.  I  will  take  up  the  acreage  of  sugar  cane  in  my  division  in  1919.  At  that 
time  I  had  about  2,200  acres  in  my  division  and  about  225  men  to  cultivate  that 
amount.  At  present  I  have  about  1,600  acres  in  cultivation,  600  acres  l^ang  fallow 
on  account  of  the  shortage  of  labor,  and  no  prospects  of  being  able  to  replant  for  years 
on  account  of  the  shortage  of  labor.  These  lands  are  all  under  our  irrigating  system, 
so  they  are  our  best  uplands. 

Second.  I  will  take  up  the  shortage  of  our  sugar  crops  for  the  last  year  and  the 
next  three  years.  In  1920  the  W.  A.  Co.  ground  about  31,000  tons  of  sugar;  in  1921 
■will  grind  about  29,000  tons;  1922  will  be  very  fortunate  if  we  get  27,000  tons.  With 
the  labor  that  we  now  have  we  are  not  getting  the  results  that  we  got  five  years  back; 
the  Chinese  are  all  very  old ;  the  Japanese  are  leaving  the  plantations  and  going  into 
business  for  themselves  as  fast  as  possible. 

Third.  The  Filipinos  are  very  unreliable;  25  per  cent  work  only  25  per  cent  of  the 
working  days  in  the  month;  the  other  75  per  cent  about  80  per  cent  of  the  time.  A 
good  Chinese  will  cultivate  about  10  acres,  a  Filipino  about  6  acres  per  man. 

Fourth.  I  will  take  up  the  system  of  our  crops.  We  start  our  crops  of  cane  in  July 
if  we  have  the  labor,  as  that  is  the  proper  time  to  start  a  cane  crop.  But  this  season 
we  will  not  get  the  old  crop  harvested  until  about  the  1st  of  October  or  November, 
so  that  our  next  crop  will  be  about  four  months  short  in  growing  time,  which  will 
reduce  the  number  of  tons  of  sugar  per  acre  about  1§  or  2  tons  per  acre. 

Fifth.  I  will  take  up  the  system  of  plowing  and  planting  each  year.  Under  the 
old  system  we  plan  to  plow  at  least  1,500  acres  every  year  so  as  not  to  let  our  ratoons 
remain  too  long,  as  that  cuts  down  on  the  sugar  tonnage.  After  so  many  years  of 
continuous  ratooning  all  this  work  has  stopped  all  on  account  of  no  labor. 

Then  there  is  other  work  that  should  be  done  at  all  times.  Buildings  for  laborers, 
railroad  and  reservoirs  for  water,  tunnels,  upkeep  of  farm  implements,  such  as  trucks, 
locomotives,  flanches  for  flanching  cane,  all  of  which  require  a  large  amount  of  labor, 
but  without  that  labor  Hawaii  is  bound  to  get  back  instead  of  forward.  With  a  good 
supply  of  good  labor  Hawaii  is  bound  to  go  forward,  and  my  16  years'  experience  on 
a  sugar  plantation  with  all  kinds  of  labor  convinces  me  that  the  Chinese  is  the  king 
of  them  all. 

Respectfully,  yours, 

James  B.  Conor, 
Division  Overseer,  Waco  {Ltd.). 


Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  B.C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  was  born  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  an  a  boilermaker  by  trade.  I 
have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on  the 
plantations. 

As  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechanics 
and  others  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is 
necessary  that  field  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Molena  K.  Kekawha, 


486  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  15  years  and  am  a  draftsman 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the 
work  on  the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled 
mechanics  in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants,  and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do 
the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territoiy  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

C.  G.  Livingston. 


Honolulu,  June  7,  19^1, 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  a  clerk  by  trade  and  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  12 
years,  and  know  something  of  the  conditions  on  the  plantations. 

As  Americans  mil  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  the  work  for  skilled  labor  depends 
on  che  prosperity  of  the  sugar  and  pineapple  plantations,  it  is  necessary  that  field 
laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  to  be  employed  in  that  work  only. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Geo.  McKinlay. 


Honolulu,  Oahu,  T.  H.,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

I  have  lived  here  over  40  years,  and  I  know  that  Americans  can  not  work  in  field 
here.     I  believe  that  laborers  should  be  brought  here,  to  save  our  main  industry. 

I  am  one  of  the  strong  supporters  of  the  labor  bill  passed  by  the  last  legislature,  and 

I  believe  it  is  good  for  everyone  concerned.     I  am  a  machinist  by  trade,  and  I  know 

the  above  statement  to  be  so. 

Yours,  truly, 

William  Brede. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  8,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  7).  C. 

Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  The  need  for  laborers  for  the  cane  fields  is  beginning  to 
show  in  the  slack  work  in  the  two  iron  works  of  this  city,  and  both  shops  have  laid  off 
a  number  of  men  because  of  lack  of  work. 

This  is  because  the  plantations  are  not  prosperous  and  are  suffering  because  they  do 
not  have  men  to  properly  take  care  of  the  cane  now  growing  and  to  plant  more  cane 
or  to  harvest  that  which  is  ready  for  cutting. 

I  hope  that  you  can  soon  get  permission  to  bring  laborers  to  Hawaii.  I  have  been 
a  working  man  in  the  islands  for  years  and  know  that  the  plantations  rnust  have 
laborers  that  can  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  white  men  can  not  do  this  kind  of 
work. 

Yours,  truly, 

N.  B.  Ogilvie,  Iron  Holder. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HA  WAIL  487 

Waipahu,  T.  ir.,  June  9,  19'21. 
The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  Being  an  employee  of  a  sugar  plantation,  I  feel  that  I  am  in  a  position 
to  understand  the  present  labor  situation  and  its  effect  on  the  production  of  sugar  in 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  and  would  like  to  go  on  record  as  being  strongly  in  favor  of 
the  effort  now  being  made  in  Washington,  D,  0.,  for  the  importation  of  oriental 
labor  to  the  Territor^^  of  Hawaii. 

In  my  opinion,  this  is  the  only  action  that  can  save,  not  only  the  most  important 
industry,  but  the  very  prosperity  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

With  the  present  available  labor  it  will  be  impossible  to  continue  the  cultivation  of 
the  full  area,  thereby  reducing  the  production  of  sugar  and  causing  the  dismissal  of 
a  certain  percentage  of  skilled  and  semiskilled  employees. 

Under  present  conditions,  fields  that  are  now  under  cultivation  must  be  neglected 
so  that  the  matured  fields  can  be  harvested,  thus  reducing  the  qauntity  and  quality 
of  the  coming  crops,  i.  e.,  1922  and  1923,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  present  crop  (1921 ) 
can  be  harvested  in  time. 

Hoping  that  the  efforts  now  being  made  to  obtain  said  oriental  labor  will  meet  with 
success. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

Adolph  p.  Linc. 


•  Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 

Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission ^  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  22  years,  and  am  a  blacksmith 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations. 

Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields.  This  work  has  always  been  done  by 
unskilled  oriental  labor.  It  is  necessary  that  laborers  (Chinese)  be  brought  to  the 
islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechanics  almost  entirely  depends  on  the  prosperity 
of  the  sugar  and  pineapple  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  be  for  agricultural  field  M^ork  only  and  should 
be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work  for  which  they 
were  brought. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

John  Rem  wick. 


Waipahu,  June  9,  1921. 

The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Labor  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  observe  from  the  newspapers  that  an  effort  is  being  made  at  Washington 
for  sanction  to  import  plantation  laborers  to  Hawaii,  and  I  wish  to  go  on  record, 
through  the  medium  of  this  letter,  as  supporting  the  effort. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  field  hands  are  very  badly  needed  on  the  sugar  plantations 
in  Hawaii.  All  the  plantations,  from  reports  received,  are  very  far  behind  in  harvest- 
ing and  milling  of  the  1921  crop,  as  well  as  planting  and  cultivating  necessary  for  the 
development  of  the  1922  and  1923  crops.  The  future  crops  are  at  the  present  time 
suffering  from  a  decided  lack  of  labor  in  the  fields.  If  this  shortage  is  to  continue, 
there  is  no  doubt  but  what  the  plantations  wi^ll  find  it  necessary  to  reduce  the  area 
now  under  cultivation.  This  will  mean  the  retarding  of  the  progress  of  the  main 
industry  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  If  the  plantations  do  fi.nd  it  necessary  to  curtail 
production  through  the  lack  of  field  laborers,  it  would  affect  semiskilled  and  skilled 
omployees  in  the  irrigating  plants,  milling  and  boiling  plants,  construction  and  repair 
shops,  ofiices  and  general  storehouses.  These  semiskilled  and  ski],led  employees 
could  not  be  employed  in  the  field  as  laborers,  and  it  would  mean  that  a  large  number 
of  such  men  would  be  dismissed. 

The  retarding  of  the  progress  of  the  main  industry  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  would 
also  mean  considerable  loss  in  trade  to  all  the  allied  trades  in  Honolulu,  with  conse- 
quent dismissal  of  skilled  and  semiskilled  employees  in  those  trades.  This  would 
mean  that  it  wou^d  be  almost  impossible  for  skilled  and  semiskilled  employees  now 
on  the  plantations  to  obtain  employment  elsewhere  in  the  islands. 


488  IxA.BOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  cutting  down  of  the  output  of  any  particular  plantation  would  also  mean  that  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  plant  would  lie  idle,  with  a  consequent  loss  to  its  stock- 
holders. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  efforts  now  being  made  to  procure  the  required  additional 
labor  for  Hawaii  will  meet  with  success. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Arthur  Grounds. 

Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  35  years,  and  am  a  molder  by 
trade.     I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on 
the  plantations. 

Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields.  This  work  has  always  been  done  by 
unskilled  oriental  labor.  It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as 
the  work  for  skilled  mechanics  almost  entirely  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  sugar 
and  pineapple  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  be  for  agricultural  field  work  only  and  should 
be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work  for  which  they 
were  brought. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly. 

Stephen  Smith. 


June  9,  1921. 
The  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,   T.  H. 

Gentlemen:  As  a  welfare  worker  on  one  of  the  largest  sugar  plantations  in  Hawaii, 
I  am  writing  to  ask  you  to  do  your  utmost  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  bill  which  provides 
for  the  importation  of  labor  into  Hawaii.  Anyone  who  is  as  close  to  the  labor  problem 
as  I  am,  must  realize  that  unless  men  can  be  brought  into  the  Territory  to  cover  the 
labor  deficit,  an  almost  irreparable  damage  to  Hawaiian  industry  will  be  done. 
Respectfully,  yours, 

(Miss)  Med  A  C.  Lynn. 

Honolulu,  June  7, 1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  30  years,  and  am  a  shipwright 
by  trade.     I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations. 

Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields.  This  work  has  always  been  done  by 
unskilled  oriental  labor.  It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as 
the  work  for  skilled  mechanics  almost  entirely  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  sugar 
and  pineapple  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  be  for  agricultural  field  work  only  and  should 
be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work  for  which  they 
were  brought. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Wm.  Lyle. 


June  9,  1921. 
The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics,  H.  S.  P.  A., 

Honolulu. 

Sir:  Having  been  employed  on  a  sugar  plantation  for  many  years,  during  which 
time  I  have  made  a  special  study  of  the  effect  of  the  labor  situation  on  the  production 
of  sugar,  I  feel  the  time  has  arrived  for  a  change  in  the  policy  of  the  Government  in 
the  importation  of  oriental  labor. 

Owing  to  the  present  shortage  of  labor  in  these  isladns  it  is  impossible  to  operate  the 
area  under  cultivation.  This  would  mean  the  closing  down  of  considerable  acreage 
necessitating  the  dismissal  of  many  skilled  and  semiskilled  employees  and  likewise 
affecting  all  other  allied  trades  and  professions. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AIL  489 

Sugar  being  the  chief  product  of  this  Territory,  the  shortage  of  labor  would  naturally 
tend  to  cause  a  financial  depression  resulting  in  the  crippling  of  our  main  industry. 

This  being  so  T  would  like  my  name  to  go  on  record  as  strongly  favoring  the  present 
action  being  taken  by  the  Hawaiian  Commission  in  Washington  to  gain  the  sanction 
to  import  this  labor. 

I  am,  yours,  faithfully, 

E.  F.  Shackleton. 

Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  life,  and  am  an  engineer  and 
gas  man  by  trade.  I  have  Worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something 
of  the  work  on  the  plantations. 

Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields.  This  work  has  always  been  done  by 
unskilled  oriental  labor.  It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as 
the  work  for  skilled  mechanics  almost  entirely  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  sugar 
and  pineapple  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  be  for  agricultural  field  work  only  and  should 
be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  Work  for  which  they 
were  brought. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Wm.  Green. 

Twenty-five  years  on  sugar  plantations  as  a  luna  and  locomotive  engineer. 

June  9,  1921. 
Bureau  of  Labor,  H.  S.  P.  A.  « 

Gentlemen:  As  an  employee  directly  connected  with  the  sugar  industry  of  these 
islands,  I  most  heartily  indorse  the  movement  to  bring  a  supply  of  unbilled  laborers 
to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

The  necessity  of  this  is  of  great  importance,  as  the  welfare  of  the  Territory  is  being 
retarded  by  lack  of  field  laborers. 

The  sugar  industry  seems  to  be  the  hardest  hit  by  the  shortage,  as  valuable  cane 
land  is  lying  idle,  and  land  under  cultivation  is  also  suffering  from  shortage  of  labor. 

The  commission  appointed  by  the  last  legislature  has  my  heartiest  support. 
Yours,  truly, 

William  Cormack. 


Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  eight  years,  and  am  an  engineer 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations. 

Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields.  This  work  has  always  been  done  by 
unskilled  oriental  labor.  It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as 
the  work  for  skilled  mechanics  almost  entirely  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  sugar 
and  pineapple  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  be  for  agricultural  field  work  only  and  should 
be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work  for  which  they 
were  brought.  » 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

S.  Gerry. 

Waipahu,  Oahu,  Haw  ah,  June  9,  1921. 
The  Director,  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 
Sir:  In  view  of  the  publicity  that  has  been  given  Hawaii's  request  for  the  importa- 
tion of  Chinese  labor,  I  would  like  to  be  permitted  to  express  my  opinion. 

The  large  amount  of  land  now  under  cultivation  has  been  made  possible  by  the  use 
of  oriental  labor  in  the  fields,  as  the  whites  and  native  Hawaiians  do  not  take  to  that 


490  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

kind  of  work  and  as  a  rule  do  not  find  it  necessary  to  do  so  in  order  to  earn  a  living. 
As  the  old  type  of  laborer  returns  to  his  own  country  or  grows  too  old  for  hard  labor 
under  a  tropical  sun,  the  younger  generation,  educated  in  American  schools,  will  not 
take  their  places  in  the  fields  as  they  are  fitted  for  higher  and  better-paid  work. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  from  this,  that  there  will  have  to  be  some  means  of  getting 
a  fresh  supply  of  labor  every  decade  or  allow  a  lot  of  valuable  land  to  lie  idle.  This 
naturally  Avould  cause  all  the  agricultural  concerns  to  cut  down  their  overhead  to  a 
minimum,  throwing  the  m.ajority  of  the  skilled  and  semiskilled  out  of  employment, 
and  cutting  down  the  wages  of  the  remainder.  A  step  of  this  kind  would  have  the 
effect  of  a  financial  panic  in  a  community  of  this  type,  whose  main  products  are  agri- 
cultural, and  would  react,  not  only  on  the  employees  thrown  out  of  work,  but  on  the 
entire  business  life  of  the  Territory. 

A  large  percentage  of  the  skilled  employees  on  plantations,  educated  in  their  own 
particular  work  and  knowing  nothing  of  any  other  business,  while  able  to  support  their 
families  in  comparative  comfort  now,  would  be  forced  to  accept  work  that  they  were 
unfamiliar  with,  and  therefore  would  be  unable  to  earn  a  decent  living. 

The  large  companies  engaged  in  this  work  can  cut  down  their  capital,  their  over- 
head and  other  expenses  to  conform  with  the  decreased  production,  but  the  employees 
and  the  community  as  a  whole  would  be  the  real  losers.  For  these  reasons  I  am  adding 
my  plea  to  the  many  others  that  Congress  allow  us  to  import  oriental  labor  and  keef) 
our  business  and  industrial  life  alive  and  thriving. 
Yours,  vey  truly, 

Walter  M,  Bridges. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  JuTie  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham. 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington.  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  32  years  and  am  a  structural 
worker  by  trade.  I  have  worked  %t  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of 
the  work  on  the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese.  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled  me- 
chanics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants,  and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  not  longer  do  the 
work  for  which  they  were  brought  here.  * 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

Joe  Rawlings. 


Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Comm^ission,  Washington.  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  12  years  and  am  a  boiler  maker 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations. 

As  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechanics 
and  others  depends  on  tl*[e  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is 
necessary  that  field  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Peter  A.  Andrews. 


Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairmen  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:    I   ha\e   lived  in  the   Hawaiian   Islands  for  nine   years,  and  am  a 
machinist  by  trade.     I  know  something  of  the  conditions  on  the  plantations. 

Arr.ericans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  as  work  for  skilled  mechanics  and 
others  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is  necessary 
that  f'eld  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands. 


\  LABOR   PROBI.EMS   IN   HAWAU.  491 

r  am  in  faA  or  of  tho  bill  pansed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yonrs,  very  truly, 

A.  F.   SiLEN, 

Acting  Assistant  /Sujwrintendent,  Honohilu  Iron  Works. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr,  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  23  years  and  am  a  painter  by 
trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on 
the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  field. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands  as  the  work  for  skilled 
mechanics  in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants,  and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the 
work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  trulv, 

A.  D.  Wise. 

Honolulu,  .Tune  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission^  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking 
Congress  to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plant-ation  work. 

I  am  a  foundry  foreman  by  trade  and  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  tw 
years.     I  know  something  of  the  conditions  on  the  plantations  and  that  American^^ 
mil  not  work  in  the  fields.     As  work  for  skilled  mechanics  and  others  depends  on  thes 
prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is  necessary  that  field  laborers  be 
brought  to  the  islands. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

Frank  J.  Clark, 
Foundry  Foreman,  Honolulu  Iron  Works  Co.,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 


Honolulu,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W. -F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  21  years  and  am  a  plasterer  by 
trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on 
the  plantations. 

T  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  Work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechan- 
ics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plan- 
tations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to  own , 
or  be  employed  in,  any  business  except  agricultural  field  Work  and  as  house  servants, 
and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work 
for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  faA^or  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

Don  Eadufer. 


492  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  8,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission^  Washington^  D.  C. 

Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  The  need  for  laborers  for  the  cane  fields  is  beginning  to 
show  in  the  slack  work  in  the  two  ironworks  of  this  city  and  both  shops  have  laid  off 
a  number  of  men  because  of  lack  of  work. 

This  is  because  the  plantations  are  not  prosperous  and  are  suffering  because  they 
do  not  have  men  to  properly  take  care  of  the  cane  now  growing  and  to  plant  more 
cane  or  to  harvest  that  which  is  ready  for  cutting. 

I  hope  that  you  can  soon  get  permission  to  bring  laborers  to  Hawaii.  I  have  been 
a  workingman  in  the  ^  islands  for  years  and  know  that  the  plantations  must  have 
laborers  that  can  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  that  white  men  can  not  do  this  kind  of 
work. 

Yours,  truly, 

A.  K.  Decker. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  five  years  and  I  am  a  brick- 
layer by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the 
work  on  the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  labor  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands  as  the  work  for  skilled 
mechanics  in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own,  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants,  and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do 
the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

B.  Kenealy. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  years  and  am  a  foundry  super- 
intendent by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  for  two  years  and  know 
something  of  the  work  on  the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that  has 
always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled  me- 
chanics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to  own, 
or  be  employed  in,  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house  servants, 
and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work 
for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

F.  J.  McGrail, 
Foundry  Superintendent  Honolulu  Iron  Works  Co. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  493 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921. 

Mr.    W.    F.    DiLLINOHAM, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission, 

Washington,  B.C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  10  years  and  am  a  carpenter  by 
trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on 
the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cahe  fields,  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese,  who 
generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  field. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled  me- 
chanics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to  own, 
or  be  employed  in,  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house  servants, 
and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work  for 
which  .they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

Wm.  E.  Hughes. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921 . 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  five  years  and  I  am  a  marble 
letterer  by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of 
the  work  on  the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that  has 
a,lways  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  field. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands  as  the  work  for  skilled  me- 
chanics in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to  own 
or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house  servants, 
and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  no  longer  do  the  work  for  which 
they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

J.  A.  Reed. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  I^abor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  12  years  and  am  a  carpenter  by 
trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on 
the  plantations. 

I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that 
has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans.  Filipinos,  and  some  Portuguese, 
who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  laborers  be  brought  into  the  islands  as  the  work  for  skilled 
mechanics  in  almost  every  line  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar 
plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to  own 
or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  woric  and  as  house  servants, 
and  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work 
for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  trulv, 

P.  O.  N.  Hughes. 


494  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,   June  10,  19^1. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  W^ashington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  The  need  for  laborers  for  the  cane  fields  is  beginning  to 
show  in  the  slack  work  in  the  two  iron  works  of  this  city  and  both  shops  have  laid  off 
a  number  of  men  because  of  lack  of  work. 

This  is  because  the  plantations  are  not  prosperous  and  are  suffering  because  they  do 
not  have  men  to  properly  take  care  of  the  cane  now  growing  and  to  plant  more  cane 
or  to  harvest  that  which  is  ready  for  cutting. 

I  hope  that  you  can  soon  get  permission  to  bring  laborers  to  Hawaii.  I  have  been 
a  working  man  in  the  islands  for  21  years  and  know  that  the  plantations  must  have 
laborers  that  can  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  white  men  can  not  do  this  kind  of 
work. 

Yours,  truly, 

W.  A.  Welbourn,   Carpenter. 


Honolulu,  Oahu,   June  10,  1921. 
Mr,  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  was  born  in  Honolulu,  Oahu,  July  17,  1886.  I've  lived  there  ever 
since.  Never  was  away  from  the  islands.  I  am  a  labor  -foreman  and  a  hoisting  en- 
gineer by  trade. 

My  father  was  a  descendant  of  Portugal  and  my  mother  a  Hawaiian. 

I  am  a  citizen  and  a  citizen  since  the  annexation  to  the 'United  States  on  July  7,  1898. 

In  agreement  with  the  bill  passed  by  the  last  legislature  to  allow  the  importation  of 
oriental  laborers  into  Hawaii.  I'm  in  favor  of  allowing  such  laborers  to  work  only  in 
the  cane  fields  and  as  household  servants.  When  they  no  longer  want  to  work  in  the 
cane  fields,  I  am  in  favor  of  deporting  them  to  their  mother  country. 

Experience  has  taught  that  only  this  class  of  labor  can  work  efficiently  in  the  planta- 
tion fields. 

I  believe  that  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  own  any  real  estate.  I  am  convinced 
that  the  prosperity  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  depends  largely  upon  the  success  of  the 
plantations  securing  plenty  of  laborers,  because  the  failure  of  the  plantations  would 
undoubtedly  result  in  hard  times  for  all  other  business  interests,  as  practically  all 
shipping  would  be  at  a  standstill. 

The  foregoing  views  are  those  of  one  who  has  spent  his  lifetime  in  the  islands  and  wha 
looks  to  the  future  prosperity  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.     I  am, 
Yours,  faithfully, 

Richard  Phillyss. 

Honolulu,  June.  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  been  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  years,  and  am  a  boiler  maker 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the 
work  on  the  plantations. 

As  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields,  and  as  the  work  for  skilled  mechanics 
and  others  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is 
necessary  that  field  laborers  be  brought  to  the  islands. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work  only. 
Yours^  very  truh-, 

M.  Louis,  Jr. 


Honolulu,  T.  H.,  June  8,  1921, 
Mr.  W.  F.  D-illingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  B.C. 

Dear  Mr.  Dillingham:  The  need  for  laborers  for  the  cane  fields  is  beginning  ta 
show  in  the  slack  work  in  the  two  iron  works  of  this  city  and  both  shops  have  lain 
off  a  number  of  men  because  of  lack  of  work. 

This  is  because  the  plantations  are  not  prosperous  and  are  suffering  because  they 
do  not  have  men  to  properly  take  care  of  the  cane  now  growing  and  to  plant  more 
cane  or  to  harvest  that  which  is  ready  for  cutting. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  495 

I  hope  that  you  can  soon  get  permission  to  bring  laborers  to  Hawaii.     I  have  been 
working  in  the  islands  for  37  years  and  know  that  the  plantation  must  have  laborers 
that  can  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  white  men  can  not  do  this  kind  of  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

James  McAndrews,  Boiler  Maker. 


Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  B.C. 
Dear  Sir:  I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 

I  am  an  engineer  by  trade  and  have  lived  in  the  HaAvaiian  Islands  for  30  years.  I 
know  something  of  the  conditions  on  the  plantations,  and  that  Americans  will  not 
work  in  the  fields.  As  work  for  skilled  mechanics  and  others  depends  on  the  pros- 
perity of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations,  it  is  necessary  that  field  laborers  be 
brought  to  the  islands. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  S.  MUIRHEAD. 


Waipahu,  June  9,  1921. 
The  Director,  Bureau  op  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  One  of  the  most  vital  questions  affecting  practically  every  resident  of 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  is  how  to  remedy  the  serious  labor  shortage  now  existing  and 
which  has  reached  the  critical  point.  In  m}^  opinion  it  is  the  duty  of  anyone  living 
here,  whether  he  is  deriving  his  livelihood  direct  from  work  on  a  plantation  or  from 
other  sources,  to  work  for  the  best  interests  of  the  plantations,  which  here  is  identical 
with  the  best  interests  of  the  whole  communit5^  The  planters  see  a  steady  exodus 
of  their  experienced  Japanese  laborers  back  to  their  native  country,  and  while  it  is 
true  that  to  a  certain  extent  the  labor  force  is  recruited  by  Filipino  laborers,  I  think 
most  will  admit  that  the  Filipinos  do  not  now,  if  they  ever  will,  replace  the  Japanese 
in  efficiency.  They  are,  in  the  first  place,  not  physically  able  to  stand  the  work  and 
seem  to  lack  the  stamina  for  steady,  organized  labor.  The  only  solution  seems  to  be 
to  impress  upon  the  United  States  Congress  the  necessity  of  coming  to  our  aid  by 
repealing  the  Chinese  exclusion  act. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  objections  of  such  action,  mostly  coming  from  organized 
labor  in  the  States,  but  the  objections  do  not  apply  to  local  conditions  here.  This 
is  preeminently  an  agricultural  country,  employing  only  a  very  limited  proportion 
of  skilled  labor  and  the  danger  of  competition  against  such  skilled  labor  would  be 
negligible  for  a  good  many" years  to  come.  If  Congress  does  not  come  to  our  aid,  the 
day  will  come,  in  fact  is  A^ery  close,  when  the  plantations  will  have  to  reduce  their 
acreage  under  cultivation  for  lack  of  labor  to  work  the  fields,  with  the  result  of  throw- 
ing a  lot  of  skilled  and  semiskilled  men  out  of  employment,  and  the  loss  will  not  be 
the  loss  of  the  few  but  will  be  shared  by  the  community  at  large. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

A.  H alb ERG. 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  Hawaii, 

June  9,  1921. 
Director,  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  very  much  in  favor  of  the  efforts  being  made  by  the  labor  com- 
mission, now  in  Washington  from  these  islands,  to  obtain  the  admission  ,of  Chinese 
laborers  for  our  plantations. 

Being  an  employee  on  one  of  the  sugar  plantations  I  have  an  opportunity  to  see  at 
first  hand  what  a  slowing-down  effect  the  present  labor  shortage  is  having  on  the 
mill  and  agricultural  operations.  Unless  some  remedy  is  found  for  this  condition  it 
will  surely  mean  the  curtailment  of  production  and  the  operation  of  the  factory  on 
part  time,  resulting  in  unemployment  of  skilled  white  labor.  That  would  work  a 
hardship  on  those  men  here  who  have  had  a  special  training  for  the  work  they  are 
doing. 

For  the  past  eight  years  I  have  seen  the  Chinese  at  work  on  the  plantations  here, 
and  they  are  capable  and  willing  workers.     There  is  an  urgent  need  for  that  class  of 
workers,  and  they  should  be  allowed  to  come  to  these  islands. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

H.  W.  Bobbins. 


496  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Waipahu,  Hawaii,  June  9,  1921. 

To  the  Director,  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  The  labor  shortage  question  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  becoming  an 
acute  question.  The  quality  of  labor  required  here  principally  in  the  sugar  plan- 
tations is  not  available.  This  shortage  is  made  up  of  a  number  of  circumstances  that 
it  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate,  except,  on  one  point  which  is,  the  demand  is  far 
greater  than  the  supply.  In  this  case  the  supply  will  have  to  be  replenished  to  enable 
the  island  to  hold  its  own,  and  not  fall  under  a  financial  crisis,  which  would  mean 
ruin  to  agricultural  industries  of  the  islands,  which  has  taken  a  long  number  of  years 
to  build  up  to  the  standard  which  it  stands  at  the  present. 

I  sincerely  hope  that  some  aid  can  be  obtained  to  replenish  the  labor  supply  and  not 
endanger  the  welfare  of  skilled  employees  as  well  as  the  industry. 
Yours,  very  respectfully, 

Geo.  W.  McDougall.  Section  Overseer. 


Waipahu,  T.  H.,  Jvne  9,  1921. 

The  Director,  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 
Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Honolulu,  T.  H. 

Dear  Sir:  As  an  employee  on  a  sugar  plantation  I  have  become  convinced  that 
unless  the  acute  labor  shortage,  which  has  become  the  most  serious  problem  affecting 
the  sugar  industry  of  Hawaii,  is  alleviated  in  the  near  future,  the  most  serious  conse- 
quences may  ensue  which  may  cripple  the  whole  agricultural  business  and  prosperity 
of  these  islands. 

The  most  available  source  of  supply  of  e^fficient  and  suitable  labor  appears  to  be  the 
Orient,  and  this  being  so  I  wish  to  record  my  hearty  indorsement  of  the  action 
attempting  to  gain  permission  to  import  oriental  labor. 

Trusting  that  these  efforts  may  prove  successful. 
Yours,  truly, 

T.  G.  Walker. 


Honolulu,  June  7,  1921. 
W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman,  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  been  a  resident  of  these  islands  for  the  past  13  years,  and  have 
had  considerable  opportunity  of  observing  the  plantation  and  field  work  of  these 
islands. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  ordinary  field  work  of  the  sugar  plantations  and  pineapple 
fields  can  not  be,  and  never  will  be,  done  by  white  American  labor.  The  mechanical 
work  of  the  sugar  mills  and  pineapple  canneries  is,  and  always  will  be,  performed  by 
them,  but  the  purely  agricultural  work  of  the  fields  is  impossible  tor  them. 

Wholly  dependent  as  we  are  on  our  sugar  and  pineapple  industry  I  am  convinced 
that  our  only  salvation  from  the  present  dire  shortage  of  field  labor  is  the  importation 
of  oriental  laborers  (other  than  Japanese). 

For  our  protection,  and  that  they  may  be  contented,  I  would  suggest  that  provision 
be  made  for  the  returning  to  their  own  country  at  the  termination  of  their  contract, 
any  orientals  that  may  be  brought  here  to  work  in  the  fields. 

I  am  wholly  in  favor  of  the  measure  before  Congress  whereby  such  may  be  brought 

to  these  islands,  es'pecially  the  modification  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  act.    I  consider 

it  the  one  thing  needed  to  bring  back  a  measure  of  prosperity  to  these  islands,  and  that 

without  it  we  are,  and  shall  continue  to  be,  in  dire  straits  with  regard  to  our  field  labor. 

I  am  yours,  faithfully, 

E.  M.  Bull. 


Waipahu,  Hawaii,  June  10.  1921. 

The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Sir:  I  entirely  indorse  the  action  of  the  special  committee  sent  to  Washington,  D. 
C,  for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  show  Congress  the  entire  necessity  of  bringing  field 
laborers  to  these  islands. 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  497 

With  the  present  labor  shortage,  the  fields  will  fall  far  short  of  former  years  and 
■will,  in  fact,  have  to  leave  valuable  land  lie  idle  altogether. 

A  white  man  will  not  and  can  not  work  in  the  fields.  This  is  a  proven  fact,  hence, 
the  importation  of  Chinese  is  the  only  solution. 

Should  Congress  not  grant  the  permission  of  the  importation  of  laborers  from  the 
Orient,  the  islands  will  receive  a  severe  blow,  for  it  is  entirely  afi  agricultural  coun- 
try, and  everything  depends  upon  them,  and  with  the  present  lack  of  labor  it  will 
Ibe  impossible'to  make  the  plantations  pay,  and  further  more  result  in  a  general  suffer- 
ing, for,  the  plantations  are  owned  by  all.  Practically  every  man  and  woman  who 
lias  saved  a  few  dollars,  has  it  invested  in  sugar  and  pineapple  stock. 

If  these  two  industries  having  made  Hawaii  what  it  is,  should  fail,  through  lack  of 
labor,  a  sad  state  of  affairs  will  exist  in  Hawaii. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

RoBT.  Fricke. 


Honolulu,  June  10,  1921. 
Mr.  Walter  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission  from  Hawaii, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  As  a  resident  of  Hawaii  for  the  past  35  years  and  a  marine  engineer  on 
the  steamers  plying  between  the  islands,  I  have  been  in  a  position  to  observe  the 
labor  conditions  here  and  on  this  account  desire  to  express  my  views  to  you. 

White  labor,  as  you  know,  has  been  tried  on  the  sugar  plantations  at  various  times 
without  success,  this  labor  being  unable  to  withstand  the  climatic  conditions  here. 
There  is  at  present  a  very  acute  shortage  of  labor  in  the  islands  and  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  some  relief  be  obtained. 

The  present  financial  depression  here,  due  to  the  shortaje  of  unskilled  labor  causing 
great  loss  to  the  sugar  plantations  through  inability  to  take  off  crops,  is  reflected  in 
all  other  lines.  This  has  affected  me  in  my  capacity  of  marine  engineer  by  the  fact 
that  several  of  the  interisland  steamers  have  been  laid  up  through  the  inability  of  the 
plantations  to  harvest  crops  owing  to  shortage  of  labor,  thus  causing  the  crews  of  the 
vessels  to  be  out  of  employment. 

I  trust  that  your  commission  will  be  able  to  secure  some  relief  by  procuring  addi- 
tional unskilied  labor  for  our  main  industry,  upon  which  everything  in  the  islands 
depends. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  M.  Little,  Marine  Engineer. 


Waipahu,  June  9,  1921. 

The  Director,  Bureau  op  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  suppose  you  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  sugar  plantations  in  Hawaii 
are  in  need  of  more  labor;  that  the  cane  is  burning  up  in  the  fields  on  account  of  not 
enough  help  to  irrigate;  that  the  young  cane  is  being  choked  and  stunted  in  its  growth 
•with  weeds,  and  that  the  sugar  mills  are  only  turning  out  about  50  per  cent  of  their 
capacity.     Any  person  can  see  this  by  visiting  the  various  plantations. 

If  these  conditions  are  allowed  to  exist  much  longer,  a  number  of  the  weaker  plan- 
tations will  have  to  close  down,  thereby  throwing  a  number  of  skilled  men  out  of 
employment. 

It  seems  to  be  a  pity  that  after  all  the  years  of  struggle  to  build  up  an  industry,  it 
will  soon  be  destroyed  and  only  on  account  of  not  having  labor  to  carry  it  along. 
I  know  the  struggle  and  hardships  the  majority  of  the  plantations  had  to  endure  to 
l)uild  up  the  industry,  as  I  have  followed  plantation  life  in  a  mechanical  way  for 
25  years. 

Why  not  send  an  earnest  official  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  allow  the 
Territory  to  bring  labor  from  somewhere  to  save  the  industry.  Congress  knows  the 
"isolated  place  we  live  in,  and  it  also  knows,  or  should  know,  that  white  men  can  not 
be  brought  down  here  from  United  States  and  paid  wages  high  enough  so  they  can 
live  up  to  a  white  man's  standard  of  living,  in  competition  with  Cuba,  Porto  Rico, 
and  the  Philippines. 

I  feel  that  if  it  is  gone  about  in  the  right  way  that  Congrews  will  give  us  the  desired 
help  so  the  industry  can  be  carried  on. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

C.  H.  McNally. 

56754— 21— ser  7,  pt  1 19 


498  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Oahu  Sugar  Planters  Co., 

Waipahu,  Oahu,  June  9,  1921. 

The  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics,  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters. 

Gentlemen:  I  beg  the  liberty  on  presenting  before  you  this  petition  asking  of  you 
if  the  present  conditions  of  the  labor  question  could  not  be  improved  by  importing 
some  more  oriental  labor  into  the  islands,  as  this  is  the  most  suitable  class  for  field 
work  in  the  sugar  industry. 

The  company  with  which  I  am  employed  is  seriously  crippled  at  the  present  time, 
only  being  able  to  furnish  some  1,500  employees  as  compared  to  3,000,  the  required- 
amount. 

Very  slow  progress  is  being  made  on  our  harvesting  crop,  and  conditions  look  poor 
for  the  future  on  the  forthcoming  crops. 

If  aid  is  not  given  immediately  the  company  will  have  to  discard  one-third  of  the 
present  cultivated  land  to  meet  the  shortage  of  labor. 

Trusting  this  petition  may  meet  with  your  approval. 
Respectfully,  yours, 

J.  Tait,  Field  Overseer. 

Waipahu,  Oahu,  Hawaii,  June  9,  1921. 
The  Director  op  Bureau'  of  Labor, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  It  is  with  great  interest  I  have  read  about  your  efforts  to  obtain  per- 
mission to  import  laborers  for  the  cane  fields  in  Hawaii,  and  I  sincerely  hope  your 
efforts  ^vill  meet  with  success. 

I  have  for  more  than  12  years  been  working  for  various  plantations  in  Hawaii,  and 
I  can  not  see  any  objection  to  importing  sufficient  unskilled  laborers  to  take  care  of 
the  cane  fields.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  skilled  or  semiskilled  worker,  who  knows 
the  conditions  in  our  isolated  islands,  would  anything  but  welcome  imported  field 
hands,  essential  for  the  progress  and  welfare  of  the  islands  and  its  residents.  Hoping 
your  efforts  will  meet  with  success,  I  am, 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Hjalmar  Olstad. 


Waipahu,  Hawaii,  June  9,  1921. 

Director  op  the  Bureau  op  Labor  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  Something  should  be  done  and  done  quickly  in  regard  to  the  present 
labor  supply  on  the  plantations. 

As  things  stand  now  it  is  impossible  to  carry  on  the  work  properly.     There  are  not 

enough  men  to  take  the  crops  off  in  good  season  and  oftentimes  it  requires  taking  men 

from  1922  field  contracts  to  aid  in  the  cutting  fields,  thereby  setting  back  the  1922  crop. 

Any  one  here,  of  course,  knows  of  this  serious  shortage,  but  some  remedy  should  be- 

brought  into  practice  immediately. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  D.  Pratt. 


Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Waipahu,  June  10,  1921 . 

The  Director  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Bureau  op  Lauok  and  Statistics, 

Honolulu,  T.  H. 
Dear  Sir:  I  hereby  wish  to  express  my  opinion  in  regard  to  the  labor  situation  as  it  is 
in  Hawaii  at  the  present  time,  and  the  effect  the  shortage  which  exists  has  on  the 
sugar  industry. 

If  this  shortage  can  not  be  relieved  by  the  immigration  of  labor  from  the  Orient,  or 
elsewhere,  it  means  cutting  down  the  area  under  cultivation  at  the  present  time  to  a. 
large  extent,  and  reducing  the  export  from  these  islands  about  100,000  tons  of  sugar. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Arthur  C.  Betts,  Section  Luna. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  499 

Waipahu,  Oahu,  T.  II., 

June  10,  19f:.l. 
Co  the  Directors  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics: 

I  am  in  favor  of  importing  Chinese  laborers.  If  we  don't  have  more  laborers  soon 
it  Mill  mean  a  hard  hit  for  the  plantations.  i\s  a  matter  of  fact  the  plantations  have 
to  cut  down  their  output,  which  will  mean  a  reduction  in  the  sldlled  and  semiskilled 
abor,  which  \\\\\  effect  most  of  the  trades  outside  of  plantation  and  cripple  the  island 
ndustry, 

r.    J.  Olsen, 
Mechanic  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.). 


Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Waipahu,  June  10,  1921. 
The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  T.  H. 
Dear  Sir:  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  labor  shortage  in  the  Territory  of 
Bawaii  at  the  present  time  and  the  general  condition  amongst  the  sugar  plantations 
md  other  concerns  in  need  of  help.  The  only  thing,  in  my  opinion,  is  that  this  Terri- 
tory to  relieve  itself  from  present  conditions,  is  to  import  more  labor  suitable  to  the 
climate  and  conditions  in  Hawaii. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Andrew  A.  Buta,  Shipping  Clerh. 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  June  10,  1921. 
Honolulu  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu. 

Gentlemen  :  Have  noted  your  movement  through  a  labor  commission  in  Washington 
to  have  Congress  let  down  her  immigration  laws  by  allowing  30,000  Chinese  to  come 
into  Hawaii  as  agricultural  laborers  on  the  sugar  plantations.  I  for  one  heartily  indorse 
this  move,  and  think  if  it  is  put  up  to  the  powers  that  be  in  Washington  in  the  proper 
light  they  will  let  the  plantations  import  these  Chinese,  It  is  the  one  thing  that  will 
save  the  plantations  from  cutting  down  the  size  of  their  plantations,  thereby  allowing 
much  valuable  land  to  remain  idle. 

I  was  born  and  have  lived  practically  all  my  life  on  a  plantation  and  have  seen  all 
classes  of  labor  tried  out,  including  the  Portuguese,  Spaniards,  Poles,  Hindus,  Porto 
Rican  Negroes,  and  the  Filipinos,  and  they  have  all  been  found  wanting.  The  Japa- 
nese and  Chinese  have  been  the  only  ones  that  have  proven  a  success  when  it  comes 
to  production — the  unskilled  labor  that  is  necessary  on  a  sugar-cane  plantation. 

The  importing  of  Japanese,  I  think,  is  out  of  the  question  as  a  result  of  the  feeling 
that  has  been  growing  against  them  during  the  last  few  years  in  continental  LTnited 
States,  especially  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Therefore  it  is  the  Chinese  that  will  have  to 
be  worked,  for  they  are  the  only  remaining  source  of  unskilled  plantation  labor  that 
have  proven  a  success. 

The  future  of  the  country  also  can  be  taken  into  consideration,  especially  the 
Americanization  of  the  country.  The  Chinese  children  in  Hawaii  of  the  laboring 
families  have  proven  to  be  much  better  citizens  as  a  whole  than  any  of  the  other  classes 
of  laborers  that  have  been  brought  to  this  country.  Therefore  I  think  that  no  matter 
which  way  anyone  looks  at  the  proposition,  the  Chinese  are  the  people  that  will  be 
able  to  solve  our  labor  shortage  here  in  Hawaii,  where  the  situation  has  become  very 
serious  and  the  prosperity  of  the  islands  in  grave  danger  of  taking  a  long  fall  on  account 
of  this  labor  shortage.  Hoping  you  will  be  successful  in  mission  to  secure  these  Chinese 
laborers,  I  remain, 

Yours,  very  truly, 

Henry  B.  Dyson, 
Luna  Construction  Gang,  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.). 


500  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

June  10,  1921. 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Bureau  of  Labor,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Gentlemen:  I  wish  to  place  on  record  the  plantation  conditions  of  the  last  12 
months,  due  to  the  labor  shortage. 

All  department  heads  are  agreed  that  the  existing  shortage  of  unskilled  labor  is  so 
seriously  affecting  the  sugar  industry  of  Hawaii  that  an  appeal  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment at  Washington  to  sanction  the  importation  in  sufficient  numbers  of  unskilled 
labor  to  work  in  the  fields  is  the  only  protection  for  Hawaii's  main  industry. 

The  plantations  are  finding  it  increasingly  more  difficult  to  take  care  of  the  much 
delayed  1921  crop. 

Unfortunately,  the  1922-23  crop  has  already  felt  the  delayed  planting  and  want  of 
attention  so  necessary  to  young  cane.  It  is  difficult  to  know  just  what  will  be  the 
results  of  the  near  succeeding-crops. 

There  is  an  opportunity  here  in  Hawaii  to  give  employment  to  great  numbers  of 
unskilled  laborers,  semiskilled,  and  skilled  men,  which  will  help  a  situation  not  of 
local  but  national  importance. 
Yours,  very  respectfully, 

F.    C.    COWELL, 

Pump  Engineer,  Oohu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.). 


Waipahu,  Oahu,   June  10,  1921. 
Bureau  or  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Honolulu  Sugar  Planters^  Association,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Gentlemen:  Oriental  labor  is  essential  for  the  agricultural  pursuits  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands. 

I  have  been  a  resident  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  the  past  15  years  and  have  resided 
on  the  four  principal  islands  of  the  group,  and  it  is  very  visible — the  scarcity  of  labor- 
as  large  tracts  of  land  which  were  formerly  produf^tive  are  now  lying  fallow. 

Apparently  Europeans  do  not  take  kindly  to  thfc  labor  required  of  them  in  the  rice, 
cane,  and  pineapple  fields,  and  they  gradually  drift  to  Honolulu  and  the  mainland. 
Respectfully, 

Wm.  Lennox. 


Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Waipahu,  June  10,  1921 . 
The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

iJfiAR  Sir:  Having  been  connected  with  the  sugar  plantations  for  the  last  five 
years,  and  noting  the  growing  shortage  of  labor  from  year  to  year,  I  realize  that  tJie 
only  salvation  for  this  industry  in  these  islands  is  the  importation  of  suitable  labor 
in  such  numbers  as  will  keep  the  production  of  sugar  up  to  the  high  standing  it  has 
enjoyed  in  former  years. 
Respectfully,  yours, 

A.  A.  Whelan, 
Warehouseman,  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  {Ltd.). 


Waipahu,  Oahu,  Hawaii,  June  10,  1921. 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Bureau  of  Labor,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Gentlemen  :  We  have  long  ago  suffered  in  Hawaii  by  the  shortage  of  labor.  During 
the  last  10  months,  however,  the  situation  has  grown  worse — it  is  intolerable.  Since 
the  strike  we  have  at  no  time  been  able  to  fi.nd  a  sufficient  number  of  men  to  take 
care  of  the  plantation's  needs. 

The  Hawaiian  main  industry  is  unable  to  cope  with  the  situation;  cultures  suffer 
greatly.  We  are  unable  to  take  off  the  sugar  crop  of  the  year,  and  we  find  it  impos- 
sible to  take  care  of  the  coming  crops.  There  is  work  here,  plenty.  We  could  in 
Hawaii  accommodate  thousands  and  thousands  of  laborers.  We  are  badly  in  need 
of  these  men.  The  prosperity  of  the  country  is  at  stake.  Hawaii  without  its  sugar 
industry  is  unable  to  subsist.  It  is  up  to  the  Federal  Government  to  see  that  we  get 
here  the  necessary  number  of  men  to  accomplish  the  daily  work.     By  amending  a 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AIL  501 

law  interdicting  the  importation  of  (  hinefe  laborers  we  could  easily  remedy  this 
intolerable  situation.  We  are  badly  in  need  of  men  and  the  (  hinese  themselves  are 
starving  in  their  own  land. 

Not  only  in  the  fields  have  we  been  feeling  the  gravity  of  the  shortage  of  labor. 

In  the  mill  and  pump  departments  as  well  as  in  the  hospital  we  have  been  con- 
stantly short  of  men.     It  is  high  time  that  a  solution  to  this  problem  be  found. 

The  American  citizens  of  Plawaii,  knowing  that  Hawaii's  future  depends  upon  the 
plantations,  wish  to  see  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  our  country,  solve  this 
problem  for  the  best  of  the  land. 

R.  J.  Mermod, 
Physician,  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  {Ltd.). 


Honolulu,  T.  H.,   June  IS,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Territory  of  Haivaii, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  May  I  be  allowed  to  express  to  you  some  of  my  views  upon  the  labor 
situation  here,  pertaining  particularly  to  the  resolution  passed  by  the  last  legislature 
in  which  they  petitioned  Congress  for  permission  to  bring  into  this  Territory  from  the 
Orient  laborers  for  agricultural  work  and  house  servants? 

I  am  an  American  citizen,  born  in  the  State  of  Washington  in  1874.  My  father  was 
born  in  the  State  of  Maine  and  was  an  officer  in  the  Federal  Army  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  my  grandfather  fought  in  the  War  of  1812.  My  mother  was  born  in  Glasgow, 
Scotland,  her  ancestor,  being  Scotch  and  English.  Up  to  1897,  when  I  came  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  I  lived  on  the  Pacific  coast,  was  a  member  of  the  class  of  '91  of  the 
Oakland  High  School  and  of  the  class  of  '96,  Stanford  University. 

Since  my  arrival  in  the  islands  in  March,  1897,  I  have  been  constantly  engaged  in 
the  general  contracting  business,  with  the  exception  of  about  three  and  one-half 
years,  from  1912  to  1916,  during  which  time  I  was  engineer  for  the  city  and  county  of 
Honolulu.  During  my  first  four  years  of  contracting  in  the  islands  I  was  working  with 
partners;  subsequently,  in  business  for  myself.  About  90  per  cent  of  the  contracts  I 
ha^e  undertaken  and  carried  out  have  been  for  the  construction  of  railroads  and 
public  works.  Up  to  and  including  1904,  available  labor  of  any  nationality  could  be 
used  upon  public  works,  but  from  that  date  only  citizen  labor  or  those  eligible  to 
become  citizens  could  be  employed  on  or  about  Territorial  or  municipal  county 
work. 

During  the  period  from  1897  to  1902  I  was  engaged  extensively  in  railroad  and  wagon 
road  construction  on  Oahu  and  Hawaii,  having  constantly  under  my  direct  charge 
during  that  time  in  the  neighborhood  of  500  laborers.  Speaking  approximately,  I 
should  say  that  as  to  nationality  these  laborers  were  divided  about  as  follows:  60  per 
cent  Japanese,  30  per  cent  Chinese,  5  per  cent  Hawaiians,  and  the  balance  a  constantly 
changing  nondescript  gang  in  which  most  any  nationality  could  be  found.  During 
1904,  when  the  law  regarding  citizen  labor  went  into  effect,  I  tried  gangs  of  various 
nationalities  on  road  work,  including  Italians,  Russians,  Porto  Ricans,  Portuguese, 
and  Americans,  none  of  whom,  however,  took  to  pick  and  shovel  work  with  any 
degree  of  enthusiasm,  and  would  only  do  this  class  of  work  when  there  was  absolutely 
nothing  else  in  view. 

From  1904  to  date  the  trend  in  contracting  work  has  been  to  use  machinery  as  much 
as  possible  in  order  to  eliminate  common  labor  on  account  of  its  scarcity  and  unreli- 
ability, thus  building  an  organization  consisting  of  practically  100  per  cent  skilled 
labor. 

The  location  of  most  of  the  contracting  work  on  which  I  have  been  engaged  during 
the  past  20  years  has  been  in  the  plantation  districts,  and  I  am  as  intimately  acquainted 
with  labor  problems  in  the  agricultural  districts  as  I  am  with  those  on  my  own  work. 

By  using  modern  machinery  wherever  possible,  the  management  of  sugar  and  pine- 
apple plantations  has  effected  a  considerable  economic  saving  by  greatly  reducing 
the  number  of  men  necessary  to  cultivate  and  take  off  their  crops;  but  in  conducting 
their  operations  there  will  a!(ways  be  required  a  large  number  of  common  laborers  to 
do  handwork  that  can  not  now  be  done  hy  machinery,  nor  is  it  probable  that  this 
work  ever  will  be  done  by  machinery.  The  ideal  laborer  for  this  situation  is  one  who 
is  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  idea  tliat  his  mission  on  this  earth  is  to  wield  a  hoe  and 
a  cane  knife  and  cultivate  the  soil.  Considering  that  his  work  is  to  be  done  in  the 
direct  rays  of  a  Tropic  sun,  this  ideal  laborer  probably  does  not  exist,  but  his  closest 
counterpart  is  to  be  found  in  the  native  of  the  agricultural  districts  of  China.    This 


502  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

is  my  emphatic  opinion  arrived  at  after  years  of  handling  and  observing  the  labor  on 
these  islands.  The  natives  of  Japan,  Korea,  Philippines,  Straits  Settlements,  and 
India  can  do  the  work,  but  none  will  do  it  in  the  satisfactory  manner  of  the  Chinese. 
The  Chinese  are  not  strenuous  nor  erratic  workers,  but  they  are  as  reliable  as  a  machine 
inasmuch  as  they  do  exactly  the  same  amount  of  work  every  day. 

In  my  opinion  the  plantations  have  made  a  deplorable  mistake  in  the  past  in  try- 
ing to  make  skilled  labor  out  of  common  agricultural  labor.  They  have  taken  a  man 
well  versed  in  the  use  of  the  hoe  and  cane  knife  and  have  taught  him  enough  to  make 
him  a  mediocre  mechanic,  to  the  detriment  of  the  skilled  labor  and  mechanics  in  the 
community.  The  majority  of  the  oriental  mechanics  now  in  the  islands  came  here 
as  contract  laborers  for  the  plantations  years  ago.  In  the  future,  laborers  who  are 
brought  to  the  islands  should  be  allowed  to  do  nothing  but  labor  or  act  as  house- 
servants;  under  no  circumstances  should  they  be  allowed  to  act  as  even  semiskilled 
labor.  At  least  90  per  cent  of  the  wealth  of  this  community  is  derived  from  the  soil, 
and  outside  of  the  activities  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Departments  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment practically  all  the  people — the  merchants,  the  professional  men,  the  skilled  and 
unskilled  labor,  and  the  mechanics — ^owe  their  incomes  indirectly  to  the  produce  of  the 
soil.  It  is  glaringly  apparent  to  the  most  casual  observer  that  should  the  soil  fail  to 
produce  its  annual  crops  the  total  income  of  the  community  would  shrink  to  near  the 
vanishing  point  and  everybody  would  be  forced  to  subsist  upon  what  they  would 
receive  for  services  rendered  the  Federal  Government  and  the  tourists.  The  only 
manner  in  which  such  a  calamity  could  befall  this  community  would  be  by  taking 
away  the  labor  from  the  fields.  In  other  words,  should  we  be  unable  to  fill  our  require- 
ments for  agricultural  labor  the  big  majority  of  us  would  be  unable  to  make  a  living 
here  and  consequently  would  have  to  move  to  pastures  new.  It  is  the  height  of 
absurdity  to  expect  white  men  from  the  northern  climes  to  labor  in  the  fields  of  the 
Tropics.  This  has  been  proven  times  without  number.  It  is  not  because  they  can 
not  but  because  they  will  not;  such  a  life  offers  no  attractions  to  them  but  is  abso- 
lutely abhorrent.  It  naturally  follows  that  our  common  agricultural  labor  must 
come  from  the  Tropics.  That  being  the  caoe,  we  should  get  the  labor  which  will 
give  the  most  all-around  satisfaction.  That  labor,  a  large  majority  of  us  consider, 
should  come  from  China. 

I  wish  to  reiterate  that  I  am  most  heartily  in  favor  of  the  resolution  passed  by  the 
last  legislature  calHng  upon  Congress  to  allow  us  to  import  oriental  labor  for  house- 
hold servants  and  agricultural  pursuits  only.  Of  course,  provision  should  be  made  to 
compel  the  return  of  these  laborers  from  whence  they  came  when  for  any  reason  they 
failed  to  do  the  work  for  which  they  were  engaged. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

L.  M.  Whitehouse. 

Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921 
Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  sincerely  hope  that  you  will  succeed  in  impressing  on  Congress  the 
pressing  need  oi  our  plantations  for  labor  and  that  your  request  for  25,000  Chinese 
laborers  for  the  island  be  granted. 

I  might  say  sugar  is  the  principal — the  only — product  of  our  island.  Without  it 
the  commercial  life  of  the  Territory  would  die.  To  raise  it  we  must  have  labor, 
which  we  have  not  got  at  the  present  time.  White  men  can  not  cut  and  load  cane 
under  a  tropical  sun.  It  has  been  tried  and  failed.  And  again — without  any  preju- 
dice— alien  nationals  that  can  not  and  will  not  assimilate  or  become  Americans 
shouid  not  control  the  industrial  and  agricultural  business  of  an  American  Territory. 

I  am  a  working  carpenter;  have  resided  here  for  39  years.     I  believe  that  in  bring- 
ing Chinese  labor  here  it  will  help  out  every  interest  in  the  Territory. 
Yoilrs,  truly, 

Jacintho  Costa. 


Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  been  a  resident  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  for  the  past  50  years 
and  was  born  and  raised  on  a  sugar  plantation  of  which  my  father  was  part  owner 
and  manager,  so  therefore  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  plantation  life  and  work. 
I  am  a  mechanic  by  trade,  and  as  such  have  mingled  with  all  classes  of  skilled  and 
unskilled  labor  and  during  the  past  20  years  have  had  a  great  many  under  my  control. 
I  know  and  am  fully  convinced  that  Americans  will  not  work  under  any  circum- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  503 

stances  in  the  cane  fields.  It  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  principally  by 
Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Koreans,  and  some  Portuguese  who  generally  did  the 
more  skilled  work  in  the  fields.  It  is  necessary,  and  I  urgently  request  you  to  do 
all  in  your  power  that  laborers  be  brought  to  these  islands,  as  the  work  for  skilled 
mechanics  depends  entirely  on  the  prosperity  of  the  sugar  and  pineajjple  industries 
of  this  country. 

On  the  following  condition  I  ara  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  last  session  of 
our  legislature  asking  Congress  to  allow  the  importation  of  labore  s  providing  that 
they  be  restricted  solely  to  agricultural  field  work  and  domestic  servants,  and 
should  be  deported  when  they  (an  no  longer  do  the  work  for  ^;hich  they  were 
brought  here. 

Wishing  the  commission  success  in  their  undertaking,  believe  me  to  be 
Very  respectfully,  yours. 

Henry  C.  Vida. 


Honolulu,  June  13,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C: 

I  am  a  resident  of  Territory  for  38  years.     My  occupation  is  plant  superintendent 
for  the  Hawaiian  Dredging  Co.     Portuguese  descent,  citizen  of  United  States. 

In  agreement  with  bill  passed  by  last  legislature  to  allow  the  importation  of  oriental 
laborers.  Experience  has  taught  me  that  the  oriental  labor  is  one  class  of  labor  which 
can  stand  up  under  the  work  required  in  plantation  fields.  Believe  these  laborers 
should  be  employed  only  on  plantation  work  and  should  not  be  allowed  to  own  real 
estate.  They  should  be  deported  to  their  mother  country  when  they  refuse  to  work 
in  the  field.  General  prosperity  of  the  Territory  depends  upon  the  ability  of  the 
plantation  to  secure  sufficient  labor. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

Manuel  Costa, 
1933  South  King  Street,  Honolulu. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  10,  1921. 
W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  Being  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  by  birth,  and  constantly  con- 
nected with  the  supervision  and  construction  of  buildings  for  more  than  20  years, 
and  as  you  know  a  resident  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  the  major  portion  of  the  time 
during  the  past  two  years,  a  portion  of  which  was  in  supervising  the  construction 
of  the  largest  pineapple  cannery  and  plantation  construction  work  in  connection 
therewith,  on  the  island  of  Maui;  and  knowing  the  deplorable  labor  condition  exist- 
ing in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  at  this  time,  not  alone  on  the  sugar  and  pineapple  plan- 
tations but  in  mechanical  lines  as  well,  I  trust  that  my  views  and  opinions  may  be 
of|some  assistance  to  the  committee  from  Hawaii,  now  in  Washington,  D.  C,  con- 
ferring on  this  subject. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  sugar  and  pineapple  is  the  principal  industry  here, 
all  others  depending  on  the  maintenance  and  advancement  of  these  two  industries. 
The  present  situation  in  the  cane  fields  (without  apparent  relief)  is  such  that  a  shortage 
of  30  per  cent  of  labor  to  harvest  the  present  sugar  crop  prevails,  with  e^'ery  indication 
of  conditions  becoming  worse. 

This  means  a  loss  of  30  per  cent  or  more  of  the  sugar  crop  this  year  if  the  present 
condition  is  not  reversed. 

Since  citizen  or  local  oriental  labor  is  not  available  in  adequate  numbers  to  meet 
the  required  demand,  unless  it  be  made  compulsory  upon  any  or  all  of  the  present 
population  to  work  at  a  specific  kind  of  work,  and  since  the  orientals  having  proved 
the  most  adaptable  of  any  for  sugar  plantation  work,  I  concur  in  the  resolution  passed 
by  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii,  the  senate  concurring,  relative  to  the  importation  of 
laborers  to  work  at  cultivating  and  harvesting  sugar  cane. 

Trusting  that  relief  may  be  forthcoming  at  a  very  early  date  to  relieve  the  present 
condition  and  thereby  preserve  as  large  a  percentage  of  the  present  sugar  crop  as 
possible. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

John  L.  Cliff. 


504  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  13, 1921. 
Walt*er  F.  Dillingham, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  As  to  the  itriportation  of  Chinese  laborers  would  say  that  in  my  opinion' 
it  would  be  all  right  were  they  restricted  to  work  on  the  different  plantations  and  for 
domestic  purposes. 

I  am  a  resident  of  these  islands  for  the  last  28  years  and  in  that  time  have  been  con- 
nected, more  less,  with  the  labor  interests  of  the  islands  as  engineer  and  mechanic  for 
the  last  six  years. 

It  is  evident  that  it  would  work  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  skilled  labor  if  there  were- 
more  common  laborers,  for  that  would  call  for  increased  products  of  manufacturers. 
The  lack  of  the  general  improvement  of  the  islands  is  due  to  the  lack  of  sufficient 
laborers,  as  on  them,  in  a  large  measure,  depends  the  prosperity  of  these  islands  and 
the  continued  employment  of  skilled  artisans. 

Should  g'uch  contemplated  action  prove  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  islands, 
after  having  had  these  Chinese  employed  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  legislation  could 
be  enacted  wherewith  they  could  be  returned  to  their  own  country. 

At  the  most,  as  I  see  it,  it  is  but  an  untried  Experiment  with  no  great  loss  attending, 
even  shduld  it  prove  a  failure  at  the  end ;  at  the  least  it  certainjfy  would  be  an  advantage 
at  the  present  time,  when  there  is  such  a  dearth  of  unskilled  labor  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  plantations,  to  import  these  Chinese  laborers. 

Respectfully,  sublnitted. 

Olando  K.  Auld. 

Kawailoa,  Waidlua,  Oahu,  Hawaiian  Islands, 

June  9,  1921, 
Hawaiian  Labor  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen:  With  reference  to  the  labor  situation  on  the  Kawailoa  division  of  the 
plantation,  I  would  say  that  the  shortage  of  labor  is  the  worst  I  have  known  during 
my  stay  of  20  years  on  this  plantation. 

In  the  production  of  sugar  we  are  three  months  behind  Nounde;  no  plowing  has  been 
done  on  this  division  (4,100  acres)  for  14  months.     Owing  to  shortage  and  inefficient 
class  of  labor  we  have  at  present,  large  areas  will  have  to  be  abandoned  during  the 
next  five  months. 
Yours,  truly, 

Wm.  Harjoham, 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  27,  192U 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  We  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiiaji  Islands  for  over  30  years  and  are  saddlers 
by  trade.  We  have  worked  at  our  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the 
work  on  the  plantations.  We  are  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane 
fields  and  that  it  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans, 
and  some  Portuguese,  who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants.  They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer 
do  the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

We  are  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Con- 
gress to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Ver\^  truly , 

Fred  Philp. 

MORLEY    PhII:P. 

_  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  27,  1921. 

Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir  :  I  am  a  native  of  these  islands  and  a  seamstress  by  trade.  I  have  worked  at 
my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on  the  plantations.  I  am  sure 
that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work  that  has  always 
been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and  some  Portuguese  who  generally  did  the 
more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  505 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the' propsperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to  own 
or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house  servants. 
They  should  be  retiu-ned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work 
for  whicti  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly,, 

Mary  Han  an. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  27,  1921. 
IVIr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  27  years  and  am  a  druggist 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations.  I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and 
that  it  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and  some 
Portuguese,  who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants.  They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer 
do  the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislatiu'e  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

H.  L.  Shaw, 
Leonard  Hold. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  27,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  35  years  and  am  a  sailmaker 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations.  I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and 
that  it  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and  some 
Portuguese  who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants.  They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer 
do  the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Very  truly, 

James  Vieria,  Sailmaker. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  27,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  11  years  and  am  a  seamstress 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations.  I  am  sure  that  white  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields 
and  that  it  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and 
some  Portuguese,  who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields.  ^ 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  Hne  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to" work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 


506  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

servants.     They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer 
do  the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Very  truly, 

Mary  Abrue. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,   June  10,  19''U. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  B.C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  29  years  and  am  a  blacksmith 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations.  I  am  sure  that  A^mericans  will  not  ,vork  in  the  cane  fields  and  that 
it  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and  some  Portu- 
guese who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to  own 
or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work,  and  as  house  servants. 
They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do  the  work 
for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

Louis  Kamaka. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  10,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,   Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  44  years,  and  am  a  machinist 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
on  the  plantations.  I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and 
that  it  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and  some 
Portuguese,  who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house 
servants.  They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer 
do  the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

Paul  C.   Brede. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  6,  1921, 
Mr.  Walter  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  I  sincerely  hoi)e  that  you  will  succeed  in  impressing  on  Congress  the 
pressing  need  of  our  plantations  for  labor  and  that  your  request  for  25,000  Chinese 
laborers  for  the  islands  be  granted. 

I  might  say  sugar  is  the  principal,  the  only  product  of  our  islands.  Without  it 
the  commercial  life  of  the  Territory  would  die.  To  raise  it  we  must  have  labor,  which 
we  have  not  got  at  the  present  time.  White  men  can  not  cut  and  load  cane  under  a 
tropical  sun;  it  has  been  tried  and  failed. 

And,  again,  without  any  prejudice,  alien  nationals  that  can  not  and  will  not  assimi- 
late or  become  Americans  should  not  control  the  industrial  and  agricultural  business 
of  an  American  Territory. 

I  am  a  working  mechanic;  have  resided  here  for  30  years.     I  believe  that  in  bringing 
Chinese  labor  here  it  will  help  out  every  interest  in  the  Territory. 
Yours,  truly, 

Harry  J.  Auld. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  507 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  10,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  lived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  22  years  and  am  a  boilermaker 
by  trade.  I  have  worked  at  my  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work 
•on  the  plantations.  I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that 
it  is  work  that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and  some  Portu- 
guese, who  generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  work  and  as  house  ser- 
vants. They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer  do 
the  work  for  which  they  were  brotight  here. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress  to 
allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

A.    FlEGE, 

Boilermakers   Union. 


Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  27,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Dillingham, 

Chairman  Labor  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  We  were  born  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  are  hatters  by  trade.  We 
have  worked  at  our  trade  in  the  islands  and  know  something  of  the  work  on  the  plan- 
tations. I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  the  cane  fields  and  that  it  is  work 
that  has  always  been  done  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans,  and  some  Portuguese  who 
generally  did  the  more  skilled  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  necessary  that  labor  be  brought  to  the  islands,  for  skilled  mechanics  in  almost 
every  line  depend  on  the  prosperity  of  the  pineapple  and  sugar  plantations. 

Laborers  brought  to  the  islands  should  not  be  allowed  to  work  at  any  trade  or  to 
•own  or  be  employed  in  any  business  except  agricultural  field  woYk  and  as  house 
servants.  They  should  be  returned  to  their  own  country  when  they  can  no  longer 
do  the  work  for  which  they  were  brought  here. 

We  are  in  favor  of  the  bill  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  Territory  asking  Congress 
to  allow  laborers  to  be  brought  here  for  plantation  work. 
Yours,  truly, 

Daniel  Joseph, 

124  Berttania  Street. 
M.  Enos  Medusos,  Jr. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  June  27,  1921. 
Mr.  John  Nolan, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C. 

My  Dear  Nolan:  I  am  sure  you  will  remember  me  as  a  machinist  toolmaker  who 
was  in  the  employ  of  the  Honolulu  Iron  Works  when  you  were  employed  by  the 
same  firm.     I  remember  you  well  and  pleasantly. 

I  have  been  located  here  for  25  years. 

I  am  writing  you  because  I  saw  in  the  local  newspaper  that  you  were  opposing 
an  effort  the  people  of  Hawaii  are  making  to  import  field  labor. 

I  wish  you  were  back  here  again  to  see  conditions  at  first-hand  and  to  see  the  nec- 
essity for  this  labor  and  to  note  that  it  is  by  the  field  work  of  this  class  of  labor  that 
we  mechanics  prosper. 

It  is  a  class  of  work  that  does  not  in  any  way  conflict  with  the  white  man  or  mechanic 
and  which  in  this  climate  no  white  man  can  do. 

You  are  quoted  as  referring  to  Mr.  Tyson  as  your  authority.  I  know  Mr.  Tyson 
only  by  reputation  and  am  disappointed  to  find  that  he  can  be  so  blind  as  to  advise 
you  against  supporting  the  assistance  these  islands  need  and  are  asking  of  you. 

1  shall  be  pleased  to  have  you  ask  me  any  questions  or  do  you  any  service  that 
will  guide  you,   but  do  not  oppose  this  measure  on  the  grounds  of  its    hurting 
skilled  labor  of  any  kind. 
Very  sincerely, 

Fred  B.  West. 


508  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII, 

Appendix  II. 

STATEMENTS  OF  PLANTATION  OWNERS,  OPERATORS,  AND  MANAGERS,  WITH  REFERENCE: 
TO  THE  LABOR  CONDITION  AND  SHORTAGE  EXISTING  IN  THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAir 
AND  WITH  REFERENCE  TO  THE  PROBABLE  FINANCIAL  LOSS  AND  OTHER  RESULTS 
LIKELY  TO   BE    OCCASIONED   BY  THAT   SHORTAGE. 

Kealakekua,  Kona,  Hawaii,  April  28,  1921, 
Messrs.  Hind,  Rolph  &  Co., 

Honolulu. 

Dear  Sirs:  We  beg  to  acknowlegde  receipt  of  your  letter  of  April  23,  advising  us 
that  a  commission  has  been  appointed  by  the  present  legislature  to  go  to  Washington 
and  endeavor  to  interest  Congress  in  securing  permission  to  import  into  Hawaiii 
laborers  to  relieve  the  present  situation. 

We  thank  you  for  the  advice,  and  are  certainly  most  heartily  in  accord  with  the 
action  of  the  legislature* in  thus  bringing  the  matter  so  strongly  before  Congress;  and 
trust  that  this  commission  will  be  successful  in  so  interesting  Congress  in  this  matter 
so  vital  to  all  interests  in  the  islands,  be  they  large  or  small,  that  the  necessary  per- 
mission will  be  secured. 

We  realize  that  in  many  of  the  other  districts  the  numerical  shortage  of  laborers  is 
greater  than  here  in  Kona,  ut  even  here  one  of  the  most  crying  needs  is  for  more 
laborers,  both  to  handle  and  save  the  present  crops,  which  often  sustain  considerable 
loss  owning  to  this  shortage  (crops  of  coffee  and  sugar),  as  well  as  to  cultivate  the  acre- 
age at  present  available  but  not  under  cultivation  owing  to  lack  of  laborers.  The 
cattle  ranches  in  our  districts  are  also  handicapped  in  the  same  way,  and  the  great  cry 
throughout  the  industries  is  for  more  laborers. 

We  trust  that  you  will  take  the  matter  up  with  the  commission,  and  advise  them 
that  we  here  in  these  districts  are  so  short  of  laborers  that  it  has  become  an  extremely 
serious  matter  to  us.  Kindly  give  them  the  data  as  shown  in  this  letter,  which  figures 
are  as  nearly  as  we  can  approximate,  for  our  districts  of  North  and  South  Kona: 

Acres  under  cultivation 4,  000 

Acres  wild  coffee 1,  000 

Acres  uncultivated  accoujnt  lack  of  labor « 2,  000 

Class  of  labor  used,  80  per  cent  Japanese;  20  per  cent  others. 

Number  of  laborers  employed  (not  including  owners  of  farms  or  leases) 500' 

Shortage  of  laborers  on  present  cultivated  areas 500 

How  many  more  laborers  needed  for  proper  carrying  on  of  the  industry 1,  000 

Territorial  taxes  paid  by  industry  in  1919  and  1920 |35,  000-|40,  000 

Wages  paid  laborers  prior  to  war  (coffee  picking),  75  cents  per  bag. 

Wages  plaid  laborers  during  war  (coffee  picking),  $1.50  and  $1.75  per  bag. 

The  figures  as  above  given  only  apply  to  the  coffee  industry  and  do  not  cover  the' 
sugar-cane  growing  or  other  industries. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  busy  coffee  harvesting  season  the  growers  or  farmers^ 
found  it  necessary,  in  order  to  save  crops,  to  pay  an  increased  price  for  labor.  This 
resulted  in  their  getting  a  greater  number  of  coffee  pickers,  drawing  them  away 
temporarily  from  other  industries,  in  many  instances  greatly  crippling  these  other 
industries,  and  still  leaving  a  large  number  of  laborers  short  to  handle  the  crops,  thus 
bringing  about  a  partial  crop  loss  as  well  as  the  financial  loss  occasioned  both  by  loss 
of  crop  and  exorbitant  price  for  laborers  to  handle  the  part  harvested. 

The  coffee-industry  situation  is  at  the  present  time  at  a  very  critical  stage,  owing 
largely  to  this  shortage  of  laborers,  and  the  resultarit  discouragement  to  the  growers 
or  farmers  in  being  unable  to  handle  their  crops  without  exorbitant  expenditure, 
this  shortage  alsb  acting  as  a  prohibition  against  the  cultivation  of  new  areas  at  present 
available. 

Again  thanking  you  for  the  notice  of  the  appointment  of  the  commission  and 
trusting  that  they  may  be  able  to  so  place  conditions  before  Congress  that  they  may 
see  how  serious  the  matter  is  to  all  interested  in  the  islands,  we  are, 
Very  truly,  yours, 

Capt.  Cook  Coffee  Co.  (Ltd.) 
Per  Wm.  D.  McKillop,  Bookkeeper. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  509 

HuEHUE,  Kailua,  Hawaii,  April  £9,  1921. 
Mr.  John  K.  Clarke, 

Honolulu,  Havmii. 

My  Deak  Johv:  T  recewed  your  letter  of  the  23d  instant  and  the  following  are  a 
few  facts  concerning  the  labor  problem  on  the  cattle  ranches  in  this  district: 

During  the  coffee  season,  which  lasts  four  or  five  months  of  the  year,  it  is  nearly 
impossible  to  have  anything  done  on  the  ranches  in  the  way  of  fencing,  clearing  land, 
or  otherwise  improving  conditions  whatever. 

The  ranchers  are  solely  dependent  on  labor  from  men  who  own  a  few  acres  of  coffee 
trees,  and  the  consequences  are  that  when  the  coffee  is  ripe  they  naturally  leave  the 
ranch  to  harvest  their  coffee. 

^  If  more  labor  was  available  bigger  crops  of  coffee  could  be  obtained,  as  a  considerable 
amoimt  of  coffee  falls  to  the  ground  and  is  lost,  owing  to  the  coffee  growers  being 
unable  to  obtain  labor  when  the  crop  is  ripe. 

During  the  off  season  of  the  coffee  a  considerable  amount  of  the  labor  would  be  used 
by  the  ranchers  in  clearing  pasture  land,  which  I  regret  to  say  is  very  much  over- 
grown with  Ian  tana,  guava,  etc.,  for  no  other  reason  than  the  want  of  labor. 

The  foregoing  you  can  either  condense  or  lengthen  as  you  think  fit,  as  I  believe  you 
can  gather  fi'om  it  the  necessary  data  you  desire. 
With  kind  regards,  believe  me,  yours,  aye, 

John  Lind. 


INFORMATION    WITH    REGARD    TO    COFFEE    INDUSTRY, 

Acres  under  cultivation,  approximately  4,000. 

Acres  wild  coffee,  approximately  1.000. 

Acres  uncultivated  account  lack  of  labor,  approximately  2.000. 

Class  labor  used,  Japanese  80  per  cent,  all  other  nationahties,  20  per  cent. 

Number  laborers  employed,  500. 

Shortage  of  laborers  on  present  cultivated  areas,  500. 

How  many  more  laborers  needed  for  proper  carrying  on  of  industry,  1,000. 

Federal  taxes  paid  bv  industrv,  1919-20,  figures  not  available  locally. 

Territorial  taxes  paid  by  industry.  1919.  $35,000:  1920,  $40,000. 

General  conditions  of  the  industry  at  the  present  time: 

At  the  present  time,  the  coffee  industry  throughout  both  Konas  is  not  yielding  the 
returns  it  rightfully  should.  Lack  of  labor  to  properly  maintain  the  industry  is  the 
principal  cause  of  this  condition,  and  unless  outside  labor  can  be  brought  in,  con- 
ditions will  not  improve,  but  will  become  even  worse. 

As  above  stated,  no  expected  improvement  can  be  looked  for  unless  outside  labor  is 
supplied,  and  it  may  be  said  that  areas  now  uncultivated,  will,  if  not  looked  after  in 
the  very  near  future,  go  back  to  their  \'irgin  state,  and  thereby  all  the  time,  effort, 
and  money  expended  in  clearing,  planting,  and  bringing  the  soil  to  a  profitable  state, 
will  have  been  for  naught. 

To  anyone  acquainted  with  soil  conditions  in  Kona,  it  is  easily  understood,  that 
to  bring  the  coffee  industry  from  its  inception  up  to  its  present  state,  cost  much  time, 
energy,  and  money,  in  the  way  of  advances,  both  cash  and  the  necessities  of  Hfe, 
to  carry  the  planter  along  until  such  time  as  he  had  brought  his  acrage  under  culti- 
vation, up  to  a  state  of  profit  }delding  return,  and  to  allow  the  industry  to  lapse  for 
want  of  sufficient  help  to  properly  look  after  the  land  seems  unfair,  both  to  the  farmer 
as  well  as  to  those  maldng  the  industry  possible. 

It  might  be  of  interest  to  mention  that  from  time  to  time  a  coffee  tree  is  planted; 
four  years  must  elapse  before  the  coffee  produced  will  be  sufiicient  to  yield  a  profit 
to  the  farmer  (under  present  price),  and  when  this  fact  is  understood  the  total  amount 
of  money  and  foodstuffs  advanced,  may  be  well  imagined. 

From  figures  heretofore  submitted  it  will  be  noted  that  approximately  2,000  acres 
of  coffee  lands  are  at  present  uncultivated  which,  with  a  sufficient  number  of  labor- 
ers to  take  up  this  area,  would  produce  considerable  quantities  of  coffee  Also  addi- 
tional acreage  could  be  planted  to  coffee — 1,500  acres  would  be  no  exaggeration. 

Figures  gathered  bv  the  writer  indicate  the  following  crops  for  the  past  three  years, 
viz,  1918-19,  46,037  bags;  1919-20,  46,680  bags;  1920-21,  47,419  bags 

At  first  glance,  it  would  appear  that  the  coffee  industry  has  enjoyed  a  steady 
growth  for  the  past  three  years,  and  while  it  is  true  that  the  total  number  of  bags 
harvested  during  the  past  year  is  slightly  in  excess  of  the  year  pre\'ious,  yet  this 
increase  is  very  small  in  comparison  to  what  the  total  production  would  have  been 
had  there  been  sufficient  labor  to  properly  pick,  dry,  and  harvest  the  crop.  Up  to 
the  time  of  harvest,  weather  conditions  had  been  ideal,  and  all  indications  were  that 


510 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 


the  crop  of  coffee  would  be  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  industry  in  Kona.  Scar- 
city of  help  held  prices  up,  and  the  price  of  coffee  in  mainland  markets  did  not  jus- 
tify the  farmer  in  paying  the  prices  asked  by  farm  hands,  so  that  he  picked  what  he 
could,  allowing  the  surplusage  to  fall  on  the  ground.  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained no  less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  coffee  which  had  reached  maturity,  ripe  and 
ready  for  picking,  fell  to  the  ground. 

Like  conditions  with  regard  to  the  sugar  industry,  and  tobacco  interests  in  Kona 
are  prevailing  at  the  present  time. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

L.  C.  Child, 
Manager,  American  Factors  {Ltd.),  Kailua. 


Experiment  Station, 
Honolulu,  April  26,  1921. 
Mr,  J.  K.  Butler, 

Secretary  J.  S.  P.  A.,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  I  hand  you  herewith  a  brief  memorandum  showing  efforts  made  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  the  plantations  to  the  best  advantage  during  the  present  acute  labor 
shortage. 

Improved  varieties  of  cane. — Other  things  being  equal,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the 
better  the  cane  variety  the  cheaper  will  be  the  cost  of  production  per  acre  and  per 
ton  of  sugar  produced.  A  cane  well  suited  to  a  locality  grows  better  and  closes  in 
sooner,  thereby  requiring  less  cultivation  and  less  labor  for  weed  control.  At  the 
present  time  we  are  attempting  to  improve  our  cane  varieties  in  two  ways : 

1.  By  means  of  seedlings,  thereby  creating  new  varieties  better  than  the  present 
standard  ones  now  in  cultivation. 

2.  By  improving  the  varieties  now  being  grown  by  means  of  bud  selection,  by  meth- 
ods similar  to  those  employed  to  improve  corn,  tobacco,  and  citrus  fruits  of  the  main- 
land. 

Bud  selection  is  a  new  venture  here,  having  been  started  last  year.  The  results 
so  far  obtained  are  promising.  In  this  work  we  are  endeavoring  to  obtain  a  cane 
which  will  germinate  better,  grow  faster,  and  stool  better  than  the  present  canes. 
Such  a  cane  will  require  less  labor  to  produce,  as  there  will  be  less  weeding  and  less 
replanting  to  do  and  the  yields  will  be  better. 

We  have  been  doing  seedling  work  for  some  years.  During  the  1920  season  we 
germinated  from  seed  (commercially  all  cane  are  propagated  from  cuttings)  and 
planted  in  the  field  42,000  new  varieties  of  cane. 

Up  to  the  present  time  our  best  seedling  is  H  109.  This  cane  is  rapidly  replacing 
Lahaina.  I  quote  as  follows  from  "An  Average  Census  of  Cane  Varieties  for  the  Crops 
1920,  1921,  and  1922,"  by  li.  P.  Agee: 

"The  area  of  H  109  has  shown  a  definite  increase  during  the  year.  This  cane  now 
covers,  for  the  1921  and  1922  crops,  30,049  acres.  The  area  of  Lahaina  is  only  slightly 
greater,  31,396  acres.  Considering  the  1922  crop  only,  the  H  109  variety  covers 
16,580  acres  against  but  13,975  acres  in  Lahaina.  This  fact  is  one  of  the  great  signifi- 
cance in  the  development  of  improved  varieties  of  sugar  cane  in  Hawaii.  It  seems, 
furthermore,  to  bear  out  early  predictions  as  to  the  importance  of  seedling  work,  and 
serves  to  support  the  contention  that  there  are  greater  possibilities  yet  to  be  developed 
along  this  line. 

"A  statement  follows  showing  crop  by  crop  how  the  Lahaina  cane  has  given  way 
to  the  seedling  H  109.." 


Crop  of: 
1913 
1914 
1915 
1916 
1917 


Acres  of 

Acres  of 

Lahaina. 

H109. 

41,208 

0 

39,697 

26 

37, 394 

39 

35,065 

558 

33, 110 

1,160 

Crop  of: 
1918 
1919 
1920 
1921 
1922 


Acres  of 
Lahaina. 


33,910 
28,624 
25,078 
17,421 
13,975 


Acres  of 
H109. 


2,847 

5,414 

7,147 

13,469 

16. 580 


Were  it  not  for  H  109  taking  the  place  of  Lahaina  we  could  not  keep  up  our  present 
yields,  and  the  man  days  per  ton  of  sugar  produced  would  be  higher  than  it  is  at 
present. 

Methods  of  fertilization. — The  production  of  sugar  in  Hawaii  is  based  on  intensive 
fertilization.  Hawaii  uses  more  fertilizer  per  acre  than  any  other  sugar-producing 
country  in  the  world,  and  produces  more  sugar  per  unit  area.    Our  fertilizer  require- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 


511 


ments  are  ,2:reater  than  those  of  the  island  of  Cuba,  producing  4,000,000  tons  of  sugar 
to  our  575,000  tons.  This  heavy  fertilization  not  only  reduces  the  labor  costs  per  ton 
of  sugar  but  also  reduces  the  "per  acre"  expenses  as  cultivation  expenses  actually 
increase  with  a  stunted  crop,  as  the  cane  fails  to  close  in  and  suppress  the  weeds. 

Cane  in  Hawaii  is  a  2-year  crop.  Up  to  recent  years  it  was  customary  to  apply 
fertilizer  in  from  four  to  six  applications  during  the  growing  period  of  the  crop.  1  his 
has  been  largely  discontinued,  and  the  fertilizer  is  now  being  applied  in  from  two  to 
four  applications  only.  That  is,  a  crop  of  cane  now  receives  its  fertilizer  in  about 
two  applications  less  than  formerly. 

We  have  approximately  250,000  acres  in  cane.  A  man  fertilizes  not  over  3  acres 
a  day.  To  fertilize  250,000  acres  once,  therefore,  requires  at  least  83,333-man  days  of 
work.  By  reducing  the  number  of  fertilizations  by  two  we  therefore  save  1,666,666- 
man  days  every  two  years. 

We  have  experiments  now  under  way  to  determine  if  it  is  possible  to  apply  the 
bulk  of  the  fertilizer  before  planting  the  cane.  If  this  is  possible  the  fertilizer  could 
be  applied  by  means  of  machinery  at  a  great  saving  of  labor. 

One  of  the  large  plantations  on  this  island  has  discontinued  for  the  time  being  the 
use  of  complete  fertilizer.  Nitrate  of  soda  only  will  be  used  and  it  will  be  applied  in 
the  irrigation  water.  This  will  require  but  little  more  labor  than  is  used  in  normal 
irrigation  practice.  In  this  way  this  plantation  plans  to  save  several  thousand  man 
days  of  labor.  This  "saved"  labor  will  be  used  in  harvesting,  which  is  far  behind 
normal.  Such  a  procedure  as  the  above  can  not  be  recommended  as  a  regular  practice. 
Phosphoric  acid  and  potash  as  well  as  nitrogen  are  needed,  and  unless  the  amounts 
taken  up  by  the  cane  are  replaced  by  means  of  complete  fertilizer,  it  is  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time  until  the  supply  in  the  soil  falls  below  the  requirements  of  the  plant, 
and  the  yields  suffer  accorcUngly.  Nitrate  of  soda  contains  nitrogen  only  and  no 
phosphoric  acid  or  potash . 

Cutting  hack. — It  is  customary  on  irrigated  plantations  and  some  of  the  others  to 
cu,t  back  during  July  all  cane  harvested  before  that  time.  Cane  harvested  before 
July  and  allowed  to  grow  will  be  fairly  big  by  November  and  quite  a  large  amount  of 
this  young  cane  will  tassel  at  that  time.  After  a  stalk  of  cane  tassels  it,  of  course, 
makes  no  further  growth.  When  cane  is  "cut  back' '  in  July  it  is  too  small  to  tassel 
in  the  following  November,  but  grows  instead  until  November  of  the  next  year  before 
tasseling.  This  gives  it  12  months'  extra  growth.  On  account  of  labor  shortage  less 
cutting  back  will  be  done  this  season.  Should  cane  tassel  heavily  this  year  this 
may  mean  a  rather  serious  loss. 

Mr.  R.  S.  Thurston  has  just  returned  from  Hawaii,  where  he  looked  into  present 
status  of  paper  mulching  as  a  means  of  weed  control.  I  have  therefore  asked  him  to 
prepare  a  short  memorandum  on  the  subject.    The  memorandum  is  attached  herewith. 

Respectfully  submitted . 

Agriculturist 
J.  A.  Verret, 
Per  R.  S.  T. 

Experiment  Station, 

Honolulu,  April  26,  192  f. 
Mr.  J.  A.  Verret, 

Agriculturist,  H.  S.  P.  A.,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  Regarding  the  labor-saving  effect  of  paper  mulch  as  applied  at  Olaa 
and  the  extent  of  its  use,  the  following  figures  may  be  of  value  for  your  report. 

The  following  comparison  of  labor  expended  for  weeding  on  three  fields  for  1920 
crop  unmulched,  and  1922  crop  mulched,  shows  the  economy  of  labor  effected  by 
the  use  of  paper: 


Field. 

Men  required  per  acre. 

Total. 

Gain  ove  unmulched. 

1920  crop. 

1922  crop,  mulched. 

Man,  per 
acre. 

Area. 

Un- 
mulched. 

To  Dec.  31, 
1920. 

Estimated 
to  finish. 

Percent. 

4-5 

254.  75 

254.  20 

40.00 

49.  70 
39.  48 
69.86 

26.45 
2.3. 10 
18.07 

5 
5 
5 

31.45 
28.10 
23.07 

18.25 
11.38 
46.79 

36.72 

G 

28.  83 

59 - 

63.  98 

Total 

548.  95 

159.04  1            67.62 

1 

15 

82.62 

76.42 

48.05 

512 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII. 


i 


The  plantation  authorities  made  the  statement  that  the  labor  expended  on  the  1922 
crop  to  December  31,  1920,  amounted  to  approximately  80,000  days  less  than  was 
expended  on  the  1920  crop  up  to  December  31,  1918.  Approximately  the  same  areas 
are  involved  in  each  crop.  This  saving  in  labor  is  due  almost  entirely  to  the  use  of 
paper  on  the  1922  crop. 

The  total  area  of  the  1922  crop  under  cultivation  by  the  plantation  is  3,482.81  acres, 
of  which  3,093.81  acres  have  been  mulched.  The  1923  crop  will  comprise  about  the 
same  acreage  as  the  1922,  and  practically  the  whole  acreage  will  be  mulched. 

The  Hilo  Sugar  Co.  is  buying  enough  paper  to  mulch  400  acres  of  the  1923  crop. 
The  plantation  figures  that  by  mulching  this  area  of  the  early  plant  and  ratoon  cane 
they  will  be  able  with  the  present  labor  supply  to  continue  grinding  to  the  end  of 
the  crop  without  having  to  shut  down  the  mill  in  June  or  July  to  clean  up  their  early 
harvested  fields. 

Another  labor-saving  practice  in  use  at  Olaa  is  the  killing  of  weeds  by  spraying 
them  with  arsenite  of  soda.    Just  what  the  saving  is  in  days'  labor  per  acre  is  difficult 
to  say,  but  there  certainly  is  an  economy  over  the  practice  of  weeding  with  the  hoe. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

R.  S.  Thurston. 

Estimated  loss  on  1921  sugar  crop  due  to  delayed  harvesting  and  consequent  deteriorahon 

of  cane. 

PLANTATIONS  UNDER  AMERICAN  FACTORS'  AGENCY. 


Plantations. 

Per  cent 
delay  in 
harvest- 
ing to 
Apr.  30. 

Normal 

finishing 

date. 

1921  esti- 
mated 
finishing 
date. 

Esti- 
mated 
1921 
crop. 

Esti- 
mated 
per  cent 

loss 
aecouiit 
of  deteri- 
oration 
of  cane. 

Tonnage 
loss. 

Value  at 

$100  per 

ton. 

Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Pioneer  Mill  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Lihue  Plantation  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Xipu  Plantation 

29.7 
16.0 

I        36.0 

15.0 

23.0 

39.1 

4.1 

Aug.  30 
July    15 

Aug.  30 

Aug.  15 
Aug.  30 
Aug.  15 
Oct.    15 

Nov.  30 
Sept.  30 

Nov.    1 

...do.... 
Oct.    15 
Nov.  15 
Dec.     7 

43,000 
27,000 

22, 750 

9,900 
16, 000 
19,000 
27, 500 

5.58 
1.85 

2.55 

3.84 
2.63 
4.53 

1.82 

2,400 
500 

580 

380 
420 
860 
500 

$240,000 
50, 000 

58, 000 

Grove  Farm  Plantation 

Koloa  Sugar  Co 

38, 000 

Makee  Sugar  Co 

42, 000 

Kekaha  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Olaa  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 

86, 000 
50,000 

Total 

5,640 

564, 000 

1 

Production  losses  for  1922  sugar  crop  due  to  abandoned  acreages,  restricted  plowing 
and  planting,  and  insufficient  cultivation,  are  conservatively  estimated  at  ]0  per  cent. 
Expressed  in  terms  of  tons  of  sugar  these  losses  show  as  follows: 

Crop  of  1922. 


Plantations. 


Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Pioneer  Mill  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Lihue  Plantation  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Keloa  Sugar  Co , 

Makee  Sugar  Co , 

Kekaha  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Olaa  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 


Normal. 


Acres. 


6,032 
4,414 
2,766 
2,040 
3,182 
2,624 
6,270 

27,388 


Produc- 
tion, tons. 


48,256 
29, 265 
13, 138 
8,160 
12, 091 
18, 368 
26, 647 

155. 925 


10  per  cent  estimated 
loss. 


Tons. 


4,826 
2,927 
1,314 
816 
1,209 
1,837 
2,665 

15, 594 


Value  at 

$100  per 

ton. 


$842, 600 
292, 700 
131, 400 
81, 600 
120, 900 
183, 700 
266, 500 

1,  559, 400 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 


513 


The  1928  sugar  crop  acreages  will  undoubtedly  be  reduced  by  at  least  10  per  cent, 
and  unless  additional  labor  is  secured,  production  from  the  acreage  cultivated  will 
not  exceed  90  per  cent  of  normal,  giving  total  losses  on  this  crop, 

Cro'pofl923. 


Plantations. 


Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Pioneer  Mill  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Lihue  Plantation  Co.  (Ltd.) 

Koloa  Sugar  Co 

Makee  Sugar  Co 

Kekaha  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.).. . , 
Olaa  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.) , 

Total 


Normal. 


Acreage. 


6,240 
4,444 
3,557 
2,166 
3,979 
2,600 
6,572 


29,  558 


Produc- 
tion, 
tons. 


49,920 
29, 463 
16, 896 
8,664 
15, 120 
18, 200 
27,931 


166, 194 


Reduced  area. 


Acreage. 


5,616 
4,000 
3,202 
1,950 
3,581 
2,340 
5,915 


90  per 
cent  pro- 
duction, 

tons. 


40, 435 
23, 868 
13, 688 
7,020 
12,247 
14, 742 
22,625 


26,604       134,625 


Loss  from  normal . 


Tons. 


9,485 
5,595 
3,208 
1,644 
2,873 
3,458 
5,306 


31, 569 


Value  at 

$100  per 

ton. 


$948, 500 
559, 500 
320, 800 
164, 400 
287, 300 
345, 800 
530,600 


3, 156, 900 


Recapitulation  of  estimated  losses. 


1921  crop... 

1922  crop... 

1923  crop... 

Total 


5,640 
15, 594 
31, 569 


52, 803 


Value  at 

$100  per 

ton. 


$564, 000 
1, 559, 400 
3, 156, 900 


5,280,300 


GENERAL    CONTRACTORS      ASSOCL^TION    OF    HAWAII,     REPORT    OF    SPECIAL    COMMITTEE 
APPOINTED   TO   ANSWER   LABOR   QUESTIONNAIRE. 

Honolulu,  May  2,  1921. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  association  held  on  April  29,  1921,  it  was  resolved  that 
the  president  of  the  association  be  authorized  and  directed  to  appoint  a  committee  of 
three  to  prepare  and  submit  to  the  association  a  report  on  the  labor  questionnaire  of 
Mr.  J.  K.  Butler,  made  on  behalf  of  the  labor  commission  now  under  appointment  to 
submit  the  labor  needs  of  the  Territor}^  to  the  Government  at  Washington. 

Pursuant  to  this  resolution,  the  president  appointed  H.  P.  Benson,  R.  E.  Woolley, 
and  J.  Lucas  as  the  committee. 

The  committee  reports  as  follows: 

Question  No.  1:  What  is  the  present  general  wage  scale  in  Honolulu  for  common 
laborers  of  all  classes  and  nationalities? 

Answer:  Territorial,  city,  and  county  work  and  contracts,  common  labor,  minimum 
wage  $3.60  per  day  of  eight  hours;  half-day  Saturdays;  citizens  labor  only  permitted. 
Other  work  and  contracts,  common  labor;  wage  from  $3  to  $3.50  per  day  of  eight  hours. 

Question  No.  2:  What  is  the  effect  of  the  present  labor  shortage  on  the  building  and 
construction  trades  and  industries? 

Answer:  It  has  increased  the  cost  and  retarded  the  progress  of  all  work  at  present 
under  construction  and  rendered  the  completion  of  the  construction  program  impos- 
sible both  as  to  time  and  cost.  It  has  prevented  the  inception  of  prospective  neces- 
sary projects. 

Question  No.  3:  How  are  the  building  and  construction  interests  affected  by  the 
Japanese  who  leave  plantations  to  enter  competitive  field  against  citizen  labor,  either 
skilled  or  unsldlled? 

Answer:  The  smaller  frame  construction  is  now  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  orien- 
tals. There  is  work  enough  under  which  employment  is  limited  to  citizen  labor  to 
take  care  of  all  citizen  labor  and  still  leave  a  shortage. 

Question  No .  4 :  ¥/hat  is  the  result  of  the  present  labor  shortage  on  general  busi- 
ness conditions  throughout  the  Territory? 


56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  1- 


-20 


514  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Answer:  The  curtailment  of  construction  necessarily  reduces  the  vohime  of  busi- 
ness. The  high  cost  and  shortage  of  labor  results  in  the  postponement  of  the  construc- 
tion of  many  facilities  'which  make  for  the  economical  handling  of  business. 

Question  No.  5:  What  is  the  estimated  building  program  for  next  year  and  what  is 
the  outlook  of  labor  supply  from  the  contractor's  standpoint? 

Answer:  The  building  program  for  next  year  we  estimate  as  113,000,000.  The 
outlook  for  labor  to  complete  this  program  is  hopeless.  We  estimate  the  shortage  to 
be  between  1,000  and  1,500  men. 

Question  No.  G:  What  effect  has  labor  shortage  had  on  work  under  construction 
for  the  past  year  or  two? 

Answer:  The  labor  cost  has  practically  doubled,  and  the  time  required  to  complete 
work  has  been  increased  by  50  per  cent. 

Question  No.  7:  What  is  the  efficiency  of  present  labor  as  compared  with  past 
labor? 

Answer:  Present  labor  as  compared  with  past  labor  is  about  75  per  cent  efficient. 

Question  No.  8:  What  condition  as  to  labor  obtains  in  beginning  any  new  project? 

Answer:  All  the  citizen  labor  of  this  Territory  that  wishes  employment  has  employ- 
nient  ready  and  waiting.  Wlien  any  new  project  is  initiated,  the  labor  has  to  be 
either  recruited  from  drifters  or  stolen  from  going  construction. 

For  the  j^urposes  of  this  report  your  committee  has  assumed  that  past  conditions, 
referred  to  in  the  questionnaire  refer  to  conditions  as  obtaining  in  1916. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

H.  P,  Benson,  Chairman. 

R.    E.    WOOLLEY. 

J.  Lucas. 

The  foregoing  is  a  true  copy  of  the  report  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  presi- 
dent of  the  association  to  report  on  the  labor  questionnaire. 

Under  date  of  May  2,  1921,  in  a  special  meeting  of  the  association,  the  report  was 
accepted  and  the  president  directed  to  forward  a  copy  thereof  to  Mr.  J.  K.  Butler. 

A.  S.  Cantin, 
Secretary  General  Contractors^  Association  of  Hawaii. 


Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.), 

April  30,  1921. 
Mr.  T.  H.  Petrie, 

Secretary  Waialua  Agricultural  Co.,  Honolulu. 

Dear  Sir:  Referring  to  Mr.  Budge's  inquiries  about  the  labor  situation  yesterday 

The  Waialua  Agricultural  Co.'s  normal  force  is  2,200  the  present  force  is  1,600,  and 
the  shortage  is  600. 

We  are  not  losing  men  now.  They  seem  to  be  not  moving  around  so  much  in  the 
last  two  months.     We  have  been  taking  on  men  at  the  rate  of  five  or  six  per  month. 

At  the  present  rate  of  grinding  we  will  not  finish  the  crop  until  the  last  of  December. 
In  normal  times  the  average  grinding  season  would  finish  about  the  15th  of  August. 
This  would  leave  us  with  about  9,000  tons  of  sugar  to  make  after  the  normal  grinding 
season.     The  loss  of  this  amount  would  be  anywhere  from  500  to  1,000  tons  of  sugar. 

There  is  no  planting  being  done  this  year  and  we  have  not  planned  to  do  any.  The 
areas  abandoned  for  the  1922  crop  are:  Kaumoko,  Vallev  4,  Anahula  Gulch  "A" — a 
total  of  240.40  acres. 

Mr.  Goodale  has  planned  to  abandon  the  following  fields  ^ter  they  have  been 
harvested:  Waimea  6,  7,  8;  Kawailoa  16  and  17;  Helemano  12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17; 
Helemano  Gulch,  and  Helemano  3-B.     The  total  area  of  these  fields  is  1,276  acres 

The  shortage  of  labor  will  result  in  a  larger  loss  on  the  1923  than  on  the  1921  or  1922 
crops.  The  fields  we  are  harvesting  now  are  not  being  looked  after.  There  is  no| 
replanting,  no  irrigating,  no  clearing  being  done  on  the  ratoons,  and  the  fields  are 
becoming  overgrown  with  weeds.  If  there  is  no  relief  from  the  labor  shortage  by  the! 
1st  of  July,  the  time  we  start  the  1923  crop,  there  will  be  an  enormous  loss  in  1923  to 
the  company. 

For  further  information  on  this  subject,  I  would  refer  to  Mr.  Goodale's  letter  to  you 
of  March  14,  1921. 
Yours,  truly, 

Geo.  Cruickshank, 

Assistant  Manager, 


LABOR  PECBLEMS   IN    HAVv'AII.  515 

Hind,  Rolph  &  Co., 
Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  3,  192K 
Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters^  Association,  Hanolulu. 
Dear  Sirs:  Replying  to  your  request  for  information  for  the  labor  commission 
from  our  plantation,  we  beg  to  advise  as  follows: 

Territorial  property  tax  paid  for  year  1920,  $43,840;  territorial  income  tax  paid  for 
year  1920,  $13,346. 

In  an  endeavor  to  keep  up  with  the  field  and  other  work,  the  factory  is  operating 
at  less  than  50  per  cent  of  its  capacity,  only  grinding  20  tons  per  hour  instead  of  43. 
No  planting  is  being  done,  as  this  would  be  possible  only  by  still  further  reducing, 
the  output  of  sugar. 
Yours,  truly. 

Hind,  Rolph  &  Co., 
J,  K.  Clarke,  Manager, 
Agents  for  Hawaii  Mill  6c  Plantation  Co.  {Ltd.), 


Honolulu  Plantation  Co., 
Aiea,  Oahu,  Hawaii,  May  2,  1921. 
Messrs.  C.  Brewer  &  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sirs:  We  are  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  29th  ultima  stating  that  you  have 
received  a  request  from  the  bureau  of  labor  and  statistics  of  the  Honolulu  Sugar  Plan- 
ters' Association  to  furnish  them  with  the  area  of  land  being  abandoned;  also  what 
restriction  upon  cultivation  and  operations  are  contemplated  this  year  on  account  of 
the  labor  shortage. 

It  is  our  intention  to  abandon,  due  to  the  present  shortage  of  labor,  446  acres  of 
unirrigated  land  for  the  1921  crop  and  283  acres  of  unirrigated  land  for  the  1922  crop. 
This  unirrigated  land  in  the  past  has  yielded  an  average  of  from  2.75  to  3  tons  of  sugar 
per  acre.  It  is  our  intention  also  to  carry  over  approximately  250  acres  of  short  ratoon 
for  the  1921  crop  until  the  year  1922. 

For  lack  of  labor,  all  of  our  crops  now  on  the  ground,  namely,  1921,  1922,  and  1923, 
are  suffering  very  much.  We  estimate  that  on  the  1921  crop  we  will  lose  1,500  tons 
of  sugar;  on  the  1922,  5,000  tons;  and  on  the  1923,  also  5,000  tons.  Our  average  crop 
for  the  year  as  you  know  is  approximately  20,000  tons  refined  sugar.  Our  estimated 
loss  in  sugar,  therefore,  is  7^  per  cent  for  1921  and  25  per  cent  each  for  the  years  1922 
and  1923. 

It  may  seem  incredible  to  you  that  we  are  likely  to  sustain  such  a  loss  for  want  of 
labor,  but  the  writer  believes  he  could  convince  you  that  such  is  the  case  if  you  will 
appoint  a  commission  of  experienced  sugar  men  to  ride  over  the  plantation  and  see 
the  conditions  as  they  are  to-day. 
Yours,  truly, 

Honolulu  Plantation  Co., 
Jas.  Gibb,  Manager. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  April  30,  1921. 
The  Director  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics, 

Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 

Honolulu. 

Dear  Sir:  In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  29th  instant  in  re  areas  of  cane  land  being 
abandoned,  cultivation  of  future  crops  restricted,  and  delay  in  the  usual  operations 
of  the  plantation,  I  would  state  that  at  Waianae,  owing  to  the  present  shortage  of 
labor,  an  area  of  163  acres  of  cane  land  out  of  a  total  area  of  2,027  acres  in  cultivation 
has  been  already  abandoned  by  the  company,  and  unless  improvement  in  present  con 
ditions  takes  place  it  is  contemplated  that  a  further  area  of  100  acres  may  have  to  be 
abandoned. 

For  the  same  reason  and  to  insure  the  harvesting  of  the  1921  crop  in  good  season, 
cultivation  of  the  fields  for  future  crops  has  had  to  be  entirely  neglected. 

While  the  company  has  managed  to  harvest  to  date  as  much  as  usual  of  its  1921  crop, 
everything  has  been  sacrificed  to  this  end,  including  the  postponement  of  all  planting 
for  the  1923  crop,  thus  entailing  losses  in  the  future  now  difficult  to  estimate  or  foretelL 

No  improvements  are  being  made  on  the  plantation,  every  man  on  the  pay  roll 
being  required  for  harve.'^sting  the  present  crop. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

.1.  M.  Dowsett.  Agent,  Waianae  Co. 


516  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL 

KoHALA,  May  2,  1921. 
Mr.  T.  H.  Petrie, 

Secretary  Kohala  Sugar  Co.,  Honolulu. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  the  30th  requesting  a  statement  of  our  labor  conditions 
received  this  morning. 

For  the  12  months  bonus  period  ending  October  31,  1920,  our  average  number  of 
employees  on  pay  roll  was  445;  for  the  5  months  ending  March  31,  1921,  the  average 
number  on  the  pay  roll  was  347. 

We  are  losing  men  every  week;  the  Japanese  returning  to  Japan  and  the  Filipinos  re- 
turning to  the  Philippine  Islands. 

We  have  manufactured  to  date  1,700  tons  of  sugar,  whereas  under  normal  labor  con- 
ditions we  should  have  made  at  this  time  2,400  tons. 

We  hope  to  complete  the  harvesting  of  our  1921  crop  by  the  middle  of  September, 
later  than  under  a  normal  season. 

We  can  not  say  at  this  time  as  to  the  probable  loss  in  tonnage  on  this  crop  due  to 
deterioration  in  cane  in  field  on  account  of  delay  in  harvesting. 

The  present  shortage  of  labor  reflects  in  all  ways  inefficiency. 

On  account  of  present  labor  conditions  our  planting  has  to  be  restricted  and  held 
back.     We  should  have  150  acres  planted  by  this  time,  but  have  not  planted  any. 

We  expect  to  plaat  500  acres,  but  the  work  will  be  considerably  delayed. 

In  view  of  present  labor  conditions,  it  has  not  yet  been  determined  whether  any 
areas  will  be  entirely  abandoned. 

We  are  unable  to  keep  our  fields  properly  clear  of  weeds,  the  result  of  which  will  be 
that  our  sugar  production  from  the  coming  crops  will  be  curtailed,  the  actual  loss, 
however,  we  are  unable  to  estimate  at  this  time. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

Geo.  C.  Watt, 
Manager  Kohala  Sugar  Co. 

April  30,  1921. 
Mr.  John  Waterhouse, 

Manager  Alexander  &  Baldwin  (Ltd.),  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  Information  for  territorial  commission:  Refers  to  your  No.  212-P. 
Replying  to  your  letter  of  April  29  on  this  subject,  would  say  that  we  now  have  2,594 
laborers  on  the  pay  roll,  while  last  year  at  the  same  time  we  had  2,912  laborers,  which 
shows  that  we  are  318  men  short  as  compared  with  last  year. 

From  the  inclosed  comparative  statement  of  labor  for  the  month  of  March,  1910, 
1920,  and  1921,  you  will  note  that  we  are  particularly  short  as  far  as  Japanese  are 
concerned,  which  means  that  we  have  lost  some  of  our  most  efficient  labor.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  while  we  are  only  318  men  short  compared  with  last  year,  we  were  very 
short  of  labor  last  year,  which  is  readily  seen  when  it  is  remembered  that  10  years  ago 
we  had  3,426  on  the  pay  roll. 

Crop  of  1921:  In  normal  years  we  have  finished  our  harvesting  about  the  middle  of 
June,  but  this  year  it  does  not  look  as  though  we  could  possibly  finish  this  work  until 
the  end  of  September,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  under  present  conditions,  it  is  impossible 
to  make  an  accurate  estimate  as  to  when  the  grinding  will  be  finished,  for  it  is  reported 
that  the  pineapple  canneries  on  this  island  will  require  about  1,000  men  more  during 
the  summer  and  fall  months  when  the  canning  begins,  which  means  that  they  will 
have  0  tdraw  on  the  plantations  for  a  great  deal  of  this  labor. 

Up  to  date  we  have  only  manufactured  24,000  tons  of  sugar,  due  to  cane  ground, 
while  last  year  at  the  same  date  we  had  manufactured  43,000  tons  of  sugar. 

Crop  of  1922:  This  crop  is  very  much  handicapped  on  account  of  lack  of  labor  and 
especially  as  we  have  to  use  men  who  are  cultivating  this  crop  for  other  work,  such  as 
harvesting,  which  results  in  the  neglecting  of  the  1922  fields. 

Crop  of  1923:  It  has  always  been  our  practice  here  to  start  planting  early  in  March, 
but  under  present  circumstances  it  will  be  out  of  the  question  to  start  planting  until 
some  time  in  June  or  July  at  the  earliest,  for  the  simple  reason  that  we  would  have  to 
take  labor  from  our  harvesting  gangs  to  do  this  work.  With  the  harvesting  so  much 
delayed  it  goes  without  saying  that  it  would  be  out  of  the  question  now  to  take  even  a 
single  man  from  this  work  for  the  1923  crop,  and  it  is  a  problem  as  to  just  how  we  are 
going  to  do  any  planting  at  all  before  the  completion  in  September  or  October  of  the 
harvesting  of  the  1921  crop. 

Our  young  ratoons  for  the  1923  crop  need  attention,  but  we  have  no  labor  for  this 
work,  and  consequently  some  of  the  ratoons  will  die  out  and  therefore,  taking  everything 
into  consideration,  it  would  look  as  though  we  would  have  to  reduce  the  area  for  this 
crop  by  about  1,500  acres.  For  many  years  our  normal  acreage  for  each  crop  has  been 
about  6,500  acres,  but  we  will  be  very  fortunate  to  be  able  to  carry  on  5,000  acres  for 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 


517 


the  1923  crop,  which  means  that  the  tonnage  will  be  reduced  from  the  average  of 
55,000  tons  of  sugar  to,  say,  40,000  tons  or  less,  for  with  late  planting  we  can  not  expect 
heavy  A^delds. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  labor  conditions  at  this  time  of  the  year  do  not  worry  us  generally, 
but  when  the  planting  season  starts  and  the  pineapple  canneries  start  operating  we, 
as  a  rule,  feel  the  pinch.  Under  present  conditions,  therefore,  it  can  readily  be  seen 
that  the  situation  is  going  to  become  critical  within  the  next  few  months. 

Yours,  very  truly,  \ 

F.  F.  Baldwin, 
Manager  Hawaiian  Commercial  &  Sugar  Co. 

Hawaiian  Commercial  &  Sugar  Co.,  comparative  labor  statement  for  March. 

Pauunene,  Maui,  Hawaii,  April  30,  192 J. 


Nationality. 

Number  of  men. 

Year  1910. 

Year  1920. 

YearlJiL 

American 

51 
214 

13 

10 

98 

2,279 

184 

17 

3 

314 

178 

65 

47 

158 

1 

13 

54 

1,312 

106 

28 
503 
154 
440 

96 

■i  7 

Portuguese 

163 

Russian 

SDanish 

Hawaiian 

53 

Japanese 

1    04n 

Korean 

93 

Porto  Rican 

29 

Filipino 

642 

Chinese 

121 

Women 

333 

Minors 

FtFi 

Reserve 

4 

. 

Total 

3,426 

2,912 

2  594 

Kahuku  Plantation  Co., 
Kahuku,  Hawaii,  May  2,  1921. 
John  Waterhouse,  Esq., 

Manager  Alexander  &  Baldwin  (ltd.),  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  You  and  I  have  discussed  at  several  different  times  the  effect  of  short- 
age of  labor  on  the  growing  crops  and  plantation  activities.  We  have  also  had  con- 
siderable correspondence  on  the  subject. 

We  are  extremely  short  of  labor.  Our  irrigation  forces  are  25  per  cent  less  than 
normal.  We  are  just  managing  to  get  water  into  the  fields  but  are  not  irrigating  in 
nearly  as  good  form  as  we  should.  The  men  are  now  obliged  to  take  more  water  than 
usual  and  in  fields  of  young  cane  we  are  practicing  a  sort  of  semiflooding  the  fields, 
all  of  which  is  bad  agricultural  practice  and  a  waste  of  water;  but  I  see  no  other  way 
of  getting  water  to  the  cane. 

We  should  be  weeding  and  hoeing  more  thoroughly  and  scientifically  than  we  are 
now  doing.  It  is  impossible  to  keep  down  the  weeds  that  we  should  with  the  present 
number  of  laborers.  This  is  having  a  bad  effect  on  the  young  growing  cane,  inasmuch 
as  the  young  stubble  can  not  develop  as  it  should. 

We  are  almost  exactly  33  per  cent  behind  our  normal  production  of  sugar  on  April 
30,  having  manufactured  only  2,546  tons;  whereas  we  should  have  manufactured 
3,700  tons.  This  will  prolong  our  harvesting  season  and  will  have  a  very  disastrous 
effect  on  cane  and  sugar  ratio,  since  the  latter  part  of  the  year  the  juices  fall  rapidly 
in  purit3^  This  will  also  have  a  bad  effect  upon  the  1923  crop,  since  the  young  ra- 
toons  harvested  late  will  not  get  as  good  start  as  they  should  have  under  normal  con- 
ditions. 

Of  the  area  harvested  this  year  we  shall  plow  and  plant  162  acres.  There  are  fields 
harvested  this  year  which  should  be  planted,  in  area  amounting  to  222.5  acres,  which 
we  shall  be  unable  to  plant  on  account  of  our  shortage  of  labor.  This  will  have  a 
very  disastrous  effect  upon  our  1923  crop,  as  this  area  (222.5  acres)  is  now  in  pressing 
need  of  planting  and  plowing. 

I  can  not  emphasize  too  strongly  the  imperative  need  we  have  of  additional  laborers 
to  carry  on  our  ordinary  cultivating  operations. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

Andrew  Adams, 
Manager  Kahuku  Plantation  Co. 


518  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  (Ltd.), 

April  29,  1921. 

ANSWERS   TO   MR.    BUDGE's    QUESTIONS. 

What  is  the  Waialua  Agricultural  Co.  's  normal  force  in  normal  times?  Two  thousa  i  (\ 
two  hundred. 

What  is  the  Waialua  Agriculutral  Co.'s  force  at  present?     One  thousand  six  hundred. 

On  the  basis  otthe  above  figures,  what  is  the  shortage?     Six  hundred. 

Are  you  continuing  to  lose  men?     No. 

Are  you  taking  on  new  men,  not  including  the  new  Filipinos  arriving  from  the 
Philippines?     About  five  men  per  month. 

On  account  of  the  shortage,  to  what  extent  is  the  crop  short  in  tons  of  sugar?  Sevei' 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty  tons  behind  schedule. 

When  will  you  finish  at  the  present  rate  of  grinding  and,  in  connection  with  thai, 
what  is  the  estimated  loss  due  to  delayed  grinding?  Expect  to  finish  in  December . 
loss  estimated  at  approximately  500  tons. 

Is  planting  being  restricted?    Yes. 

How  much?     No  planting  has  been  done  this  year;  none  to  be  done. 

What  area  is  being  abandoned?  One  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixteen  and 
seventy-four-hundredths  acres. 

EwA,  Hawaii,  April  30,  1921. 
Mr.  T.  H.  Petrie, 

Secretary  Ewa  Plantation  Co.,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  In  reply  to  your  official  communication  of  the  29th  instant,  with  which 
was  inclosed  a  memorandum  to  guide  me  in  furnishing  you  with  a  full  statement  of 
labor  conditions  as  it  exists  at  Ewa  plantation  at  the  present  time,  beg  to  report  as 
follows: 

Normal  force  would  constitute  a  total  pay  roll  of  2,066.  Present  force  as  shown  on 
payroll  is  1,597,  representing  a  shortage  at  the  present  time  of  469.  These  figures 
were  arrived  at  as  follows:  Normal  force  equals  average  number  of  men  on  pay  roll 
from  1914  to  1919,  inclusive,  1920  being  an  abnormal  year,  due  to  striking  laborers. 

In  reply  to  the  question,  Are  you  continuing  to  lose  men,  and  are  new  any  men  being 
taken  on,  outside  of  new  Filipinos  assigned  to  you  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor?  I  present 
the  following  table: 

Number  of  men  on  pay  roll,  including  all  Filipinos  received  from  Hawaiian  Sugar 

Planters^  Association. 

July,  1920  (labor  strike  ended) 2,  047 

August,  1920 2,  269 

September,  1920 2,  088 

October,  1920 2,  050 

November,  1920 1,  901 

December,  1920 1,  679 

January,  1921 1,  631 

February,  1921 1,  581 

March,  1921 1,  542 

For  the  month  of  April,  72  new  men  have  been  taken  on,  including  15  Filipinos  from 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  and  72  men  have  departed. 

"On  account  of  present  shortage,"  I  will  answer  the  questions  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  asked : 

1.  To  what  extent,  in  tons  of  sugar,  is  harvesting  of  present  crop  delayed,  compared 
with  normal  labor  conditions? 

Tons  of  sugar  manufactured  up  to  and  including  ninety-third  day  of  grinding  for 

following  years; 

Tons. 

1914 16,  088 

1915 12,451 

1916 11,308 

1917 13, 368 

1918 12,  344 

1919 16,  439 

1920  (abnormal,  strike) 

1921 9,  614 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


519 


(2)  When  do  you  expect  to  finish  crop  at  present  rate  of  harvesting? 
If  harvesting  continues  at  the  rate  it  has  been  during  the  past  10  days,  the  present 
crop  will  be  finished  on  December  7,  1921. 

3.  In  \ie\v  of  delay  and  consequent  deterioration  of  crop  in  field,  how  much  loss  in 
tons  of  sugar  do  you  estimate  will  result  from  the  present  crop? 

Three  thousand  four  hundred  tons.  Losses  claimed  by  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  and 
allowed  by  the  strike  claims  committee  for  crop  of  1920,  due  to  the  crop  being  prolonged 
by  strike  conditions  to  November  13,  1920,  was  8.08  per  cent  of  the  crop.  By  prolong- 
ing the  present  crop  one  month  longer,  that  is  to  December  13,  1921,  I  estimate  the 
loss  on  the  present  crop  at  10  per  cent  on  34,000  tons. 

4.  Does  the  present  labor  shortage  reflect  inefficiency  in  present  force  to  any  degree? 
Yes.     History  is  repeating  itself.     Whenever  there  is  a  scarcity  of  labor,  pay  in- 
creases and  inefficiency  prevails.     Inefficiency  illustrated  by  the  following  table: 

Average  tons  of  cane  cut  (by  contract)  per  man  per  day. 


Month. 

1918 

1919 

1920 

1921 

December 

4.2 
5.6 
6.3 
6.9 

6.7 
7.4 
7.5 
8.1 

7.6 
7.0 
6.0 
7.3 

January 

4.6 

February 

5.5 

March 

6. 1 

5.  Is  planting  being  restricted  and  to  what  extent? 

We  would  normally  plant  900  acres  and  only  expect  to  plant  under  present  conditions 
153  acres. 

Area  planted  from  1914  to  date. 

Planted  during —  Acres. 

1914,  crop  1916 789.  55 

1915,  crop  1917 645.  81 

1916,  crop  1918 1,  373.  76 

1917,  crop  1919 1,  228.  51 

1918,  crop  1920 739.  57 

19]  9,  crop  1921 952.  96 

1921,  crop  1923 153.  05 

(Crop  1920. omitted  on  account  of  strike  conditions.) 

6.  Are  any  areas  heretofore  cultivated  being  actually  abandoned  altogether? 

Not  at  the  present  time;  but  if  our  labor  supply  is  not  increased  by  July,  1921, 
the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  vd\\  be  compelled  to  abandon  some  of  its  poorer  fields. 

7.  To  what  extent  are  future  crops  suffering  through  the  lack  of  labor  to  irrigate 
and  cultivate? 

Loss  to  crop  1922  suffering  through  lack  of  labor  to  irrigate  and  cultivate,  3,650  tons. 

Tons. 

Normal  crop 35,  000 

Strike  loss  allowed 1,  350 

33,  650 
Present  estimate,  crop  1922 30,  000 

Loss  (estimated) 3,  650 

Loss  of  crop  1923:  Impossible  to  estimate  at  this  time,  but,  unless  shortage  is  re- 
lieved, the  loss  will  be  enormous. 

Present  force  is  needed  to  harvest  the  1921  crop,  which  will  be  completed  on  Decem- 
ber 7,  1921,  so  that  none  of  these  men  can  be  used  for  the  1923  crop.  The  factory  will 
be  manufacturing  sugar  for  the  same  period,  so  these  men  are  not  available,  and  during 
the  months  of  June,  July,  August,  September,  and  October,  the  crop  of  1922  will  be 
attaining  its  maximum  growth,  and  as  these  months  are  very  dry,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  irrigate  this  crop  well  or  the  cane  will  be  stunted.  This  crop  is  not  receiving  the 
attention  it  should  at  this  time,  and  a  small  loss  will  result  (see  loss  crop  1922  above), 
90  men  can  not  be  taken  from  cultivating  crop  1922  and  transferred  to  crop  1923. 
The  only  thing  that  can  save  the  1923  crop  will  be  more  laborers. 

Below  are  a  few  other  things  which  may  be  mentioned  concerning  the  present  labor 
shortao'e. 


520 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


(a)  The  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  has  enough  growing  firewood  on  its  lands  to  supply  its 
needs,  but  scarcity  of  men  compels  us  to  purchase  firewood  in  the  open  market. 

(b)  Adjoining  the  present  lands  under  cane  cultivation  are  arable  lands  which  could 
and  should  be  cleared  and  planted  to  sugar  cane,  thereby  increasing  the  crops,  of 
this  plantation  at  very  little  additional  expense,  but  same  can  not  be  accomplished, 

(c)  No  work  is  now  being  done  in  the  upkeep  of  the  roads  and  bridges  and  the  rail- 
road track  is  being  properly  kept  up  only  on  that  portion  between  the  factory  and 
harvesting  fields. 

Yours,  truly, 

Geo.  F.  Renton,  Jr., 
Manager,  Ewa  Plantation  Co. 

April  30,  1921. 
Mr.  T.  H.  Petrie, 

Secretary  Ewa  Plantation  Co.,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  Supplementing  my  letter  of  even  date,  I  desire  to  have  the  following 
information  embodied  in  said  letter: 

Inasmuch  as  the  average  crop  of  this  plantation  during  normal  times  is  completed  by 
the  31st  of  August  of  each  year,  and  as  the  present  indications  show  that  the  crop  of 
1921  will  not  be  finished  until  December  7  of  this  year,  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  the 
harvesting  of  every  field  later  than  August  31,  1921,  will  result  in  low  yields  for  these 
fields  and  a  late  start  of  the  1923  crop. 
Yours,  truly, 

Geo.  F.  Renton,  Jr., 
Manager  Ewa  Plantation  Co. 


April  29,  1921. 
Messrs.  F.  A.  Schaefer  &  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sirs:  We  beg  to  submit  herewith  a  report  on  the  effects  of  the  present  labor 
shortage. 

As  pointed  out  time  and  time  again,  the  labor  shortage  is  our  greatest  problem  and 
we  are  working  under  a  tremendous  disadvantage.  Curtailment  of  production  and 
heavy  losses  to  the  plantation  are  bound  to  result  unless  the  labor  situation  is  speedily 
relieved. 

We  submit  herewith  a  comparison  of  the  figures  of  labor  turnout  for  this  year  as 
against  last  year,  and  when  you  consider  that  we  have  to  harvest  approximately  60,000 
tons  cane  this  year,  as  against  51,000  tons  cane  last  year,  you  will  readily  see  how 
seriously  we  are  handicapped. 

Total  labor  turnout  average  per  month: 


January. 

February. 

March. 

1920 

544.  31 
433. 00 

577. 10 
443.77 

565. 29 

1921 

479. 7? 

Shortage 

111.31 
20.45 

133. 77 
23. 10 

105.  52 

Percentage 

18.03 

The  above  figures  include  skilled  and  unskilled  men.    The  figures  for  unskilled 
labor  only  are  as  follows: 


January. 

February. 

March. 

1920 

482. 31 
370. 00 

514. 10 
382. 77 

526. 29 

1921 

418. 77 

Shortage 

112. 31 
23.30 

131.  33 

25.55 

107.  52 

Percentage 

20.43 

The  above  figures  show  that  we  have  to  take  off  an  approximately  12  per  cent  larger 
crop  with  an  average  of  23  per  cent  less  unskilled  labor,  as  against  last  year. 

On  account  of  the  labor  shortage  the  starting  of  the  harvesting  was  delayed  by  more 
than  a  month.    A  start  was  made  finally  on  January  6,  1921,  but  the  amount  of  cane 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  521 

coming  into  the  mill  is  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  mill  ^roing  steadily;  therefore  prac- 
tically every  day  we  have  had  to  record  delays  of  seA^eral  hours.  During  part  of  March 
and  the  largest  part  of  April  we  have  had  to  run  the  mill  on  day  shift  only,  in  order  to 
use  pa,rt  of  our  labor  for  the  most  urgent  field  operations,  other  than  harvesting,  and 
this  vrill  have  to  be  done  again  later  on  in  the  season. 

With  a  sufficient  labor  supply  and  an  earlier  start  we  should  have  harvested  to  date 
38,000  tons  of  cane,  as  against  25,500  tons  actually  milled. 

These  delays  not  only  mean  a  large  increase  in  the  mill  expenses  but  also  a  loss  of 
from  200  to  300  tons  sugar,  on  account  of  the  constant  decrease  of  sugar  contents  in  the 
cane  after  the  middle  of  the  year. 

As  the  harvesting  of  our  present  crop  is  the  first  consideration,  we  are  obliged  to 
slow  down  on  all  other  field  operations. 

The  cultivation  of  a  large  percentage  of  the  fields  of  the  1922  crop  will  have  to  be 
neglected,  as  we  have  only  sufficient  labor  to  take  care  of  the  best  fields.  This  we 
estimate  will  result  in  a  loss  of  from  8,000  to  10,000  tons  cane  for  this  crop. 

Plowing  and  planting  for  the  1923  crop  has  to  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  a  total 
area  of  about  375  acres  has  to  be  abandoned,  which  with  a  normal  labor  supply  would 
have  been  plowed  and  planted  for  the  1923  crop.  Losses  arising  from  delayed  plant- 
ing, late  start  of  ratoons — neglected  replanting,  cultivation,  and  fertilization — will 
probably  cause  a  loss  of  from  10,000  to  12,000  tons  cane  for  this  crop. 

From  the  foregoing  you  will  see  how  seriously  not  only  this  year's  but  also  future 
crops  are  affected  by  the  labor  shortage. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

P.  Bartels, 
Assistant  Manager  Pacific  Sugar  Mill. 


May  2,  1921. 
J.  Waterhouse,  Esq., 

Manager  Alexander  &  Baldwin  (Ltd.),  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Labor — Information  for  territorial  commission: 

The  number  of  laborers  emplyed  by  this  plantation  in  1919  was  2,296;  in  1920, 
2,079;  in  1921,  1,753;  a  reduction  in  the  three  years  of  543. 

For  our  1920  crop  we  harvested  4,681  acres,  and  this  was  the  customary  acreage  put 
into  each  year's  crop  previous  to  that  time,  with  the  exception  of  the  1919  crop  which 
was  harvested  from  4,264  acres.  On  account  of  the  shortage  of  labor  during  the  latter 
part  of  1919  and  during  1920  we  were  able  only  to  cultivate  for  the  1921  crop  4,132 
acres.  For  the  1922  crop  we  have  been  able  to  cultivate  3,847  acres  only,  a  reduction 
of  621  acres  from  the  amount  planned  for  when  this  crop  was  started.  It  is  impossible 
at  this  writing  to  say  what  acreage  we  will  be  able  to  carry  for  the  1923  crop.  Unless 
labor  conditions  improve  we  certainly  can  not  put  more  than  3,000  acres  into  this  crop, 
which  is  from  1,500  to  2,000  acres  less  than  what  we  would  like  to  have  if  labor  condi- 
tions were  normal. 

To  date  this  year  we  have  bagged  5,838  tons  of  sugar  as  compared  to  17,647  tons  in 
1920  and  16,621  tons  in  1919.  The  very  large  reduction  in  the  amount  of  sugar  pro- 
duced this  year  as  compared  to  last  year  is  due  to  shortage  of  labor  during  the  latter 
half  of  last  year,  which  delayed  our  planting  and  resulted  in  much  extra  labor  for 
replanting,  due  to  the  poor  germination  on  account  of  the  late  planting.  Lhis  meant 
delay  in  harvesting  operations.  At  the  present  time  we  are  harvesting  just  50  per 
cent  as  much  cane  as  we  should  if  we  had  a  sufficient  supply  of  labor.  If  conditions 
continue  as  they  are  it  will  take  us  until  the  end  of  the  year  to  finish  the  crop  and  it 
will  be  impossible  for  us  to  do  but  a  very  little  planting  for  the  1923  crop,  and  in  con- 
sequence we  will  have  to  carry  over  a  larger  percentage  of  ratoons,  which  will  give  us 
a  much  lower  yield  than  would  plant  cane  if  we  were  able  to  plant. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

H.  A.  Baldwin, 
Manager  Maui  Agricultural  Co. 

P.  S. — Permit  me  to  add  to  the  above  that  on  account  of  labor  shortage  we  have 
been  obliged  to  give  up  practically  all  of  our  general  farming  activities  in  the  ranch 
department.  This  formerly  supplied  us  with  stock  feed,  which  we  now  are  obliged 
to  import;  and  considerable  quantities  of  sweet  potatoes  formerly  consumed  by  our 
employees. 

Two  neighboring  large  ranches,  viz:  Haleakala  Ranch  and  Mr.  H.  W.  Rice's  ranch, 
formerly  cultivated  considerable  areas  in  corn,  which  was  consumed  locally,  but  on 
account  of  lack  of  labor  they  have  been  obliged  to  give  this  up  entirely. 

H.  A.  B. 


522 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 


April  29,  1921. 
Messrs,  F.  A.  Schaefer  &  Co.  (Ltd.), 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sirs:  We  beg  to  submit  herewith  a  report  on  the  effects  of  the  present  labor 
shortage. 

As  pointed  out  time  and  time  again,  the  labor  shortage  is  our  greatest  problem,  and 
we  are  working  under  a  tremendous  disadvantage.  Curtailment  of  production  and 
heavy  losses  to  the  plantation  are  bound  to  result  unless  the  labor  situation  is  speedily 
relieved. 

We  submit  herewith  a  comparison  of  the  figures  of  labor  turn-over  for  this  year  as 
against  last  year,  and  when  you  consider  that  we  have  to  harvest  approximately  70,000 
tons  of  cane  this  year  as  against  47,000  tons  cane  last  year,  you  will  readily  see  how 
seriously  we  are  handicapped. 

Total  labor  turn-out  average  per  month: 


January, 

February. 

March. 

1920   

747.  73 
548.  57 

794.  87 
603.  95 

838.  56 

1921      

636. 13 

Shortage  

199.  16 
26.63 

190.  92 
23.  93 

202.  43 

Percentage 

24,20 

The  above  figures  include  skilled  and  unskilled  men.     The  figures  for  unskilled 
labor  only  are  as  follows: 


•January. 

February. 

March, 

1920 

646. 73 
448. 57 

695.  87 
501.  95 

737.  56 

1921 

527. 13 

Shortage   

198. 16 
30.64 

193.  92 

27.87 

210.  43 

Percentage 

28.53 

The  above  figures  show  that  we  have  to  take  off  an  approximately  50  per  cent  larger 
crop  with  an  average  of  29  per  cent  less  unskilled  labor,  as  against  last  year. 

On  account  of  the  labor  shortage  the  starting  of  the  harvesting  was  delayed  by 
more  than  a  month.  A  start  was  made  fi,nally  on  January  6,  1921,  but  the  amount  of 
cane  coming  into  the  mill  is  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  mill  going  steadily;  therefore 
practically  every  day  we  have  had  to  record  delays  of  several  hours.  During  part 
of  March  and  the  largest  part  of  April  we  have  had  to  run  the  mill  on  day  shift  only 
in  order  to  use  part  of  our  labor  for  the  most  urgent  field  operations  other  than  harvest- 
ing and  this  will  have  to  be  done  again  later  on  in  the  season. 

With  a  sufficient  labor  supply  and  an  earlier  start  we  should  have  harvested  to  date 
about  45,000  tons  of  cane  as  against  25,000  tons  actually  milled. 

These  delays  not  only  mean  a  large  increase  in  the  mill  expenses  but  also  a  loss  of 
from  300  to  400  tons  sugar,  on  account  of  the  constant  decrease  of  sugar  contents  in 
the  cane  after  the  middle  of  the  year. 

As  the  harvesting  of  our  present  crop  is  the  first  consideration,  we  are  obliged  to  slow 
down  on  all  other  field  operations. 

The  cultivation  of  a  large  percentage  of  the  fields  of  the  1922  crop  will  have  to  be 
neglected  as  we  have  only  sufficient  labor  to  take  care  of  the  best  fields.  This  we 
estimate  will  result  in  a  loss  of  from  10,000  to  12,000  tons  cane  for  this  crop. 

Plowing  and  planting  for  the  1923  crop  has  to  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  and  a  total 
area  of  about  450  acres  has  to  be  abandoned,  which  with  a  normal  labor  supply  would 
have  been  plowed  and  planted  for  the  1923  crop.     Losses  arising  from  delayed  planting, 
late  start  of  ratoons — ^neglected  replanting,  cultivation,  and  fertilization — will  prob 
ably  cause  a  loss  of  from  12,000  to  14,000  tons  cane  for  this  crop. 

From  the  foregoing  you  will  see  how  seriously  not  only  this  year 's  but  also  f uturq 
crops  are  affected  by  the  labor  shortage. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

P.  B artels, 
Assistant  Manager,  Honolcaa  Plantation,  Honokaa  Sugar  Co. 


LABOPt   PKOBj.EMS   JN    HAWAII.  523 

Kauai  Fruit  &  Land  Co., 
Kalaheo,  Kauai,  April  30,  1921. 
Mr.  A.  H.  Tarleton, 

Executive  Secretary  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers^  Association, 

Honolulu,  Havjaii. 
Dear  Sir:  I  inclose  herewith  memorandum  of  answers  to  the  various  questions 
asked  of  the  pineapple  planters  and  trust  that  they  will  be  found  to  be  about  what  is 
required  for  the  purposes  mentioned. 
Very  respectfully, 

W.  D.  McBryde,  Manager. 


answers  to  questions  to  pineapple  packers  and  growers  KAUAI  fruit  a 

LAND    CO. 

(1)  1919.  Income,  Federal $17,  365.  25 

1920.  Income,  Federal 10,  972.  07 

(2)  1919.  Income.  Territorial 1, 167.  20 

Real  and  personal 2,  724.  00 

Capital  stock 359.  00 


4,  250.  20 


1920.  Income.  Territorial 2,  290.  90 

Real  and  personal 4,  850.  00 

Capital  stock 245.  00 


7,385.90 
Questions  3,  4,  5,  and  6  not  answered. 

(7)  Work  in  the  pineapple  fields  was  performed  by  all  nationalities  irrespective  of 
nationality;  however,  would  say  that  driving  of  mule  teams  and  caterpillars  or  tractors 
was  done  principally  by  Hawaiians  and  Portuguese,  the  Japanese  specializing  more  on 
contract  work,  road  building,  etc.,  while  the  Chinese,  being  old  and  weak,  were  kept  at 
hoe  work  principally.  The  Filipinos  worked  mostly  at  the  lighter  jobs,  such  as  fertil- 
izing, spraying,  etc.  In  the  cannery  the  Japanese  were  found  to  be  Al  around  ma- 
chinery; in  fact,  good  at  almost  any  position,  and  the  same  could  be  practically  said  of 
the  Filipinos.     No  Hawaiians  worked  in  the  cannery.     Few  Chinese  at  light  w^ork. 

(8)  All  labor  irrespective  of  nationality  is  not  as  efficient  as  formerly — that  is,  this 
applies  to  the  large  majority,  there  always  being  exceptions.  Labor  will  quit  at  the 
slightest  provocations  and  has  to  be  handled  most  carefully  '"with  gloved  hands,"  and 
does  not  seem  to  care  much  as  to  improved  living  conditions  that  have  been  made  for 
his  benefit.  Tnere  seems  to  be  an  unsettled  disposition  and  disinclination  to  settle 
and  stick  to  a  job  permanently. 

(9)  Our  experience  is  that  the  Japanese  are  the  steadiest  of  the  different  nationalities 
and  with  us  do  not  quit  their  jobs.  The  Filipinos  will  work  a  few  days  and  then  pass 
on  to  the  next  plantation.  We  wT.sh,  however,  to  say  that  we  have  some  few  Filipinos 
who  have  been  with  us  for  years,  are  steady,  and  there  are  no  better  workers  than  they. 
Portuguese  have  become  unsteady  and  resent  the  slightest  speaking  to  as  to  quality 
of  their  work.  They  have  gotten  the  '"coast  "  microbe  badly  and  disbelieve  reports 
of  the  lack  of  work  to  be  had  there. 

(10)  There  is  sure  to  be  a  shortage  of  labor  during  the  packing  season.  We  were 
most  woefully  short  last  year  and  lost  fruit  by  such  shortage,  not  having  sufficient 
labor  to  put  it  into  tins,  and  we  expect  the  same  comditions  will  prevail  this  year. 
As  shown  under  question  6,  our  average  of  employees  in  the  rush  months  in  1920  were 
as  follows:  Males,  186;  females,  105;  children,  96;  total,  387.  We  believe  that  a  20 
per  cent  shortage  would  be  a  conservative  estimate. 

(11)  Decidedly  so.  We  had  figures  on  planting  some  200  acres  this  year  to  pines 
and  ^vill  consider  ourselves  fortunate  if  we  get  in  a  full  100  acres.  As  stated  to  ques- 
tion No.  10,  we  anticipate  a  20  per  cent  ahortage  over  last  year  and  we  will  be  indeed 
fortunate  if  we  get  through  the  season  without  loss  of  fruit. 

(12)  Labor  shortage  with  us  shows  its  effect  more  in  the  ratoon  fields  than  others, 
for  the  reason  that  labor  is  kept  at  the  new  fields  and  the  older  or  fields  which  are  likely 
to  produce  smaller  fruit  are  allowed  to  go  until  work  can  be  caught  up  ^vith  and  with 
consequent  loss  of  plants  and  fruit  through  the  growth  of  weeds  and  vines.  Shortage 
of  labor  in  one  year  has  a  most  disastrous  effect  on  the  crops  of  the  follomng  year 
and  the  crop  of  the  next  year.     In  other  words,  a  ratoon  crop  allowed  to  go  to  weeds 


524  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AH. 

affects  the  crop  of  the  follov/ing  year  in  that  probably  there  will  be  no  ratoon  crop 
at  all,  hence  a  total  loss,  and  when  a  field  is  not  planted,  due  to  shortage  of  labor, 
that  field,  which,  had  it  been  planted,  would  have  fruited  in  two  years,  is  thrown 
over  to  the  third  year,  and  so  on. 

(13)  We  estimate  that,  due  to  the  extreme  shortage  of  field  labor  in  1920,  we  have 
lost  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  1,000  tons  of  fresh  pines  this  year,  or  ap- 
proximately a  shortage  in  pack  of  25,000  cases. 

(14)  We  believe  that  our  salvation  lies  in  the  getting  in  of  Chinese  labor,  they  to 
be  brought  in  under  strict  rules  and  regulations,  such,  for  instance,  as  their  being 
not  allowed  to  go  to  the  mainland,  and  perhaps  compulsory  return  to  China  after  a 
certain  period  of  time. 

Kauai  Fruit  &  Land  Co. 
W,  D.  McBryde,  Manage! 

Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers*  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  7,  1921. 

Dear  Sirs:  We  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  letter  of  April  22  asking  for  certain 
information  bearing  on  the  labor  situation.     We  reply  to  your  paragraphs  in  sequence : 

1.  We  understand  that  this  information  is  being  supplied  to  you  by  the  Federal 
tax  collector. 

2.  We  understand  that  this  information  is  being  supplied  to  you  by  the  Territorial 
tax  assessor. 

3.  Answer: 


Year. 


1918  (maximum) . 

1919  (maximum) . 

1920  (maximum) . 

1921  (April) 


Male. 


Female. 


300 

200 

400 

200 

500 

400 

100 

75 

4.  In  1918,  14  cents  per  hour  for  men;  1919,  15  cents  per  hour  for  men;  1920,  27^ 
cents  per  hour  for  men;  1921  (April),  22  cents  per  hour  for  men. 

Free  dwellings,  transportation,  fuel,  water,  and  medical  attention  are  supplied  to 
all  employees  on  our  land.  In  1920  a  bonus  of  10  cents  per  day  was  paid  to  male 
employees  for  20  or  more  days'  work;  to  female  employees  10  cents  per  day  for  over 
15  days. 

5.  Roughly,  we  would  say  that  food  is  the  chief  item  registering  an  increase  in  the 
cost  of  living  of  our  plantation  people.  The  increase  may  be  estimated  at  from  75 
per  cent  to  100  per  cent  as  between  1914  and  1920. 

6.  About  100  laborers  in  the  field  and  500  in  the  canneries  during  July.  Nation- 
alities not  segregated. 

7.  As  nearly  as  possible,  the  work  is  spportioned  to  fit  individuals  who  can  best 
do  the  respective  jobs. 

8.  This  question  is  broadl}-  answered  b}^  the  affirmative,  that  without  any  open 
sabotage  or  passive  strike  our  labor  was  (in  1920)  nevertheless  markedly  inferior  in 
its  gross  output  of  effort. 

9.  During  the  noncanning  months  our  pay  rolls  show  little  turnover.  During 
June,  July,  August,  and  September  we  employ  several  hundred  temporary  field  and 
cannery  laborers. 

10.  In  place  of  mature  and  capable  laborers  we  shall  probably  have  to  rely  during 
our  summer  packing  season  upon  help  that  is  much  less  efficient  than  that  available 
several  years  ago.  The  low  individual  output  of  the  average  worker  available  to  us 
in  the  summer  under  present  conditions  is  a  most  serious  factor  in  our  manufacturing 
costs.  We  could  probably  use  at  least  100  responsible  men  this  coming  packing 
season  in  addition  to  those  we  now  expect. 

11.  We  are  curtailing  expansion  on  account  of  the  labor  situation  and  our  labor 
problem  causes  us  serious  worry  over  the  approaching  canning  season. 

12.  Improper  fertilization,  cultivating,  and  spraying  necessarily  decrease  our  field 
yield  per  acre. 

Hoping  this  information,  combined  with  other  data,  may  assist  in  the  relief  of  a 
very  pressing  problem,  we  are, 
Yours,  faithfully, 

Theo.  H.  Davies  &  Co.  (Ltd.). 
By  J.  P.  Morgan. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  525 

California  Packing  Corporation, 

Honolulu^  Jlaivaii,  May  2,  1921. 
Mr.  A.  H,  Tarleton, 

Executive  Secretary  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers^  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 
Dear  Sir:  Please  be  referred  to  Mr.  Butler's  letter  of  April  21  to  Mr.  Horner  rela- 
tive to  the  data  desired  by  the  special  labor  commission.     The  following  is  the  informa- 
tion required  from  the  California  Packing  Corporation: 

1.  Taxes  paid  to  the  Federal  Government,  1919  and  1920. 

2.  The  figures  on  Territorial  taxes  we  understand  you  will  obtain  from  the  tax 
assessor. 

3.  We  are  unable  to  give  you  the  information  as  to  the  numbers  of  the  different 
nationalities  employed.  The  total  figures  are  as  follows:  1918,  506;  1919,  516;  1920, 
491;  and  1921,  625. 

The  number  of  women  employed  is  approximately  10  per  cent  of  the  figures  given 
above  in  each  case.  The  figures  given  are  the  average  for  the  year,  excluding  months 
which  were  especially  low  on  account  of  weather  conditions.  The  maximum  number 
used  during  the  heavy  season  will  be  about  20  per  cent  more  than  this  average  figure. 

4.  The  wages  paid  are  as  follows  per  10-hour  dav:  1918,  $1.54;  1919,  $1.63;  1920, 
$2.33;  and  1921,  $2.07. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  we  furnish  houses,  fuel,  water,  and  medical  attendance 
for  our  labor.  The  figures  given  are  the  average  wage  for  daywork  and  piecework 
combined  and  include  semiskilled  help  as  well  as  common  labor. 

5.  It  is  our  estimate,  based  upon  inquirj-  among  the  better  class  of  oriental  em- 
ployees, that  living  is  approximately  15  per  cent  higher  for  them  at  the  present  time 
than  during  the  prewar  period. 

6.  We  employ  approximately  3,000  people  over  and  above  the  figures  given  in  pre- 
vious paragraphs  in  work  in  our  factories  during  the  active  months  of  the  season.  We 
are  in  this  case  also  unable  to  give  the  percentages  of  the  different  nationalities,  except 
that  probably  75  per  cent  are  Japanese. 

7.  I  believe  we  need  give  you  no  data  on  this  paragraph,  as  you  are  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  conditions  of  work. 

8.  We  will  state  that  we  have  had  no  indications  of  sabotage  on  the  part  of  our  labor. 
We  do  find  among  all  labor,  however,  that  in  some  indefinite  way  the  same  number 
of  workers  do  not  obtain  the  same  quantity  of  work  we  obtained  prior  to  1920.  In  so  far 
as  our  old  employees  are  concerned,  there  is  no  change.  During  the  past  year,  how- 
ever, quite  a  few  new  men  have  come  into  our  organization,  and  they  have  created  a 
spirit  which  is  dissimilar  to  that  of  our  old  employees  and  which  has  affected  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  common  labor.  The  situation  is  one  which  is  not  causing  us 
difficulty  at  the  present  time  but  its  development  is  one  which  we  view  with  alarm. 

9.  Our  laborers  live  on  our  plantations,  and  the  turnover  is  not  particularly  heavy'. 
In  the  past  we  have  had  rather  a  large  percentage  of  our  periodical  summer  employees 
return  from  year  to  year.  The  FiUpino  labor  is  the  class  which  is  more  roving  than 
any  other. 

iO.  It  is  impossible  to  answer  this  question.  We  do  not  estimate  any  particular 
shortage  during  the  packing  season,  because  it  is  seasonal  work  and  is  very  attractive 
to  labor  on  account  of  the  large  amount  of  overtime  during  this  short  period.  It  must 
be  remembered,  however,  that  this  will  be  a  drain  on  the  labor  of  other  industries, 
which  are  already  short-handed. 

11.  During  1920  our  labor  shortage  was  such  that  it  materially  reduced  our  area 
planted  in  that  year.  We  need  a  surplus  of  labor  to  overcome  this  handicap  and 
catch  up  with  our  regular  program.  We  can  not  do  this  with  the  quantity  of  labor 
now  available.  From  all  indications  we  will  be  forced  to  somewhat  restrict  our  area 
again  this  year.     We,  however,  anticipate  packing  our  entire  1921  crop. 

12.  A  labor  shortage  naturally  restricts  planting,  which  in  turn  restricts  future  crops. 
What  this  restriction  will  be  is  indeterminable  at  present. 

I  hope  the  above  gives  you  sufficient  information  to  combine  with  that  furnished 
by  other  pineapple  companies  to  give  the  labor  commission  the  data  they  need. 
Yours,  truly, 

California  Packing  Corporation. 
H.  A.  White, 

Manager  Hawaiian  Interests. 


526 


LABOR   PEOBLEMS    IlN^    HAWAII. 


Hawaiian  Pineapple  Co.  (Ltd.), 
Mr.  A.  H.  Tarleton,  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  2,  1921. 

Executive  Secretary  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Paclcers^  Association, 

Honoluul  Hawaii. 
Dear  Sir:  "We  refer  to  Mr.  Horner's  letter  of  April  22  and  Mr.  Butler's  letter  of 
April  21,  asking  general  information  in  regard  to  the  pineapple  industry. 
"We  refer  to  questions  as  numbered  in  Mr.  Butler's  letter: 

1  and  2.  We  understand  that  this  information  is  going  to  be  secured  by  your  office 
from  the  tax  offices. 

3.  We  show  on  the  attached  sheet  the  number  of  persons,  nationality,  and  sex  of 
laborers  employed  on  our  plantation  at  Wahiawa  and  at  our  cannery  in  Honolulu 
during  the  years  specified. 

4.  The  wages  paid  common,  unskilled  laborers  during  the  years  1918,  1919,  1920, 
and  1921  at  our  plantation  were,  for  men  13  cents,  14  cents,  18  cents,  and  18  cents  per 
hour  for  the  respective  years;  for  women  during  the  same  respective  years  9  cents, 
10  cents,  llj  cents,  and  11  cents.  During  the  years  1918  and  1919  no  bonus  was 
paid,  but  during  the  year  1920  we  paid  a  bonus  of  30  per  cent  on  these  wages.  At 
the  present  time  this  bonus  has  been  reduced  to  12  per  cent.  In  addition,  these 
laborers  have  been  furnished  with  quarters,  firewood,  and  medical  attention,  includ- 
ing hospital  expenses. 

At  the  cannery  in  Honolulu  wages  for  the  common,  unskilled  laborers  have,  during 
the  respective  years,  been  as  follows:  Men,  12  cents,  12|^  cents,  17^  cents,  and  20  cents 
per  hour;  women,  8  cents,  9  cents,  11^  cents,  and  12  cents  per  hour. 

During  the  year  1918  no  bonus  was  paid.  During  the  years  1919  and  1920  a  service 
bonus  of  15  per  cent  of  wages  was  paid  during  the  busy  season  for  those  remaining  in 
the  continuous  employ  of  the  company  during  the  period. 

We  have  no  particular  comments  to  make  on  the  other  questions  in  Mr.  Butler's 
letter  and  presume  that  Mr.  Horner  will  supply  the  commission  with  the  necessary 
general  information  which  may  be  desired  in  these  respects. 


Very  truly,  yours, 


Hawaiian  Pineapple  Co.  (Ltd.). 
K.  B.  Barnes,  Secretary. 


Pauwela  Pineapple  Co., 
Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers'  Association,  ^«;;^^'  ^«^^'  Avril27,  1921. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Gentlemen:  We  have  for  acknowledgment  your  circular  No.  125,  together  with 
copy  of  letter  from  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  asking  certain  data 
about  labor  and  conditions,  and  the  same  has  our  attention. 

As  we  have  not  had  a  full  season's  run  yet,  being  now  in  the  game,  we  can  not 
furnish  you  with  complete  answers  to  all  the  questions  asked  but  will  do  our  best. 

1.  Our  Federal  taxes  were  paid  by  our  office  in  San  Francisco  and  we  can  not  answer 
this  question. 

2.  Territorial  taxes  paid  for  1920,  $1,724.40.  We  would  further  estimate  that  taxes 
paid  by  independent  growers  allied  with  us  would  amount  to  a  further  figure  of  about 
12,000. 

3.  As  we  only  began  operations  last  summer,  we  can  only  furnish  you  with  the 
figures  for  1920  and  also  for  March  of  this  year,  and  they  would  be  as  follows: 


Boys. 

Men. 

Women. 

Girls. 

Year  1920: 

Japanese 

8 
4 

52  1             20 

13  :             15 

14  !               2 
7                  1 

7 

Hawaiians 

10 

Chinese 

2 

Portuguese 

1 

Filipinos 1 

10 
1 

Koreans 

Others 

5 

1 

18 

97                39 

19 

March,  1921: 

Japanese 

6 
1 

28 
3 
2 
3 
6 
3 

15 

4 
1 
2 

3 

Hawaiians 

2 

Chinese 

Portuguese 

5 

2 

Filipinos 

Koreans 

12 

45                22 

7 

LABOR   PROBLEMS   IX    HAWAII.  527 

4.  Wages  paid  common  laborers  during  last  year  wnsre  about  as  follows:  Men,  $2  to 
$5  per  day;  women,  ?1.75  per  day:  boys,  average  SI. 50  per  day;  pirls,  $1.25  per  day. 

These  wages  being  straight  wages  with  no  bonus,  the  average  paid  the  men  as 
common  laborers  was  about  S3  per  day.  In  addition  to  these  wages  they  were  fur- 
nished with  houses,  wood,  water,  and  medical  attendance  free. 

5.  We  would  estimate  that  the  average  cost  of  living  of  laborers  in  the  pineapple 
industry  in  this  section  to-day  is  at  least  double  that  which  it  was  before  the  war. 

6.  During  the  active  months  of  our  canning  season,  which  would  be  July,  August, 
and  September,  we  will  need  for  this  year  at  least  250  employees,  the  nationalities 
of  which  would  be  in  about  the  same  proportion  as  we  have  enumerated  under  ques- 
tion 3. 

Xext  year,  or  1922.  without  expected  increase  of  pack,  we  will  need  during  our 
active  season  about  700  laborers  and  would  need  these  for  a  period  of  about  four  months 
during  the  summer  and  about  half  that  many  for  two  months  during  winter. 

7.  As  we  purchase  all  our  fruit  from  outside  growers,  the  only  kind  of  work  done 
by  our  laborers  is  that  in  connection  with  the  cannery.  Quite  a  iiumber  are  employed 
as  engineers,  mechanics,  carpenters,  and  clerks,  but  the  larger  number  are  used  for 
handling  the  fresh  fruit,  which  includes  hauling  and  trucking,  feeding  the  machines, 
trimming  the  fruit,  washing  same,  packing  the  fruit  in  cans,  and  stacking  and  piling 
the  filled  tins  as  they  come  from  the  cookers.  We  require  quite  a  force  also  for  truck- 
ing and  hauling  oui'  goods  and  freight  both  to  and  from  the  railroad;  this  requires 
experienced  auto  drivers. 

8.  We  have  found  that  the  attitude  and  willingness  of  the  laborers  in  general  at 
the  present  time  is  less  ready  and  anxious  to  accomplish  results  than  they  were  in 
former  years.  It  would  appear  that  the  high  wages  paid  the  common  laborers  through- 
out this  Territory  the  past  several  years  has  had  an  opposite  effect  upon  them  in  the 
matter  of  accomplishing  results.  It  is  very  easy  to  show  that  in  general  they  do  very 
much  less  than  they  were  wont  to  do  in  former  years  when  wages  and  li^dng  expenses 
were  much  lower.  Our  experience  shows  that  the  Japanese  make  the  best  pineapple 
growers  of  any  of  the  nationalities  amongst  us,  and  they  are  also  efficient  help  in  the 
cannery  work.  Chinese  have  also  proved  most  efficient  cannery  workers  and  are 
very  well  adapted  to  this  work  in  general. 

9.  The  great  majority  of  pineapple  growers  throughout  this  section  are  Japanese 
and  they  stay  quite  steadily  by  their  farms  year  by  year.  The  high  prices  of  pine- 
apple last  year  caused  a  good  deal  of  speculating  amongst  this  community,  but  transfers 
of  farms  were  made  in  general  amongst  the  Japanese  community  alone.  "  What  Chinese 
we  have  here  are  also  very  steady  and  reliable. 

10.  It  is  almost  impossible  for  us  to  estimate  at  present  what  the  probable  shortage 
migl;t  be  during  this  next  packing  season,  but  we  anticipate  that  we  will  have  to 
operate  on  not  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  force  we  should  have,  and  in  this  connec- 
tion we  would  say  that  what  labor  we  get  will  most  likely  be  drawn  largely  from 
the  sugar  plantations  for  the  summer  period,  thus  causing  amongst  them  a  greater 
shortage  of  labor  for  the  summer  than  usual. 

11.  There  is  no  doubt  but  what  a  great  deal  more  land  in  this  district  would  be 
cultivated  to  pineapples  were  it  possible  to  secure  the  labor  necessary  for  the  purpose; 
so  far  we  do  not  anticipate  any  fruit  contracted  to  us  spoiling  before  we  can  ge,t  it 
packed.  Should,  however,  many  of  our  farmers  become  discouraged  by  the  low  price 
of  fruit  this  year  and  abandon  their  farms,  it  would  mean  that  we  would  have  to  assume 
charge  of  them  to  protect  ourselves  and  the  banks  that  have  made  advances  to  them. 
Should  such  a  condition  arise,  we  can  not  see  where  the  labor  could  be  secured  to 
carry  on  the  necessary-  work,  and  we  believe  in  any  such  case  we  would  be  very 
seriously  embarrassed. 

12.  If  the  present  shortage  of  labor  shall  continue  during  next  year,  we  are  very 
greatly  concerned  over  the  prospects  of  taking  care  of  our  next  year's  pack.  If 
some  reinedy  is  not  found,  we  feel  that  it  must  surely  follow  that  the  jpineapple  repro- 
duction in  this  district  must  decline  considerably  within  the  next  few  years,  while 
with  an  adequate  supply  of  labor  it  can  be  made  to  yield  a  material  increase. 

Submitting  the  foregoing  for  ^-our  consideration,  we  are, 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Pauwela  Pineapple  Co. 
S.  0.  Aiken, 

Vice  President  and  Manager. 


528  LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

May  2,  1921. 
Alexander  &  Baldwin  (Ltd.), 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Gentlemen:  Replying  to  the  various  questions  asked  of  the  Hawaiian  Pineapple 
Packers'  Association  by  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  in  connection  with 
the  compilation  of  data  to  be  used  by  the  labor  commission  before  Congress,  would 
give  answers  to  the  questions  as  enumerated  in  the  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Albert 
Horner,  president,  under  date  of  April  21,  by  J.  K.  Butler,  secretary: 

1.  Figures  unavailable,  as  all  Federal  taxes  are  paid  direct  by  the  several  owners 
of  the  estate  of  H.  P.  Baldwin. 

2.  Territorial  taxes  paid  1919,  $15,436;  1920,  $20,153.45. 

3.  See  statement  attached  hereto. 

4.  Wages  about  as  follows: 

1918:  Men,  $1.20;  women,  60  cents;  children,  50  cents  per  day.  Bonus,  12^  per  cent 
for  22  days  worked  in  month;  25  per  cent  for  24  days  worked  in  month. 

1919:  Men,  $1.40;  women,  65  cents;  children,  50  cents  per  day.  Bonus,  12^  per  cent 
for  22  days  worked  in  month;  25  per  cent  for  24  days  worked  in  month. 

1920:  Men,  $2;  women,  80  cents;  children,  65  cents  per  day.  Bonus,  25  per  cent 
for  22  days  worked  in  month;  50  per  cent  for  24  days  worked  in  month. 

1921:  Men,  $1.75  per  day;  women,  75  cents  per  day;  children,  60  cents  per  day. 
Bonus,  12^  per  cent  for  22  days  worked  in  month;  25  per  cent  for  24  days  worked  in 
month. 

To  above  good  housing,  fuel,  water,  and  medical  attendance  is  given  free. 

5.  Others  have  more  accurate  data  on  this  than  we  do. 

6.  Cannery  emplovees  in  1918,  1919,  and  1920,  as  follows: 
1918:  Men,  30;  women,  30;  children,  18;  total,  73. 

1919:  Men,  85;  women,  40;  children,  56;  total,  179. 
1920:  Men,  145;  women,  65;  children,  145;  total,  354. 

7.  Practically  the  same  as  done  by  every  other  pineapple  concern. 

8.  Effectiveness  and  willingness  of  labor  appears  to  vary  indirectly  with  the  price  of 
sugar,  and  a  glance  at  the  record  of  sugar  prices  in  the  last  few  years  would  answer  this 
question  exactly.     At  present  things  are  going  very  well  with  us. 

9.  Only  Japanese  and  Chinese  are  to  be  depended  upon,  the  latter  being  the  more 
dependable  but  harder  to  get.  Koreans,  Filipinos,  and  Porto  Ricans  are  impossible, 
and  serve  only  in  an  emergency. 

10.  We  may  get  through  all  right  but  only  by  working  overtime  (at  rate  and  a  half 
per  hour)  and  using  school  children. 

11.  There  is  a  decided  restriction  of  area  in  cultivation  because  of  the  labor  shortage. 
Last  year  we  planted  75  per  cent  of  what  we  should  have  planted,  and  at  that  allowed 
the  growing  fields  to  get  into  bad  shape.  We  hope  that  we  will  not  lose  any  fruit  this 
coming  summer  through  shortage  of  labor. 

]  2.  If  we  are  able  to  plant  more  than  75  per  cent  of  what  we  should  before  November 
1,  1921,  we  will  be  doing  very  well. 

We  would  ask  you  to  kindly  pass  on  the  above  information  to  the  Hawaiian  Pine- 
apple Packers'  Association  and  oblige, 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Baldwin  Packers, 
By  D.  T.  Fleming,  Manager. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  3,  1921. 
Re  labor  situation. 
Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 
Attention  Mr.  Tarleton. 

Gentlemen:  Referring  to  yours  of  the  28th  ultimo,  we  beg  to  reply  to  inquiries  of 
Circular  No.  125  as  follows: 

Items  1,  2,  3,  4,  and  6  are  covered  by  the  three  statements  herewith  inclosed  (except 
No.  1).  _  ^  _ 

Item  5:  According  to  information  we  have,  the  cost  of  living  of  laborers  was  in- 
creased during  the  war  by  approximately  64  per  cent;  however,  recent  reduction  in 
prices  of  food  products  will  reduce  this  figure  materially.  For  instance,  rice — one  of 
the  staple  foods — has  decreased  over  50  per  cent  during  the  past  year. 

Item  7:  Practically  all  the  laborers  of  various  nationalities  in  both  the  canneries 
and  the  plantations  can  be  classed  as  unskilled  labor,  as  a  very  few  hold  such  petitions 
as  foremen,  engineers,  or  mechanics  of  any  kind. 


LABOR   PEOBI.EMS   IN   HAWAII.  529 

Item  8:  It  would  be  conservative  to  say  that  at  the  present  time  we  have  been 
getting  only  75  per  cent  efficiency  from  our  labor,  as  compared  with  past  years. 

Item  9:  Our  records  since  the  first  of  the  year  show  there  has  been  a  marked  tend- 
ency on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  laborer  to  work  only  part  tira  e;  it  is  also  the  tendency 
of  this  nationality  to  be  continually  changing  employment. 

Item  10:  Twenty-five  per  cent. 

Item  11:  At  the  present  time  we  have  a  very  small  per  cent  of  the  labor  which  wilF 
be  necessary  for  us  to  employ  during  the  harvesting  and  canning  season;  therefore,, 
to  take  of  this  season's  pack  it  will  be  necessary  to  draw  labor  from  outside  places, 
where  they  are  now  employed. 

Item  12:  As  to  shortage  of  labor  materially  affecting  our  future  crops,  would  say  it 
would  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  decrease  in  our  crops — if  the  fields  were  not  properly 
taken  care  of,  cultivating,  etc.  Past  records  we  have  of  fields  which  were  not  properly 
cultivated  and  cared  for  showed  a  decrease  in  the  crop  of  from  50  per  cent  to  60  per 
cent. 

Respectfully, 

LiBBY,  McNeill  &  Libby  of  Honolulu  (Ltd.1, 
By  L.  E.  Arnold. 

Haiku,  Maui,  Hawaii,  April  21 ,  1921, 
The  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers'  Association, 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Gentlemen:  In  compliance  with  your  request  of  the  22d,  circular  letter  No.  125^ 
we  submit  the  following: 

1.  Federal  taxes  1919,  $37,267.31;  1920,  $171,185.82. 

2.  Territorial  taxes,  1919,  $17,573.90;  1920,  $56,0.30.98. 

3.  January  15,  1918,  215;  males,  75  per  cent;  females,  25  per  cent.  July  15,  1918^ 
548;  males,  75  per  cent;  females,  25  per  cent.  January  15,  1919,  207;  males,  87  per 
cent;  females,  13  per  cent.  July  15,  1919,  722;  males,  87  per  cent;  females,  13  per- 
cent. January  15,  1920,  319;  males,  84  per  cent;  females,  16  per  cent.  July  15,  1920^ 
820;  males,  70  per  cent:  females.  30  per  cent. 

N.  B.— The  1919  pack  consisted  of  398,603  cases,  while  1920,  633,392  cases. 

4.  Men,  1918,  11  cents  to  40  cents  per  hour,  bonus  26  workdays,  $7. 
Women,  1918,  7J  cents  to  10  cents  per  hour,  bonus  25  workdays,  $6. 
Boys,  14  to  16,  6|  cents  to  11  cents  per  hour,  bonus  24  workdays,  $5. 
Girls,  14  to  16,  6^  cents  to  7-|  cents  per  hour,  bonus  23  workdays,  $4.25. 
Men,  1919,  12^  cents  to  35  cents  per  hour,  bonus  21  workdays,' $3. 
Women,  8^  cents  to  12J  cents  per  hour,  bonus  20  workdays,  $2.50. 
Boys,  14  to  16,  6^  cents  to  12^  cents  per  hour,  bonus  19  workdays,  $1.50. 
Girls,  14  to  16,  6^  cents  to  8^  cents  per  hour,  1919  bonus  same  as  above. 

Men,  1920,  22-|-  cents  to  45  cents  per  hour,  10  per  cent  bonus  on  20  days  or  over. 
Women,  12|^  cents  to  15  cents  per  hour. 
Boys,  14  to  16,  15  cents  to  22^  cents  per  hour. 
Girls,  14  to  16,  10^  cents  to  15  cents  per  hour  and  perquisites. 
Men,  1921,  18  cents  to  40  cents  per  hour. 
Women,  12J  cents  to  15  cents  per  hour. 

N.  B.; — Bonus  applies  to  caiuiery  labor  only  for  the  rush  season,  June  to  September,, 
inclusive. 

Time  and  a  half  for  all  overtime,  Sundays,  and  holidays. 

5.  The  estimated  cost  of  living  of  laborers  to-day  is  approximately  35  per  cent  more 
than  before  the  war, 

6.  1918  average,  400;  1919,  700;  and  1920,  864.  NationaHties  employed:  Filipinos, 
Chinese,  Japanese,  Americans,  Hawaiians,  Koreans,  and  Portuguese. 

7.  Field  work  is  principally  performed  by  Japanese  and  Filipinos,  while  the  cannery 
work  is  performed  by  all  the  various  nationalities  represented  in  Hawaii. 

8.  The  willingness  and  aptitude  of  the  laborers  ior  the  work  compare  favorably  with 
former  years. 

9.  Quarters,  with  the  regular  plantation  perquisites — water,  fuel,  and  medical 
attention — are  furnished  our  employees,  with  fairly  steady  employment  the  year  round. 
The  Filipinos  exhibit  a  tendency  more  than  any  other  nationahty  to  shift. 

10.  From  20  per  cent  to  25  per  cent. 

11.  Yes.  every  possible  effort  is  made  to  enlist  labor  for  our  packing  season,  but 
prospects  are  that  we  shall  be  shorthand ed  and  there  may  be  spoilation  of  food. 

12.  Field  employees  will  have  to  be  transferred  to  cannery,  and  fields  will  conse- 
quently suffer,  aiid  crops  likely  to  be  short. 

Haiku  Fruit  &  Packing  Co.  (Ltd.) 
N.  Omsted,   Cashier. 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  1 21 


530  LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Hawaii  Fruit  Packers  (Ltd.), 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  2,  1921. 
Reply  to  questionnaire,  circular  No.  125. 

1.  None. 

2.  One-hundred  and  eighteen  dollars  and  forty  cents.     Company  organized  in  1920. 

3.  In  1921;  42  Japanese  and  10  Chinese  laborers  employed  in  our  fields  growing 
pineapples  under  contract;  in  cannery  4  Japanese,  all  males. 

4.  All  field  laborers  growing  pineapples  under  contract;  men  employed  by  them 
$3.25  per  diem. 

5.  Do  not  know. 

6.  Hawaiians:  Male,  4;  female,  6;  total,  10.  Japanese:  Male,  18;  female,  9;  total, 
27.  Portuguese:  Male,  3;  female,  6;  total  9.  Chinese:  Male,  none;  female,  4;  total, 
4.     Total  male,  25;  total  female,  25;  grand  total,  50. 

7.  In  fields:  Ordinary  labor  for  cultivating  and  harvesting  pines.  In  cannery: 
Women  at  trimming  and  packing  tables;  men  on  all  other  operations. 

8.  All  the  different  nationalities  are  less  willing  and  less  efficient  as  compared  with 
former  years. 

9.  Field  labor  living  on  plantations;  employment  roll  fairly  steady. 

10.  Our  harvest  being  small  and  all  fields  under  contract,  we  do  not  anticipate  any 
shortage  of  labor  during  the  packing  season. 

11.  None. 

12.  If  any  shortage  now,  future  crops  will  undoubtedly  be  materially  affected. 

Hawaiian  Canneries  Co.,  (Ltd.), 

Kapaa,  Kauai,  April  30^  1921. 
Mr.  A.  H.  Tarleton, 

Executive  Secretary  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers '  Association, 

Honolulu,  T.  H. 
Dear  Sir:  Inclosed  please  find  information  desired  by  Mr.  J.  K.  Butler  as  per 
your  circular  file  215.     The  questions  are  answered  by  their  number  and  in  the  order 
they  are  asked. 

1.  Total  Federa,l  taxes,  1919,  $1,153.22.     Total  Federal  taxes,  1920,  |98. 

2.  Total  Territorial  taxes,  1919,  $3,604.50.     Total  Territorial  taxes,  1920,  |4,264.70. 
;3.  Inclosed  sheet  has  figures  covering  this  question. 

4.  Common  labor  1919  paid  $1.50  per  day  and  50  cents  per  day  monthly  bonus  for 
^20  days  or  more  work.  Same  rate  in  1920  until  May  31.  After  May  31,  $3.25  per  day 
and  no  bonus.  In  1921  $2  per  day  for  20  days  or  more  work,  and  $1.25  per  day  for 
sunder  20  days. 

5.  As  a  gauge  of  the  comparative  cost  of  living  of  laborers  before  the  United  States 
entered  the  war  and  at  the  present  time,  we  give  cost  per  month  for  the  board  of  a 
single  laborer  in  one  of  our  camp  boarding  houses  operated  by  a  Japanese.  In  1917 
it  was  $9,  in  1921  it  is  $17.50. 

6.  Figures  answering  this  question  are  on  inclosed  sheet.  These  figures  are  very 
deceptive  however.  To  illustrate  tliis,  we  give  data  for  the  month  of  July,  in  the 
rush  part  of  the  season  when  we  are  busiest  and  need  a  good  turnout.  On  pay  roll 
307:  Average  number  working  per  day,  200.  Average  laying  off,  107,  or  over  one- 
third.  Out  of  these  307  people  on  the  pay  roll,  only  23  worked  steadily,  i.  e.,  every 
day  the  cannery  put  through  fruit.  From  this  an  idea  can  be  gained  of  the  independ- 
ence and  irresponsibility  of  the  present  type  of  labor  where  there  is  a  scarcity  and 
the  finding  of  highly  paid  employment  is  easy. 

7.  Animal  work,  Japanese-Filipinos;  tractors  and  trucks,  Japanese  Filipinos; 
hoeing  and  hand  work,  Japanese-Filipinos;  mechanics,  Japanese-Filipinos;  car- 
penters, Japanese-Filipinos;  operators  of  machines,  Japanese;  warehouse,  Japanese 
and  Koreans;  unskilled  labor,  Japanese  and  Hawaiians;  canning,  trucking,  Por- 
tuguese, Filipinos;  piling  cans,  trimming,   Koreans,   Chinese. 

8.  At  the  present  time  the  Japanese  are  doing  the  best  work,  with  the  Filipinos  a 
distant  second.  The  older  Japanese  and  married  Japanese  are  the  most  reliable,  the 
younger  generation  being  less  reliable.  The  Filipinos  are  irresponsible  and  do  not 
work  steadily,  moving  from  place  to  place  freely,  and  always  sure  of  reemployment. 
None  of  the  labor  is  putting  the  will  and  energy  into  the  work  that  was  done  in  prewar 
times.     A  man  with  a  good  sweat  up  is  uncommon  enough  to  be  quickly  noticeable. 

9.  The  employment  roll  from  month  to  month  does  not  vary  very  much  as  to  numbers. 
The  names  on  the  roll  do  show  a  considerable  change  in  this  district,  particularly  with 
the  Filipinos.  Our  field  laborers  live  for  the  most  part  in  our  camps.  The  cannery 
labor  comes  from  Kapaa  \'illage. 

10.  We  will  probably  be  short  100  people  during  the  canning  spason.  This  will 
mean  that  we  will  have  to  bring  field  labor  into  the  cannery  for  this  period  and  field 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  531 

work  will  have  to  go  undone.     This  is  a  source  of  much  expense  through  field  work 
improperly  done,  done  too  late,  and  neglected. 

11.  There  are  no  restrictions  of  area  at  present  with  this  company.  Our  neighbors 
have  had  to  restrict  considerably. 

12.  It  appears  to  the  writer  that  future  plantings  will  be  restricted  unless  a  supply 
of  labor  is  found.  At  present  we  have  planted  only  what  we  can  take  care  of.  Should 
the  number  of  our  laborers  decrease,  a  corresponding  area  must  be  uncared  for.  Future 
plantings  will  be  entirely  controlled  by  the  labor  supply.  As  we  wish  to  increase 
our  acreage  by  planting  for  future  crops,  a  greater  labor  shortage  will  effectively 
curtail  this  and  cut  down  our  output. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

Hawaiian  Canneries  Co.  (Ltd.). 

A.  Horner,  Jr.,  Superintendeni . 


information  for  territorial  commission. 

Eleele,  Kauai,  May  3,  1921. 
John  Waterhouse,  Esq., 

Manager  Alexander  &  Baldwin  {Ltd.),  Honolulu_  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  Crop  of  1921 :  We  usually  finish  grinding  the  middle  of  July,  but  this  year 
we  will  not  finish  until  the  end  of  October.  Many  of  our  big  cane  fields  will  suffer, 
and  we  will  probably  lose  almost  1,000  tons  of  sugar. 

Crop  of  1922:  We  previously  estimated  this  crop  at  16,000  tons.  We  have  now 
cut  it  to  14,000  tons.  We  are  throwing  out  fully  200  acres  of  ratoons  in  East  Lawai, 
which  were  hilled  up  and  given  the  first  application  of  fertilizer.  The  cane  is  now 
up  to  your  waist  in  height,  but  we  have  no  men  to  cultivate  these  fields.  In  the 
Test  of  the  sections  we  are  struggling  along  irrigating  the  growing  cane.  Many  of  the 
fields  we  are  only  getting  around  once  a  month.  Whereas  we  should  irrigate  them 
twice  a  month.     This  will  also  cut  down  our  crop  for  1922. 

Crop  of  1923:  We  are  at  the  present  time  harvesting  Wahiawa  gulch.  This  should 
be  started  in  the  fall  for  the  1923  crop.  Unless  we  get  more  labor  we  will  throw  out 
Wahiawa  gulch,  which  represents  40  acres  of  land.  Undoubtedly  we  will  have  to 
throw  out  a  good  deal  of  land  in  Koloa.  Planting  this  year  should  be  700  acres,  but 
we  are  planning  to  plant  only  300.  These  may  be  points  that  you  can  use  in  making 
out  your  report. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

F.  A.  Alexander, 
Manager  McBryde  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.), 


information  for  territorial  commission. 

May  5,  1921. 
Mr.  J.  Waterhouse, 

Manager  Alexander  &  Baldwin,  Honolulu,  Oahu. 

Dear  Sir:  As  per  your  request  I  herewith  submit  a  statement  regarding  the  situa- 
tion at  Makaweli,  due  to  a  shortage  of  labor  at  the  present  time: 

We  are  short  300  men  at  the  present  time  of  our  requirements.  We  have  had  to 
abandon  60  acres  of  ratoons,  as  we  did  not  have  men  enough  to  carry  it  along  for  the 
1922  crop.  There  is  another  field  of  200  acres  (1922  crop)  of  ratoons  which  is  not  being 
properly  cultivated,  due  to  a  shortage  of  men,  and  the  yield  of  the  last-mentioned 
area  will  be  very  small  due  to  improper  cultivation. 

We  have  been  forced  to  reduce  the  area  to  be  planted  for  the  1923  crop  from  900 
acres  to  550  acres,  and  there  is  still  a  question  whether  we  will  be  able  to  plant  the  last- 
mentioned  figure  or  not.  It  is  possible  that  we  will  still  have  to  reduce  the  area 
to  be  planted  for  the  1923  crop  to  300  acres. 

The  harvesting  of  the  1921  crop  has  now  been  delayed  to  such  an  extent  that  we 
are  short  over  2,000  tons  of  sugar  to  date,  which  is  due  to  a  shortage  of  labor,  and  at 
the  rate  we  are  grinding  at  the  present  time  it  will  take  us  until  the  end  of  October 
to  finish  the  1921  crop,  instead  of  August  1,  as  we  should  under  normal  conditions. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

B.  D.  Baldwin, 
Manager  Hawaiian  Sugar  Co. 


532  LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  9,  192 L 
Mr.  J.  K.  Butler, 

Secretary  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters^  Association,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

Dear  Sir:  Further  to  our  letter  of  May  3  in  connection  with  date  concerning" 
labor  and  crops  under  present  conditions,  we  now  beg  to  inform  you  as  follows: 

Waiakea  Mill  Co.:  The  manager  states  that  in  order  to  keep  the  crop  of  the  Waiakea 
Mill  Co.  at  normal,  500  acres  of  land  should  be  planted  each  year,  and  2,500  acres 
of  ratoons  cultivated.  It  is  hoped  this  year  to  plant  from  30  to  40  acres  and  to  culti- 
vate 1,800  acres  of  ratoons.  Under  the  present  shortage  of  labor  every  employee 
available  is  engaged  in  harvesting  and  milling,  and  the  best  they  can  do  is  25  per 
cent  short  in  daily  output,  with  no  labor  to  carry  on  future  crops. 

The  total  force  on  the  plantation  to  date,  including  men,  women,  boys  and  girls,, 
to  do  any  work  is  357,  being  the  best  turnout  of  labor  during  the  month  of  ApriL 
In  former  years  when  working  to  the  best  advantage  a  daily  turnout  of  900  laborers 
was  the  average. 

Laupahoehoe  Sugar  Co.:  The  manager  states,  "We  abandoned  300  acres  of  cane 
land  and  will  only  be  able  to  plant  500  or  600  acres  this  year,  which  is  about  50  per 
cent  of  our  normal  planting.  We  also  estimate  we  are  losing  about  a  half  ton  of  sugar 
per  acre  on  account  of  lack  of  labor  when  this  crop  was  under  cultivation." 

Kaiwiki  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.):  The  manager  states:  "We  intended  to  plant  about  700 
acres  of  land,  but  do  not  expect  to  be  able  to  plant  more  than  400  acres.  The  grow- 
ing crop  for  1922  is  suffering  from  the  lack  of  proper  cultivation,  as  it  is  not  possible 
to  give  it  as  much  attention  as  we  desire  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  labor." 

Hamakua  Mill  Co.:  The  manager  states  that  as  the  planting  depends  on  the  labor 
they  are  able  to  command,  they  anticipate  they  will  have  to  abandon  357  acres  this 
year,  which  will  be  neither  planted  nor  cultivated  for  ratoons.  The  normal  crop  on 
this  plantation  is  taken  off  some  3,300  acres  per  annum. 

Niulii  Mill  &  Plantation:  The  manager  writes  as  follows:  "We  are  six  weeks  behind 
with  our  general  work,  but  just  what  acreage  we  will  have  to  abandon  on  account 
of  labor  shortage  is  hard  to  say  at  this  time,  but  probably  120  acres  of  second  ratoons. 
We  are  25  per  cent  short  of  our  normal  labor  at  present." 

Halawa  Plantation  (Ltd.):  The  manager  states  that  owing  to  shortage  of  labor 
he  has  been  unable  to  plant  125  acres  of  land  for  the  1923  crop,  which  he  would  have 
done  if  the  labor  had  been  available.  He  also  states  that  comparing  March,  1921, 
with  March,  1919,  he  is  35  men  short  on  a  normal  turnout  of  275  men.  On  this  plan 
tation  the  manager  has  been  compelled  to  stop  grinding  for  a  short  time  in  order  to 
use  his  labor  on  preparing  and  planting  and  cultivating  the  following  crops. 

Union  Mill  Co.:  The  manager  writes  as  follows:  Owing  to  the  existing  shortage  of 
labor  10  acres  of  plant  cane  have  been  abandoned  for  the  1922  crop  because  it  is 
impossible  to  grind  the  1921  crop  and  cultivate  cane  for  the  following  crops  simul 
taneously. 

Referring  to  crop  of  1923,  the  manager  states:  "We  will  probably  be  unable  to  plan' 
at  least  100  acres  of  cane  for  this  crop  because  the  same  could  not  be  properly  carec 
for  with  the  labor  supply  on  the  plantation." 

Kaeleku  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.):  The  manager  writes  as  follows: 

"Crop  of  1921:  As  a  result  of  shortage  of  250  men  the  harvesting  will  be  delayed 
about  two  months  for  this  crop. 

"Crop  of  1922:  At  present  1,400  acres,  250  acres  of  which  we  are  not  able  to  culti 
vate  on  account  of  the  labor  shortage,  and  this  will  result  in  the  yield  being  decreased 
by  about  one  ton  of  sugar  per  acre  for  this  crop. 

"Crop  of  1923:  We  contemplate  planting  40  acres  of  cane  for  this  crop,  including 
which  we  shall  have  approximately  1,380  acres,  which  should  have  been  1,680  acres 
as  300  acres  of  cane  have  been  abandoned  on  account  of  the  shortage  of  labor." 

We  trust  that  the  foregoing  information  will  be  of  service,  and  remain. 
Yours,  faithfully, 

Theo.  H.  Davies  &  Co.  (Ltd.). 
J.  N.  Williams. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AIL  533 

Appendix  TIL 

•STATEMENTS  SHOWING  EFFORTS  MADE  BY  INDIVIDUAL  INTERESTS  AND  BY  OFFICIALS 
OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  HAWAII  FOR  THE  IMMIGRATION  OF  FOREIGN  LABORERS 
WITH  A  VIEW  TO  FURNISHING  AN  ADEQUATE  LABOR  SUPPLY  FOR  THE  AGRICULTURAL 
INDUSTRIES  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

{Compiled  from  official  records  and  other  sources,  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Lydecker,  Librarian  of  the  Public  Archives, 

Territory  of  Hawaii.] 

Previous  to  1850  the  few  foreign  residents  in  the  Kingdom,  especially  those  who  had 
plantations  or  were  employers  of  labor  began  to  ask  themselves,  with  much  concern, 
in  view  of  the  steady  decline  of  the  native  race,  which  had  hitherto  supplied  the 
necessary  labor,  where  they  should  procure  the  needed  help. 

CHINESE. 

The  subject  of  cheap  labor  had  for  several  years  engaged  the  attention  of  the  planters, 
hut  nothing  had  been  done  to  promote  immigration  up  to  the  beginning  of  1851,  when 
an  attempt  was  made  to  procure  some  coolies,  but  for  some  reason  was  a  failure.  The 
Royal  Hawaiian  Agricultural  Society,  which  was  founded  August  12,  1850,  then  took 
matters  into  its  own  hands.  No  labor  could  be  procured  from  California  or  Japan; 
the  South  Sea  Islands  were  undesirable  on  account  of  the  expense,  and  Europe  was 
out  of  the  question.  Under  these  circumstances  the  only  choice  was  China.  In 
August,  1851,  the  society  engaged  Capt.  Cass,  of  the  bark  Thetis,  to  bring  to  the  islands 
some  180  coolies,  or  thereabouts,  under  special  contract  for  their  passage  and  advanced 
wages.  In  fulfillment  of  this  engagement  Capt.  Cass,  on  January  3,  1852,  landed  at 
Honolulu  195  coolies,  the  first  ever  introduced  into  the  country  as  laborers.  These 
coolies  were  engaged  for  five  years  at  $3  per  month,  in  addition  to  their  passage,  food, 
clothing,  and  house.  An  advance  of  $6  each  had  been  made  to  them  in  China,  to  be 
■refunded  in  small  installments  out  of  their  wages.  In  addition  to  the  contract  labor- 
ers, the  Thetis  brought  20  boys,  who  were  readily  engaged  as  house  or  other  servants 
ior  five  years  at  |2  a  month,  their  passage  and  advance  being  paid  by  their  employers. 
The  cost  of  importing  this  lot  was  $50  per  man,  and  it  was  estimated  by  those  who 
employed  them  that  their  wages  and  support  would  amount  to  a  trifle  under  |7  per 
month.  Until  this  time  the  few  Chinese  in  the  Kingdom  were  of  the  better  class, 
imostly  merchants.  There  was  considerable  satisfaction  at  the  arrival  of  these  coolies, 
and  the  Plon.  William  L.  Lee,  president  of  the  agricultural  society,  in  his  annual 
address  said:  "On  the  subject  of  labor,  I  am  happy  to  say,  there  is  less  fear  than 
formerly.  The  enterprise  set  on  foot  by  our  society  for  procuring  laborers  from  China 
iias  at  last  met  with  success.  The  Chinese  brought  here  in  the  Thetis  have  proved 
themselves  quiet,  able,  and  wilhng  men,  and  I  have  little  doubt,  judging  from  our 
.short  experience,  we  shall  find  coolie  labor  to  be  far  more  certain,  systematic,  and 
economical  than  that  of  the  natives." 

These  first  coolies  meeting  with  such  favor,  Capt.  Cass  was  sent  back  to  China  for  a 
further  supply,  and* returned  here  July  31,  1852,  with  98  laborers.  The  Polynesian 
•of  August  7  of  that  year  says:  "From  the  short  experience  of  those  who  have  had  to 
•do  with  this  sort  of  laborers,  they  have  proved  themselves  a  class  highly  desirable  at 
the  present  time  in  these  islands." 

PITCAIRN   ISLANDERS. 

But  the  importation  of  laborers  was  not  the  only  important  question.  The  native 
Tace  was  gradually  declining^  and  anxiety  for  the  future  of  the  kingdom  was  felt. 
Laborers  imported  for  plantations  could  not  be  relied  upon  as  persons  likely  to  settle 
and  make  the  country  their  home;  immigrants  of  a  different  stamp — settlers — should 
by  some  means  be  induced  to  come  here.  The  King,  therefore,  authorized  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  Wyllie  to  negotiate  with  the  British  consul  general  to  obtain  from 
his  Government  its  consent  to  remove  to  Hawaii  all  the  inhabitants  of  Pitcairn  Island — 
they  to  settle  on  the  King's  own  land  as  proprietors,  or  tenants,  and  under  his  own 
care.  This  project  failed,  the  British  consul  general  alleging  that  his  Government 
would  never  consent  unless  the  King  should  bind  himself  to  admit  them  as  subjects 
of  the  British  Crown.     For  obvious  reasons,  Mr.  Wyllie  could  not  consent  to  this. 

The  introduction  of  coolies  did  not  altogether  cease  with  the  second  cargo  brought 
here,  but  they  came  in  very  much  smaller  numbers  either  on  their  own  account  or  as 
they  might  be  wanted  by  individuals  who  required  their  services.  The  demand  for 
labor  had  been  so  great  that,  on  their  first  arrival  the  Chinese  had  received  nothiag 


534  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

but  praise,  but  as  time  went  on  there  was  found  certain  disadvantages  in  employing 
them.  Understanding  their  own  rights,  they  did  not  always  consider  those  of  their 
employers,  and  were  often  discontented,  imagining  more  was  demanded  of  them  than 
their  contracts  called  for.  In  this  connection  Kamehameha  IV,  in  his  speech  to  the 
legislature  of  1855,  says:  "It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Chinese  coolie  immigrants  to 
whom  has  been  given  a  trial  of  sufficient  length  for  testing  their  fitness  to  supply  our 
want  of  labor  and  population,  have  not  realized  the  hopes  of  those  who  have  incurred 
the  expense  of  their  introduction.  They  are  not  so  kind  and  tractable  as  it  was 
anticipated  they  would  be,  and  they  seem  to  have  no  affinities,  attractions,  or  tend- 
ency to  blend  with  this  or  any  other  race.  In  view  of  this  failure  it  becomes  a  ques- 
tion of  some  moment  whether  a  class  of  persons  more  nearly  assimilated  with  the 
Hawaiian  race  could  not  be  induced  to  settle  on  our  soil."  The  wishes  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  employers  were  not  identical  in  this  respect.  The  Government  wanted 
settlers  who  would  infuse  new  blood  in  a  declining  race,  the  employers,  workers 
alone,  who  would  be  an  immediate  source  of  profit.  Meantime  the  Chinese  were 
coming  into  the  country  in  small  numbers,  so  few,  in  fact,  as  to  be  unable  to  supply 
the  wants  of  the  plantations,  no  special  laws  were  made  concerning  them — they 
coming  as  contract  laborers  under  the  "master  and  servant"  law.  Unfortunately, 
on  account  of  lack  of  funds  the  Government  could  do  nothing  in  the  way  of  bringing 
immigrants  here  of  a  race  allied  by  blood  to  the  Hawaiians,  Private  individuals 
were  willing  to  import  laborers,  but  did  not  care  to  burden  themselves  with  families. 

SOUTH   SEA   ISLANDERS. 

The  American  schooner  Wamp  arrived  at  Koloa,  Kauai,  December. 31,  1859,  bring- 
ing 10  South  Sea  Islanders — four  men  and  six  women,  who  had  hired  themselves 
out  to  the  Koloa  plantation.  It  was  hoped  that  this  was  the  beginning  of  a  process, 
for  increasing  the  populations  of  the  islands,  but  notwithstanding  the  growing  demand 
for  labor,  nothing  was  done  until  1863,  when  arrangements  were  made  with  the  mis- 
sionary packet  Morning  Star  to  bring  some  50  Micronesian  Islanders  to  the  country,, 
but  the  vessel  returned  from  her  cruise  without  any,  owing  to  a  war  that  was  then 
raging  between  the  two  principal  chiefs  of  the  islands.  It  seeming  then  that  laborers 
could  not,  without  great  difficulty,  be  obtained  from  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  the 
planters  were  once  more  obliged  to  resort  to  China. 

At  the  opening  of  the  legislature  of  1864,  the  King  in  his  speech  said:  "Our  agricul- 
tural enterprises  have  been  urged  forward  with  such  energy  as  to  render  the  im- 
portation of  laborers  necessary.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  Government  is  the  proper 
agent  to  carry  out  such  a  measure,  and  that  means  ought  to  be  placed  at  its  disposal  to 
undertake  it  promptly."  This  recommendation  resulted  in  the  passage  of  an  act 
establishing  a  bureau  of  immigration.  This  being  the  first  official  action  on  the  sub- 
ject, the  law  governing  it  is  here  given  in  full: 

''Be  it  enacted  by  the  King  and  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  in  the 
legislature  of  the  Kingdom,  assembled: 

"  Section  1.  There  shall  be  and  hereby  is  created  a  bureau  in  tjie  department  of  the 
interior,  to  be  styled  the  bureau  of  immigration,  for  the  purpose  of  superintending  the 
importation  of  foreign  laborers,  and  the  introduction  of  immigrants. 

' '  Sec.  2.  That  the  said  bureau  shall  be  under  the  control  of  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
assisted  by  a  committee  of  five  members  of  the  privy  council  of  State  to  be  appointed 
by  His  Majesty  the  King,  for  that  purpose. 

"Sec  3.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  minister  of  the  interior,  with  the  assistance- 
of  the  committee  of  the  privy  council  aforesaid,  as  soon  as  convenient  after  the  passage 
of  this  act,  to  devise  and  recommend  for  the  adoption  of  His  Majesty  the  King  in  privy 
council,  such  measures  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  importation  of  a  sufficient 
number  of  foreign  laborers  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  planters  and  others;  and  such 
regulations  as  may  be  deemed  expedient  touching  the  contracts  to  be  made  with  such 
laborers,  as  well  as  the  terms  and  conditions  upon  which  they  are  to  be  assigned  after 
their  arrival  in  the  Kingdom. 

"Sec.  4.  It  shall  also  be  the  duty  of  the  minister  of  the  interior,  with  the  assistance 
of  the  aforesaid  committee,  from  time  to  time,  to  recommend  for  the  adoption  of  His 
Majesty  the  King  in  privy  council,  such  measures  and  regulations  as  may  be  deemed 
expedient  to  promote  and  encourage  the  introduction  of  free  immigrants  from  abroad. 

"Sec.  5.  Monej^s  appropriated  by  the  legislature  for  the  objects  contemplated  in 
this  act,  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  public  treasury  upon  the  order  of  the  minister  of  the 
interior. 

"Sec.  6.  Such  nieasures  and  regulations  as  shall  from  time  to  time  be  adopted  by 
Sis  Majesty  the  King  in  privy  council,  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be  em- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  535 

bodied  in  ordinancos  of  the  King  in  council,  and  shall  be  published  in  a  newspaper 
published  in  Honolulu. 

"Sec.  7.  This  act  shall  take  effect  and  become  a  law  from  and  after  the  date  of  its 
passage. 

"Approved  this  30th  day  of  December,  A.  D.  1864. 

"Kamehameha,  R." 

There  was  also  inserted  in  the  appropriation  bill  of  this  session  the  following  item: 
"Encouragement  of  agriculture  and  immigration,  $5,000." 

Agreeably  to  section  2  of  the  act,  the  King  appointed  the  following  named  gentlemen 
as  a  board  of  immigration:  C.  G.  Hopkins,  minister  of  the  interior,  president;  minister 
of  finance,  C.  De  Varigny;  attorney  general,  C.  C.  Harris;  G.  M.  Robertson,  and  Dr. 
William  Hillebrand.  The  board  held  its  first  meeting  February  13,  1865,  and  its 
first  action  was  the  appointment  of  the  Hon.  David  Kalakaua  as  secretary. 

SOUTH    SEA    ISLANDERS. 

At  the  second  meeting  of  the  board,  February  14,  a  conference  took  place  with 
Capt.  James,  of  the  Morning  Star,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the  board  advised  him 
to  encourage  a  voluntary  emigration  from  the  South  Pacific  islands,  and  agreed  to 
pay  him  .$30  passage  money  for  each  adult,  $15  for  each  childs  and  $5  a  head  premium 
to  himself,  it  being  well  understood  that  these  immigrants  would  not  be  bound  by  any 
contract,  and  that  their  coming  here  would  be  a  voluntary  act  on  their  part.  It  was 
also  suggested  and  agreed  to  bring  here,  if  possible,  one  or  two  chiefs  of  said  islands, 
and  return  them  to  their  country  whenever  they  should  so  desire,  as  well  as  any 
families  coming  with  them  that  might  so  wish. 

PORTUGUESE. 

A  committee  was  also  appointed  to  negotiate  with  Hackfeld  &  Co.  relative  to  charter- 
ing the  bark  R.  W.  Wood  and  send  it  to  China  with  an  agent  to  secure  a  cargo  of  coolies, 
male  and  female.  A  resolution  was  also  adopted  to  take  measures  to  encourage  free 
immigration  from  the  Azores  and  Cape  de  Verde  Islands.  Mr.  Spencer,  chief  clerk 
of  the  interior  department,  who  was  going  to  make  a  ^dsit  to  his  home,  notifjang  th^ 
board  that  he  would  mllingly  make  a  trip  to  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  an  importation  of  laborers  from  these  islans,  ansking  only  that  the  ex- 
penses of  such  a  trip  be  refunded  him.  Such  was  the  initial  actions  of  the  board  to 
procure  immigrants,  but  the  results  amounted  to  little  or  nothing.  There  is  no  record 
of  the  R.  W.  Wood  being  sent  to  China  at  this  time;  she  is  first  reported  as  arriving 
from  there  August  11,  1870,  with  61  coolies.  Mr.  Spencer  does  not  seem  to  have  made 
the  trip  to  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  and  there  is  a  discrepancy  between  the  statis- 
tical table  and  the  report  of  the  president  of  the  board  of  immigration  as  to  the  date 
and  the  number  of  Marquesans  brought  here  by  the  Morning  Star.  The  former  gives 
that  vessel  as  arri^^Jlg  here  April  19,  1865,  with  14  immigrants,  three  children  being 
included  in  the  number  whereas  the  latter  states:  "In  June.  1865,  a  small  number 
of  Marquesans  were  brought  here.  Eight  of  them  were  under  the  auspices  of  the  board 
of  immigration  and  seven  under  the  Hawaiian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions." 

The  board  at  tliis  same  meeting  (Feb.  14,  1865)  appointed  a  committee  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Harris  and  Robertson  to  draw  up  a  set  of  ordinances  to  be  submitted  to 
the  privy  council.  Ordinance  No.  1  prohibited  all  persons  from  introducing  bound 
laborers  into  the  Kingdom  without  express  license  of  the  board,  under  a  penalty  of 
$100  for  each  laborer.  Ordinance  No.  2  authorized  the  board  to  adopt  and  pursue 
such  measures  as  may  seem  expedient  to  promote  the  introduction  of  free  immigrants 
into  the  islands,  male  and  female,  from  the  Azores,  Canary  and  Cape  de  Verde  Islands, 
also  from  any  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Ordinance  No.  2  empowered  the 
board  to  charter  the  bark  R.  W.  Wood,  or  any  other  suitable  vessel,  to  proceed  to  China, 
with  an  agent  of  the  Hawaiian  Government,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  as  many 
Chinese  laborers,  male  and  female,  as  the  vessel  could  conveniently  carry,  to  he 
hired  upon  such  terms  and  conditions  as  the  board  should  pro\T.de,  and  authorized 
the  board  to  expend  such  moneys  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the  object  of  the 
ordinance. 

These  ordinances  were  submitted  to  the  privy  council  and  approved  February  17, 
1865,  after  a  lengthy  discussion.  Ordinance  No.  1  gave  great  offense  to  some  persons, 
and  at  a  meeting  of  the  planters'  society,  April  1,  1865,  was  discussed  by  that  body 
in  a  not  altogether  friendly  spirit.  Minister  of  Finance  de  Varigny,  in  a  lengthy 
address  defending  the  ordinance,  stated  that  the  principle  asserted  in  it  was  nothing 
new;  nobody  could  deny  the  right  of  every  Government  to  control  and  superintend 


536  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HA  WAIL 

the  introduction  of  a  large  class  of  immigrants,  destitute  and  relying  on  immediate 
employment.  Even  without  the  ordinance,  the  Government,  through  the  board  of 
health,  or  the  minister  of  the  interior,  had  the  right  to  prevent  the  landing  on  these 
shores  of  immigrants  sick,  destitute,  or  whose  morality  might  effect  the  people.  The 
ordinance  did  not  prevent  private  parties  from  importing  laborers,  it  only  prevented 
them  from  so  doing  without  the  sanction  of  the  board. 

Shortly  after  the  organization  of  the  board,  Mr.  Walter  M.  Gibson  brought  to  the 
attention  of  that  body  the  advisability  of  sending  a  commissioner  abroad  to  study 
the  possibilities  of  immigration,  and  at  a  meeting  held  March  7,  1865,  the  board 
decided  to  submit  for  the  King's  signature  a  commission  for  Dr.  Hillebrand,  as  "Royal 
Commissioner  of  Immigration  in  Foreign  Countries,"  which  commission  was  duly 
signed  by  His  Majesty,  and  at  the  board's  next  meeting,  March  30,  Dr.  Hillebrand 
was  instructed  to  proceed  to  China  and  send  from  there  a  shipment  of  500  coolies, 
after  doing  which  he  was  to  proceed  to  the  East  Indies  with  a  view  of  ascertaining 
whether  laborers  could  be  procured  from  there.  He  was  also  to  collect  information 
and  report  on  the  means  adopted  to  arrest  or  cure  leprosy,  to  collect  information 
-about  tropical  agriculture,  plants,  trees,  etc. 

CHINA. 

Dr.  Hillebrand  sailed  on  his  mission  April  27,  1865,  and  in  a  letter  to  the  board, 
-dated  Hongkong,  June  14,  announces  his  arrival  at  that  place  two  days  before.  He 
also  states  that  everything  looks  very  promising  and  calculated  to  make  him  hope 
that  he  vvill  be  able  to  send  about  500  coolies  with  from  25  to  30  per  cent  females  in 
a  short  time  at  considerably  less  expense  than  was  at  first  anticipated.  In  a  sub- 
sequent letter,  dated  July  15,  he  announces  the  departure  from  Hongkong  of  the 
Chilean  bark  Alberto  with  about  250  coolies,  to  be  followed  shortly  by  the  Roscoe 
with  260  or  270  more,  20  to  25  per  cent  of  those  by  the  latter  vessel  being  women. 
The  doctor  explains  the  chartering  of  two  vessels  instead  of  one  on  the  ground  of 
avoiding  possible  sickness  and  mortality  consequent  upon  sending  500  or  600  persons 
in  one  vessel,  in  which  case  some  are  always  put  on  the  lower  decks;  and  this  being 
improperly  or  not  at  all  ventilated,  could  not  but  prove  fatal  to  many.  The  Alberto 
arrived  here  September  25,  1865,  bringing  240  men,  the  first  immigrants  to  arrive 
under  Government  auspices.  The  Roscoe  arrived  shortly  after,  October  13,  with  223 
men,  52  women,  and  3  children  and  completed  the  first  lot,  and  from  that  time  on 
Chinese  came  in  greater  or  less  numbers,  quite  a  number  coming  from  California  on 
their  own  account. 

POLYNESIANS. 

Quite  an  effort  was  still  being  made  to  procure  South  Sea  Islanders,  The  legisla- 
ture of  1868  passed  an  act  with  this  end  in  view,  directing  the  board  of  immigration  to 
take  prompt  and  efficient  measures  for  the  introduction  of  Ploynesians  of  both  sexes, 
but,  as  shown  by  the  table  of  statistics,  little  was  accomplished.  This  legislature  also 
passed  an  act  extending  the  powers  of  the  board  and  directed  it  to  devise  and  recom- 
mend, for  adoption  by  the  privy  council,  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  deemed 
necessary,  for  the  good  government  and  control  of  the  immigrants  that  had  been 
brought  into  the  country.  During  these  years  much  dissatisfaction  was  felt  at  the 
number  of  Chinese  flocking  into  the  country.  Letters  were  Vv^ritten,  meetings  were 
held,  and  feeling  ran  rather  high.  By  some  the  Chinese  were  regarded  as  unneces- 
sary, if  not  positively  injurious,  while  others  predicted  that  without  the  introduction 
of  at  least  2,000  more  the  country  must  inevitably  suffer,  while  many  desired  South 
Sea  Islanders,  some  spoke  of  Portuguese  and  other  Europeans,  and  not  a  fe^^derided 
the  idea  of  Europeans  working  in  this  climate.  From  this  great  diversity  of  opinion 
it  will  be  seen  that  Honolulu  in  1868  was  not  much  different  from  the  Honolulu  of 
the  present  day. 

JAPANESE. 

During  the  year  1867-68,  a  lengthy  correspondence  was  carried  on  between  the 
board  and  Mr.  Van  Reed,  the  Hawaiian  consul,  in  Japan,  touching  the  value  of  Japan- 
ese as  laborers  likely  to  remain  in  the  country.  Mr.  Van  Reed  having  spoken  in  the 
highest  terms  of  the  industry  and  docility  of  these  people,  their  cleanliness,  honesty, 
and  adaptibility  to  the  ways  of  the  country,  a  draft  was  forv/arded  him  in  March,  1868, 
for  the  purpose  of  sending  immigrants  here.  The  consul  lost  no  time  in  getting  to 
work  and  soon  had  nearly  350  people  to  embark,  but  the  captain  of  the  ScAoto,^  the 
vessel  that  had  been  chartered  to  bring  them  here,  showed  the  greatest  dilatoriness 
in  getting  ready  for  sea,  and  a  change  of  Government  taking  place  meanwhile,  the 


LABOII    PKOBLEMS   IN    IIAWAII.  537 

permission  that  had  been  gi^-cn  allowing  emigrants  to  depart  was  witlidrawn.  Mr 
Van  Heed,  however,  finally  succeeded  in  disT)atching  the  vessel  with  .148  persons, 
6  of  whom  v/ere  women,  instead  of  tlie  350  wlio  had  been  first  engaged.  The  Scioto 
arrived  here  on  the  folknving  terms:  Three  years  service  at  montldy  wages  of  $4  per 
man,  the  3()  months  to  be  counted  from  the  day  they  arrived  in  Honolulu;  the  laborers 
•were  to  be  divided  into  companies  of  25  men  each;  each  company  to  have  two  head 
men,  who  were  to  receive  $1  each  month  in  addition  to  their  pay.  There  v/as  one  head 
man  for  all  the  laborers,  who  received  $150  per  year,  including  board.  From  the  time 
of  their  leaving  Yc»kohama,  they  were  to  be  supplied  by  the  contractors  with  food, 
lodging,  and  passage,  as  well  as  medical  attedance.  The  wages  were  to  be  paid  in 
the  following  manner:  On  the  first  day  of  every  month,  counting  from  the  day  they 
left  Yokohama,  one-half  their  wages  was  to  be  paid  to  them  and  the  remaining  half 
paid  by  note;  but  if  the  laborer  should  desire  to  receive  this  remainder,  he  was  to 
make  known  his  wish  to  his  employers,  through  the  head  man,  and  the  money  should 
~be  paid  over  to  him  in  exchange  for  the  note.  Whatever  was  due  them  at  the  end  of 
their  term  was  to  be  paid  on  tJieir  arrival  at  Yokohama,  by  the  Hawaiian  consul  gen- 
eral, who  was  to  receive  and  care  for  them  until  they  Vv'-ere  returned  to  their  homes. 
The  cost  of  bringing  these  laborers  here  was  $70  a  head,  payable  by  the  employers. 

After  some  time  it  was  found  that  the  laborers  did  not  understand  the  method  of 
monthly  payments,  of  one-half  cash  and  one-half  notes  and  a  change  was  made  whereby 
they  received  the  whole  of  their  wages  monthly  in  coin.  A  year  or  so  after  the  arrival  of 
these  immigrants  evil  reports  were  circulated  in  Yokohama,  which  had  their  untruthful 
origin  in  Honolulu,  in  regard  to  the  treatment  they  were  receiving  here.  These  reports 
gave  rise  in  Japan  to  all  sorts  of  rumors  and  alarms,  and  the  Government  sent  a  com- 
mission to  Honolulu  to  investigate  them.  This  commission  made  a  rigid  inspection 
of  the  conditions  of  their  countrymen  and  reported  to  the  Japanese  Government  that 
all  the  reports  that  had  been  circulated  were  outrageously  false. 

SWEDEN. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  board  held  June  8,  1868,  a  letter  was  read  from  a  Swedish  gentle- 
man addressed  to  the  Swedish  consul  in  these  islands,  making  inquiries  about  the 
feasibility  of  introducing  here  some  500  peasants  from  the  north  of  Sweden.  After  a 
lengthy  discussion  of  the  board,  they  decided  they  were  not  exactly  the  immigrants 
wanted  here  just  then.  At  this  same  meeting  the  subject  of  the  introduction  of  Por- 
tuguese laborers  from  the  Azores  and  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands  was  again  brought 
up,  but  notwithstanding  their  undoubted  value  as  immigrants,  it  was  considered 
that  the  bringing  of  them  here  was  so  costly  as  to  make  them  altogether  out  of  the 
question. 

On  October  2,  1872,  Mr.  Walter  M.  Gibson,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  King,  inclosing 
an  outline  of  a  plan  of  an  immigration  company,  to  be  called  the  Hawaiian  Immigra- 
tion Co.,  the  object  of  which  was  to  induce  free  immigration  from  China  and  Japan, 
and  from  other  countries,  especially  those  of  South  Eastern  Asia.  Towards  the  end 
of  this  same  month  of  October,  Mr.  Gibson,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Honolulu,  appeared  before  that  body  to  exlplain  his  project  of  immigration, 
going  into  the  subject  at  great  length,  and  a  week  later  was  again  invited  by  the  cham- 
ber of  commerce  to  give  further  information.  As  a  result  of  these  addresses,  a  meeting 
was  called  for  the  purpose  of  forming  an  immigration  society  and  Mr.  W.  L.  Green,  and 
Mr.  W.  M.  Gibson  were  respectively  named  chairman  and  secretary.  After  some  debate 
these  gentlemen,  with  Mr.  Charles  R.  Bishop,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  invite 
membership.  Thus  began  the  Hawaiian  Immigration  Society,  founded  November 
6,  1872,  the  officers  being  S.  N.  Castle,  president;  W.  L.  Green,  vice  president;  and 
W.  M.  Gibson,  secretary.  Mr.  C.  R.  Bishop  and  J.  C.  Glade  with  the  above-named 
officers  forming  the  executive  committee.  As  far  as  bringing  immigrants  into  the 
country  is  concerned  the  society  does  not  seem  to  have  accomplished  anything.  A 
report  issued  by  the  secretary  in  July,  1874,  shows  a  membership  of  60  individuals  and 
firms,  in  which  number  appear  the  names  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  men 
in  the  Kingdom.  It  contains  very  valuable  statistics  as  to  population,  labor,  produce, 
and  general  possibilities.  A  table  is  appended  showing  a  list  of  plantations,  the  num- 
ber, sex,  and  nationality  of  those  employed,  the  acrea.ge  in  sugar  cane,  acreage  of  cane 
land  in  the  neighborhood  of  each  and  the  race  preferred  as  laborers  by  the  different 
owners. 

PORTUGUESE. 

In  the  early  part  of  1876  opinions  seem  to  have  undergone  a  change  regarding  the 
feasibility  of  iDringing  Portuguese  laborers  here,  but  no  decided  steps  were  taken  until 
a  year  later,  when  it  was  decided  that  serious  steps  should  be  taken  regarding  immi- 


538  LABOR  PROBLEMS   11^   HAWAII. 

gration  from  the  Azores.  Dr.  Hillebrand,  being  at  that  time  in  Maderia,  was  written 
to  on  the  subject  by  J.  Mott-Smith,  then  minister  of  the  interior,  and  on  February  24  a 
royal  commission  was  sent  him  appointing  him  commissioner  of  immigration,  a  position 
he  had  filled  in  China  in  1865.  Mr.  Mott-Smith  informed  him  that  the  Hawaiian 
minister  dt  Washington,  the  Hon.  E.  H.  Allen,  has  had  authority  conferred  upon  him 
to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  amitv  and  commerce  with  Portugal  by  which  it  is  hoped  that 
any  hindrance  which  might  be  interposed  to  the  emigration  of  the  Portuguese  subjects 
to  this  country,  by  reason  of  nontreatv  relations  between  the  respective  countries  may 
be  removed,  also  the  appointment  of  Mr.  J.  Perry  as  Portuguese  consul,  an  appoint- 
ment that  had  been  made  a  short  time  previous  placing  all  Portuguese  subjects  in 
direct  communication  with  their  own  country.  Dr.  Hillebrand  is  further  informed 
that  the  board  of  immigration  will  undertake  to  provide  the  immigrants  with  employ- 
ment for  the  first  year  after  arrival  of  at  least  |15  a  month  for  the  men.  Mr.  Mott- 
Smith  also  points  out  that  since  the  ratification  of  the  reciprocity  treaty  with  the  United 
States,  in  July  of  the  previous  year,  the  demand  for  labor  by  the  planters  already .»in 
operation  is  greatly  in  excess  of  the  supply,  and  immigrants,  therefore,  may  count 
pretty  certainly  upon  immediate  employment.  Dr.  Hillebrind's  reply  to  the  letter 
was  favorable  as  far  as  the  possibilities  of  immigration  was  concerned,  but  he  was  rather 
unwilling  to  take  upon  himself  the  duties  of  commissioner,  giving  as  a  pretext  the 
anxieties,  labor,  and  annoyance  of  the  position. 

Mr.  Mott-Smith,  however,  was  determined  not  to  give  in  and  wrote  once  more  to 
the  doctor.  "It  appears  to  me,"  he  said,  "that  you  are  in  a  position  to  help  us  suffi- 
ciently, and  can  do  so  by  spreading  information  concerning  our  brilliant  agricultural 
prospects  and  by  setting  on  foot  at  least  one  shipment  of  immigrants."  According 
to  this  letter,  written  July  15.  1877,  there  were  then  residents  on  these  islands,  some 
500  Portuguese  that  had  drifted  here  from  time  to  time,  and  he  held  out  the  hope  that 
unmarried  women  arriving  here  would  at  once  find  husbands.  Dr.  Hillebrand  was 
authorized  to  pay  toward  the  passage  of  any  immigrants  he  might  secure,  $45  for  men 
and  $50  for  women  and  half  those  sums  for  children,  but,  says  the  minister  of  the 
interior,  "It  is  not  the  intention  of  the  Govern,ment  to  continue  these  high  premiums 
or  to  guarantee  $15  per  month  for  the  first  year,  the  board  being  willing  to  assist 
persons  coming  here,  but  not  to  guarantee  the  rate  of  wages,  as  iften  will  find  employ- 
ment at  higher  or  lower  wages  according  to  their  ability."  The  outcome  of  this 
and  subsequent  correspondence  was  that  Dr.  Hillebrand' s  first  consignment  from 
Madeira  consisted  of  80  men,  40  women,  and  60  children,  who  arrived  here  on  the 
Priscilla,  September  30,  1878. 

MICRONESIANS. 

Meantime  the  South  Sea  Islands  had  not  been  lost  sight  of,  and  at  a  meeting  of.  the 
board,  July  13,  1877,  it  was  decided  to  send  Capt.  Mist  to  the  Southern  Islands  to 
facilitate  and  promote  emigration  from  there.  The  result  of  this  venture  was,  that  the 
Storm  Bird  reached  here  May  29,  1878,  with  86  Micronesians.  The  cost  of  bringing 
these  people  was  $52  per  head,  and  their  wages  fixed  at  $5  per  month  for  the  men 
and  $4  per  month  for  the  women,  for  the  first  year  of  their  service,  and  $6.50  for  the  men 
and  $5  for  the  women  for  the  remainder  of  their  term,  with  board  and  lodging. 

EAST   INDIANS. 

When  the  Hon.  H.  A.  P.  Carter  was  sent  to  Europe  in  1877,  on  a  diplomatic  mission , 
he  was  instructed  to  use  his  best  endeavors  to  facilitate  the  bringing  of  coolies  from 
India  as  laborers  with  the  ultimate  view  of  their  remaining  in  the  islands.  Mr.  Carter 
while  in  England  neglected  no  means  to  carry  out  the  mshes  of  the  board,  but  his  way 
was  so  beset  with  difficulties  that  his  efforts  were  of  no  avail.  In  view  of  what  is 
known  as  Indian  coolies,  Mr.  Carter's  failure  to  obtain  them  at  this  time  was  doubtless 
a  blessing  in  disguise. 

In  June,  1880,  Messrs.  Castle  and  Cooke,  as  agents  for  several  plantations,  asked  the 
approval  of  the  board  to  the  sending  of  Mr.  A.  L 'Orange  to  Norway  for  the  purpose  of 
procuring  emigrants  from  that  country,  which  the  board  agreed  to,  and  on  February 
18, 1881,  the  Norwegian  bark  Beta,  anchored  in  Maalaea  Bay,  Maui,  having  on  board  327 
adults  and  65  children;  of  the  adults  84  were  women  and  each  full  passage  cost  $82.50. 
On  May  14  the  Musca  arrived  at  Honolulu  with  223  more;  how  many  of  this  lot  were 
women  and  children,  if  any,  is  not  reported. 

These  immigrants  had  been  here  but  a  short  time  when  they  began  to  find  fault 
and  forwarded  to  their  consul  a  complaint  relating  to  their  food  and  lodging  and  he 
in  turn  sent  it  to  the  board  of  immigration.  The  board  appointed  Messrs,  Fornander 
and  Widemann  to  investigate.     The  report  of  these  gentlemen  showed  that  all  the 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  539 

alleged  grievances  were  without  foundation,  and  that  the  people  had  been  wronged 
in  no  single  instance.  The  Government  of  Sweden  and  Norway  also  sent  out  as  com- 
missioner Mr.  Grip  to  look  into  the  matter.  lie  reached  here  in  October,  1881,  and 
spent  five  weeks  patiently  listening  to  and  sifting  the  many  frivolous  charges  made. 
Mr.  Grip,  reporting  to  his  Government,  also  stated  that  he  found  the  charges  without 
foundation.  He  says  that  among  the  immigrants  there  were  a  great  many  bad  peo- 
ple— "bummers,  from  the  breweries  of  Christiana  and  Drammen.  These  persons 
hated  work  of  any  kind,  and  instigated  also  the  good  people  who  otherwise  would 
have  kept  quiet."  That  the  commissioner  found  no  grievances  based  upon  facts  he 
stated  in  these  words:  - 

"I  stated  to  them  that  it  would  have  been  my  duty  to  obtain  redress  for  them  with 
all  the  means  that  were  at  my  disposal,  in  case  they  had  actually  suffered  injustice. 
However,  not  a  single  such  case  has  come  to  my  knowledge." 

But  the  evil  did  not  end  here.  On  the  statement  of  two  men  who  had  deserted 
their  contract,  some  European  and  American  papers  wrote  up  what  they  were  pleased 
to  call  "Modern  slavery"  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  This  being  reproduced  in  a 
German  paper  caused  great  indignation  among  the  German  residents  here,  and  through 
a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Widemann,  Glade,  and  Riemenschneider,  presented 
to  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  Gibson  a  declaration  bearing  106  signatures  refuting  the 
misrepresentations  contained  in  these  articles,  requesting  that  it  be  printed,  with 
such  comments  as  the  Hawaiian  government  may  see  fit  to  make,  and  to  distribute 
the  same  to  the  Hawaiian  consuls  abroad  for  further  publication. 

NEGRO   LABOR. 

The  question  of  southern  labor  was  discussed  at  some  length  by  the  board  at  a 
meeting  January  7,  1879,  but  no  action  was  taken,  and  in  August  of  that  year  the  firm 
of  J.  C.  Merritt  &  Co.,  of  San  Francisco,  wished  the  Government  to  contract  with  them 
for  the  delivery  at  Honolulu  of  about  1,000  colored  people — men  and  women — ^but 
the  board  having  already  on  its  hands  as  much  as  it  could  well  attend  to  with  the 
Portuguese  and  South  Sea  Islanders,  did  not  care  to  extend  its  field.  Nor  was  public 
opinion  altogether  in -favor  of  these  Negroes  coming  here.  (Jan.  2,  1901,  a  batch  of 
Tennessee  Negroes  arrived  mostly  for  Maui  plantations,  but  they  did  not  prove  at  all 
satisfactory.) 

GERMANS. 

The  German  bark  Cedar  arrived  here  June  18,  1881,  bringing  the  first  lot  of  Germans- 
to  be  imported  into  the  islands.  There  weic  71  men,  19  women,  and  34  children  in 
this  party.  They  were  brought  here  by  the  owners  of  Lihue  plantation,  and  the 
board,  other  than  granting  the  necessary  permission,  had  nothing  to  do  with  their 
introduction. 

GALATIANS. 

October  6,  1898,  the  German  ship  H.  F.  Glade,  arrived  here  with  365  Galacian 
laborers— 227  men,  46  women,  and  92  children — ^and  on  December  6,  the  bark  J.  C. 
Fluger  arrived  with  four  men,  one  woman,  and  two  children. 

This  immigration  was  not  a  success.  No  sooner  had  the  men  been  shipped  to  the 
plantations  than  they  began  to  make  trouble  by  trying  to  get  out  of  their  contracts. 
Investigation  showed  that  long  before  they  arrived  in  the  islands  plans  were  formed 
to  avoid  fulfilling  their  contracts.  The  expense  to  the  Government  of  this  immigra- 
tion was  $6,110. 

AMERICANS. 

During  the  same  year,  1898,  the  Ewa  Plantation  Co.  brought  14  American  laborers 
with  their  families  to  work  on  the  plantation  on  the  profit-sharing  system.  This 
did  not  turji  out  a  success,  and,  owing  to  sickness  and  other  reasons,  by  the  end  of 
1899  only  nine  were  still  there. 

The  foregoing  outline  of  the  introduction  of  labor  into  the  islands  is  but  a  small 
portion  of  its  history.  Many  interesting  incidents  and  details,  as  shown  by  the 
reports  and  documents  that  are  filed  in  the  archives,  have  of  necessity  been  omitted 
in  this  condensed  sketch.  The  immigration  questions  and  troubles  of  the  present 
day  bear  a  close  resemblance  to  those  of  the  past,  and  as  each  new  lot  came  in  here 
there  was  more  or  less  friction. 

The  annexation  of  the  islands  to  the  United  States,  which  took  place  in  1900,  put 
an  end  to  all  assisted  immigration  and  excluded  all  Chinese  laborers.  The  bureau 
of  immigration  went  out  of  existence,  and  from  that  time  until  the  legislature  of  1905 
passed  an  "Act  to  provide  for  a  board  of  immigration  and  defining  its  duties,"  which 


540  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IX   HAWAII. 

act  was  approved  April  24,  1905,  the  Territory  was  not  a  factor  in  immigration  matters, 
and  during  this  interval  there  are  no  Territorial  records  in  connection  therewith. 
Under  the  immigration  laws  of  the  United  States  it  was  unlawful  for  any  person, 
company,  partnership,  or  corporation,  to  in  any  way  assist  and  encourage  the  impor- 
tation or  migration  of  any  alien  into  the  United  States  in  pursuance  of  any  offer  made 
to  such  alien  to  perform  labor  in  the  United  States.  It  was,  however,  permissible 
for  States  or  Territories  to  advertise  the  inducements  they  offer  for  immigration 
thereto. 

The  primary  purpose  for  which  the  board  of  immigration  was  created  by  the  afore- 
mentioned act  was  to  promote  a  settlement  of  laboring  classes  in  Hawaii,  especially 
from  the  Azores,  Mederia  Islands,  and  from  southern  Europe.  The  act  creating  the 
board  provided  that  "The  board  of  immigration  shall  open  books  and  solicit  subscrip- 
tions of  money  and  other  material  aid  from  persons  or  corporations  to  be  used  by  the 
board  in  promoting  immigration  to  this  Territory.  " 

In  accordance  with  this  act  the  board,  consisting  at  the  time  of  E.  D.  Tenney,  .1.  P. 
Cooke,  A.  L.  C.  Atkinson,  John  Garden,  and  J.  C.  Craig,  met  and  organized,  April  29, 
1905.  The  board  immediately  undertook  to  ascertain  from  the  sugar-planting  inter- 
ests their  requirements  for  European  labor,  particularly  Portuguese,  and  the  induce- 
ments they  were  prepared  to  hold  for  this  class  of  immigrants.  The  responses  to  the 
board's  requests  were  prompt  and  the  inducements  offered  generous  in  their  terms. 
Much  preliminary  work  was  necessary  before  active  steps  could  be  taken.  Superin- 
tendent of  Immigration  A.  L.  C.  Atkinson  went  to  Washington  to  ascertain  definitely 
of  the  Federal  authorities  the  status  and  powers  of  the  board.  It  had  been  the  board's 
intention  that  if  its  plans  met  with  the  approval  of  the  Federal  authorities  for  Mr. 
Az6r?;§°^  to  proceed  to  Europe  and  ascertain  the  possibilities  of  immigration  from  the 
Gov.  Car'u^  Maderia  Islands,  from  Italy,  and  Spain.  Unfortunately,  the  illness  of 
Europe  "necessitated  Mr.  Atkinson's  recall  and  delay  in  starting  the  work  in 

customs  for  the  TerritorT'^^  secured  the  services  of  Mr.  E.  R.  Stackable,  collector  of 
Stackable  obtained  leave  ^A  ^r.  E.  A.  Fraser  was  also  employed  to  assist  him.  Mr. 
Honoluluonhismissionand  wafesence  from  the  treasury  department,  and  m  May  left 
Washington,  where  letters  and  cre^^d  m  San  1^  rancisco  by  Mr.  Fraser.  After  visiting 
the  Azores.  So  successful  was  this  ^^lals  were  obtained  they  proceeded  direct  to 
of  emigrants  were  ready  to  embark.  '^  ^^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  October  a  large  shipment 

FURTHER  POR'i 

"JGUESE. 

The  steamer  jSi^^mc  was  chartered  and  she  an.      ,    ^  tt       i   i     -rx  i       -.   -m/^/. 

with  459  men,  283  women,  and  472  children,  being^®^^  at  Honolulu  December  1, 1906, 
and  110  children  under  1  year  of  age.  It  was  the  ope^ye^V  ^  ^^^^  ^J  ^,^.^^  ^?  y®^^^' 
that  the  Portuguese  of  this  shipment  were  the  best  app^^^P  ^\  the  board  of  immigration 
arrived  in  Hawaii.  The  board  had  solicited  and  recei™gJotof  immigrants  that  ever  i 
Planters'  Association  from  July  11,  1905,  to  January  3i;e_d.^™I^_^^^_I^^ 
1795.80  was  expended  in  connection  with  the  shipment  W'  183,088.26,  and  all  but 
item  for  transportation  was  150,196.02.  i^  o^e  way  or  another,  the| 

SPANISH. 

Favorable  reports  having  been  received  concerning  the  succe  •  p  r^  f  o  •  r. 
laborers  as  cane  planters  impelled  the  board  to  instruct  its  ager^^  ^^  Cuba  oi  bpanisn 
possiblities  in  the  district  of  Malaga,  South  Spain,  where  sugar-c^^  *^  investigate  the 
ducted,  the  result  of  which  was  that  608  men,  554  women,  and  l,t^^f  ^-i^  ^^^  is  con- 
of  2,246,  arrived  on  the  steamship  HeleopoUs  April  26,  1907,  the  tor/^^^^^^^®^'  ^  *°*^{ 
purposes  being  $143,038.48,  and  the  average  cost  of  each  male  ii^^  ^"^^^".^^noK  99 
Later  the  steamship  Kumeric  arrived  with  333  men,  306  women, ^^^^'^^^  1235.22. 
1,114  in  all,  the  total  expense  of  which  was  $77,628.41,  the  average  co^^^  V^  children, 
$233.08.  St  per  male  being 

In  the  meantime  there  had  been  brought  here  other  than  under  L  ... 

the  board  during  the  year  of  1905,  6,669  Japanese,  2,573  Koreans  )f/^P^.^™i^^.  . 
nationality,  as  far  as  the  ArchiA^es  hai  e  any  record)  and  during  the^*^^®    i  onft^  +>!' 
arrived  18,187  Japanese  and  under  the  heading  "porto  Ricans  and  ot.^®'^^,,-'^^^^  there 
276  women,  and  556  children.  ^®^s,     510  m.en, 

In  the  early  part  of  1908  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Lai 

the  board  that  it  might  be  possible  to  recruit  at  the  eastern  ports  of  enl^^^  ^l^'^^jj   -^  j 

States,  admitted  aliens  for  agricultural  purposes.     Acting  on  this,  the  'fj  of  the  Unitea 

Mr.  John  J.  D.  Trenor  to  represent  it  in  New  York.     The  superintencr*^      .^?P^i^^     1 

lent  of  the  board 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  541 

ill  his  report  for  the  period  ending  February  28,  1909,  states:  "Mr.  Trenor  opened  his 
oliice  in  New  York  on  October  1,  1908,  and  has  since  made  monthly  reports  to  the 
board  as  to  tlie  progress  of  his  work." 

Mr.  Trenor  seems  to  have  started  out  with  a  grand  flourish  of  trumpets  and  wound 
up  by  handling  the  Territory  a  lemon,  no  particular  benefit  having  been  derived 
from  his  labors.  All  further  importations  of  labor  under  which  the  board  had  here- 
tofore been  acting  were  prohibited  by  the  general  immigration  act  of  1907,  which 
prohibited  the  further  introduction  of  European  unmigrants  by  means  of  private 
contributions  made  to  State  or  Territorial  boards  of  immigration  by  corporations. 
This  does  not,  however,  prohibit  immigration  conducted  by  States  or  Territories 
with  funds  derived  from  the  general  revenue;  accordingly  the  legislature  of  1909 
passed  an  act  (33)  "To  promote  the  conservation  and  development  of  the  natural 
resources  of  the  Territory,  through  immigration  and  other  natural  means,  by  impos- 
ing a  tax  on  incomes  and  appropriating  the  proceeds  for  such  purposes."  This  act 
provided  that  in  addition  to  the  regular  income  tax  there  should  be  levied  annually 
on  incomes  over  $4,000  an  additional  tax  of  2  per  cent._  Section  2  of  this  same  act 
provided  that  all  corporations  other  than  those  of  a  charitable,  religious,  educational 
or  scientific  nature,  fraternal  societies,  or  insurance  companies  taxed  on  premium, 
under  another  law,  should  pay  annually  an  additional  tax  of  2  per  cent  upon  the  net 
profits  or  incomes  above  actual  operating  and  business  expenses  derived  during  the 
taxation  period  defined  by  the  act.  The  balance  of  the  act  provides  for  the  method 
of  payments  and  expenditures,  and  the  provisions  contained  therein  to  expire  Decem- 
ber 31,  1911.  Under  this  act  the  board  of  immigration  now  derives  its  funds.  Imme- 
diately after  the  passage  of  this  act,  which  became  a  law  March  22  of  the  same  year, 
the  board  of  immigration  which  had  been  investigating  the  desirability  and  adapta- 
bility of  various  European  sources  of  supply  proceeded  to  engage  actively  in  the  actual 
work  of  introduction.  Investigation  and  experience  had  proved  that  Portuguese 
from  Madeira  and  the  Azores  were  best  adapted  to  the  climatic  conditions  of  the 
Territory  and  eventually  developed  into  most  desirable  citizens,  A  very  large  number 
of  the  Portuguese  were  already  citizens  of  Hawaii,  and  upon  representations  by  them 
that  many  of  their  relatives  and  friends  were  willing  to  emigrate  to  the  Territory 
under  the  auspices  of  the  board.  Accordingly,  at  a  meeting  held  in  May  of  that  year, 
Mr.  A.  J.  Campbell  was  selected  as  special  agent  of  the  board  to  proceed  to  the  Azores 
and  Madeira  and  arrange  at  those  places  for  the  emigration  of  such  families  of  desirable 
agricultural  laborers  who  mxight  wish  to  come  here. 

Mr.  Campbell  left  Honolulu  June  1,  and  the  result  of  his  mission  was  the  arrival 
here  on  December  12,  1909,  per  steamship  Swanley,  of  337  men,  221  women,  and  310 
children,  a  total  of  868,  costing  $80,000.  This  was  only  about  half  the  carrying  capacity 
of  the  vessel,  but  no  more  of  the  class  desired  could  be  obtained  owing  to  the  attrac- 
tions offered  at  that  time  in  Brazil  and  to  the  prosperity  in  the  Azores  and  Madeira, 
and  rather  than  accept  those  who  were  undesirable  the  vessel  departed  with  this 
comparative  small  number,  thus  greatly  increasing  the  per  capita  cost. 

Such  is  a  brief  history  of  the  introduction  of  foreign  laborers  into  Hawaii.  A  full 
history  would  make  very  interesting  reading,  but  it  would  be  a  work  requiring  much 
more  time  than  can  be"  given  to  it  at  present.  Attached  hereto  is  a  table  showing 
the  number  of  immigrants  arriving  in  the  country  from  the  first  lot  of  coolies  in  1852 
to  1900.  FioTa  the  latter  year  the  archives  contains  but  very  incomplete  records; 
none  at  all  from  the  period  of  annexation  in  1900  to  the  organization  of  the  present 
board  of  immigration  in  April,  1905;  therefore  the  statistical  table  ends  with  the  year 
1899,  The  am^ounts  of  the  legislative  appropriations  from  tune  to  time  as  shown  in 
the  table  does  not  include  salaries  and  office  expenses  but  only  that  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  immigration. 

R.  C.  L. 

March  8,  1910. 


J 


542 


LABOE  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 


Year. 

Chi- 
nese. 

Japa- 
nese. 

Portu- 
guese. 

Ger- 
mans. 

South 
Sea 

Island- 
ers. 

Gali- 
cians. 

Ameri- 
cans. 

Norwe- 
gians. 

Legislative  appropri- 
ations for  the  en- 
couragement of  im- 
migration. 

Year. 

Amount. 

1852 

293 

64 

12 

61 

23 

14 

13 

171 

21 

2 

13 

8 

9 

613 

117 

210 

51 

78 

305 

223 

61 

48 

62 

151 

1,283 

557 

2,464 

3,652 

2,422 

-3,  898 

1,  367 

4,925 

2,693 

2,924 

338 

1853 

1854 

1855 

/ 

1856 

1857 

1858.             .   .. 

1859 

1860 

1861 

1882 

1863 

1864 

- 

1864-1866 

$5, 000 

1865 

- 

39 

1888 

1866-1868 

5,000 

1867. 

4 

1888 

148 

1868-1870 

30, 000 

1889 

126 
22 
25 

1870 

1870-1872 

15, 000 

1871 

1872 

1872-1874 

1873 

1874 

7 

1874-1876 

50,  000 

1875 

1878 

_.^ 

1876-1878 

57,  000 

1877 

1878 



■■i,'946" 

979 

1,429 

4,211 

2,035 

3,764 

5,793 

3,129 

4,  063 

3,647 

2,203 

4,516 

758 

9,888 

19,  908 

180 

419 

332 

840 

2,356 

3,812 

1,532 

278 

467 

"""i24' 

183 

826 

18 

25 

214 

478 
793 
245 

21 
329 
120 

21 

1878-1880 

50,  000 

1879 

1880 

1880-1882 

100,  000 

1881 

615 

1882 

1882-1884 

500,  000 

1883 

1884 

1884-1886 

390,  000 

1885.^;' 

1885 

1886-1888 

150, 666 

1887 

1888 

343 

1888-1890 

30, 000 

1889 

1899 

1890-1892 

60,  000 

1891 

478 

1892 

1892-1994 

10,  000 

1893 

95 
1,414 
1,067 
4, 140 
2,137 

1894 

367 

1895 

1896 

1897 

227 

1898 

372 

14 

1898-1900 

50, 000 

1899 

24 

Appendix,  1909  to  1913. 


RUSSIANS. 

The  efforts  to  obtain  Russian  immigration  were  in  the  final  results  rather  disastrous, 
both  in  the  object  sought  and  financially.  During  the  year  1908  the  attention  of  the 
board  of  immigration  was  called  to  Manchuria  as  a  possible  source  of  a  future  labor 
supply.  The  Russian  Government,  in  its  efforts  to  colonize  Manchuria,  had  offered 
such  inducements  that  people  had  flocked  there  in  large  numbers  and  the  Government 
found  itself  embarrassed  in  fulfilling  its  promises.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
board  of  immigration  was  given  to  understand  that  the  Russian  Government  would 
not  look  with  disfaA'^or  upon  an  attempt  to  recruit  from  that  quarter.  At  this  time 
the  board  did  not  seriously  consider  the  idea  of  obtaining  labor  from  this  quarter, 
but  later  a  number  of  applications  were  filed  with  it  for  the  introduction  of  a  number 
of  families  of  Russian  agricultural  laborers,  and  at  a  meeting  held  in  August,  1909, 
to  consider  the  proposition,  it  was  decided  to  introduce  approximately  50  families 
as  a  trial  lot,  and  Mr.  A.  L,  C.  Atkinson  was  chosen  to  proceed  to  Harbin,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  A.  W.  Perelstrons,  who  some  time  previous  had  represented  himself  to  the 
board  as  a  Russian  contractor,  familiar  with  conditions  in  Manchuria.  Mr.  Atkinson 
departed  August  30,  1909,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Perselstrons,  and  returned  October 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL  543 

22,  1909,  with  108  men,  67  women,  and  79  children,  a  total  of  255.  The.^e  people  were 
to  all  appearances,  both  physically  and  otherwise  (so  far  as  could  be  determined  by 
the  board),  the  most  desirable  lot  of  immig:ra,nts  ever  introduced.  They  accepted 
such  employment  as  was  offered  them  and  so  highly  were  they  spoken  of  by  their 
employers  that  in  November  of  the  same  year  the  board  decided  to  introduce  some 
three  or  four  hundred  additional  families  of  the  same  class.  Mr.  Atkinson  was  again 
chosen  by  the  board  as  its  special  agent  and,  again  accompanied  by  Mr.  Perel-^trons, 
he  departed  for  Harbin  and  its  vicinitv  November  15.  1909. 

As  a  result  of  this  second  mission  815  men,  333  women,  and  387  children,  a  total  of 
1,535  persons,  were  introduced  into  the  Territory,  17  of  whom  were  later  returned 
because  of  reasons  which  debarred  their  admission  under  the  immigration  act.  While  no 
difficulties  were  experienced  with  the  first  lot,  it  was  far  different  with  the  second,  the 
first  of  which  arrived  here  on  the  steamship  Mongolia  February  17, 1910,  and  consisted 
of  315  Russians.  This  lot,  after  having  been  passed  by  the  Federal  immigration 
inspectors,  refused  to  accept  such  employm.ent  as  was  offered  them,  claiming  that 
conditions  had  been  misrepresented  and  that  the  cost  of  living  was  higher  within  the 
Territory  and  wages  were  less  than  they  had  been  given  to  understand  at  Harbin. 
Unquestionably,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  these  charges  were  made  solely 
upon  the  advice  of  two  agitators  who  seemed  to  have  great  influence  with  these  people. 

In  the  meantime,  diphtheria  broke  out  amongst  them,  and  they  were  removed,  at  the 
expense  of  the  board,  to  quarantine  and  there  cared  for.  The  steamship  Ten^/o  Maru, 
arriving  February  25,  brought  a  further  consignment  of  70,  composed  of  men,  women,  and 
children,  and  the  steamship  Korea,  arriving  March  7,  brought  a  still  further  lot  of  249 
men,  women,  and  children.  The  Tenyo  Maru  and  Korea  lots  adopted  precisely  the 
same  attitude  as  that  displayed  by  the  people  arriving  on  the  Mongolia,  and  sickness 
developed  among  them,  and  they  were  removed  to  Quarantine  Island  at  the  expense 
of  the  board;  so  that  from  a  period  extending  from  February  22  to  March  25  there 
were  maintained  upon  that  island  all  the  way  from  300  to  600  of  these  people,  while 
upon  Quarantine  Island  not  only  was  every  necessity  in  the  way  of  medical  attend- 
ance, professional  nursing,  food,  etc.,  furnished  them,  but  in  many  instances  actual 
luxuries,  especially  to  the  women  and  children.  The  total  cost  of  this  quarantine 
to  the  board  amounted  to  117,735.79. 

While  upon  Quarantine  Island  there  was  absolutely  no  change  in  the  attitude  of 
these  immigrants;  they  still  maintained  that  they  would  not  accept  plantation  ern- 
ploymeht  because  of  the  misrepresentations  which  had  been  made  them.  In  this 
dilemma,  the  board  made  a  canvass  of  the  city  in  an  endeavor  to  secure  for  them  as 
many  positions  as  possible  outside  of  plantation  work  which  could  be  offered  them 
upon  their  release  from  quarantine. 

In  the  meantime  they  had  employed  an  attorney  to  represent  them,  A  great 
many  were  under  the  impression  that  if  they  refused  to  accept  employment  the 
Government  would  have  to  maintain  them,  and  further  would  be  compelled  to  pay 
each  adult  the  sum  of  1500  and  to  repatriate  them.  It  is  unquestionably  a  fact  that 
none  wished  to  be  repatriated,  but  they  were  undoubtedly  extremely  anxious  to 
obtain  the  $500  if  possible.  Had  it  been  possible  for  the  board  to  repatriate  a  dozen 
or  so  of  the  orators  of  this  group,  unquestionably  no  further  claims  would  have  been 
advanced  by  them  regarding  misrepresentation,  nor  would  they  longer  have  refused 
to  accept  such  employment  as  offered. 

In  addition  to  the  employment  of  counsel,  they  telegraphed  their  embassy  at 
Washington  to  the  effect  that  they  were  in  need  of  assistance,  and  Dr.  Marques, 
acting  French  consul,  was  requested  by  cable  to  investigate  the  charges  made  by 
them  in  behalf  of  the  Russian  Government.  A  systematic  investigation  was  con- 
ducted by  Dr.  Marques  which  resulted  in  a  vindication  of  the  board  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  fact  that  no  misrepresentation  had  been  made  and  that  every  con- 
sideration had  been  shown  them. 

After  their  release  from  quarantine  an  investigation  was  conducted  by  Gov.  Frear. 
the  result  of  which  conclusively  proved  that  no  misrepresentation  had  been  made. 
In  the  interests  of  harmony,  however,  the  governor  induced  the  plantation  interests 
to  make  some  special  concessions.  These  concessions  were  submitted  to  the  immi- 
grants, and  their  refusing  to  consider  them  or  accept  employment  they  were  thrown 
upon  their  own  resources,  even  their  attorney  refused  longer  to  deal  with  them, 
so  unreasonable  was  their  attitude. 

Subsequently,  upon  the  conviction  of  tw^o  or  three  ring  leaders  for  rioting,  the  rest 
of  the  members  who  were  encamped  upon  the  outskirts  of  the  city  gradually  accepted 
employment;  many  on  the  plantations  and  a  large  number  throughout  the  city. 
Subsequent  lots  of  these  laborers  who  arrived  after  the  Korea,  on  March  7,  amounting 
to  a  total  of  about  900  people,  accepted  upon  arrival  such  employment  as  offered, 


544  LABOE  PROBLEMS   IX   HAWAII. 

making  no  claims  that  any  misrepresentations  had  been  made  to  them  by  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  board  in  Manchuria. 

The  total  number  of  Russians  introduced  into  the  Territory  amounted  to  1,799,  at 
a  total  cost  of  $139,021.59,  exclusive  of  the  quarantine  expenses  here  of  $17,735.79. 
Of  the  number  introduced,  only  a  little  more  than  60  per  cent  accepted  plantation 
employment. 

SPANISH  AND   PORTUGUESE. 

In  August,  1910,  the  necessity  of  continued  acti\T.ty  looking  toward  the  introduc- 
tion and  settlement  of  agricultural  laborers  being  still  imminent,  and  reports  appear- 
ing to  warrant  it,  the  board  again  decided  to  send  Mr.  A.  J.  Campbell  to  the  Azores 
with  a  view  of  arranging  for  further  shipments  of  desirable  immigrants.  Mr.  Campbell 
proceeded  direct  to  Madeira,  accompanied  by  Mr.  A.  Silva,  and  there  commenced 
an  active  campaign.  He  met  with  a  great  measure  of  success  at  first,  but  in  the  month 
of  October  the  unsettled  condition  of  the  political  situation  came  to  a  crisis  in  the  shape 
of  a  revolution,  which  completely  undid  all  plans  and  arrangements,  and  cholera 
becoming  epidemic  in  November  he  turned  his  attention  to  other  available  sources 
of  Portuguese  and  Spanish  labor,  and  on  January  12,  1911,  ad%'ised  the  board  that  he 
had  chartered  the  steamship  Orteric,  which  vessel  arrived  at  Honolulu  on  April  13, 
1911,  v/ith  457  men,  373  women,  and  531  children,  a  total  of  1,451  persons.  These 
people  appeared  of  good  class  and  were  mostly  distributed  among  the  various  planta- 
tions. 

The  prospects  for  being  able  to  obtain  another  shipment  at  an  early  date  not  being 
considered  favorable,  Mr.  Campbell  returned  to  Honolulu  early  in  June.  There 
being,  however,  a  steady  demand  for  agricultural  laborers,  and  a  general  sentiment 
being  in  favor  of  the  continued  introduction  of  persons  eligible  and  likely  to  become 
citizens,  the  board  continued  negotiations  in  London,  thi'ough  reliable  agents  for  the 
chartering  of  another  vessel  to  bring  a  further  supply  of  people  to  the  Territory,  and 
on  the  18th  of  July  the  S.  S.  WiUesden  was  obtained  for  this  purpose.  Mr.  Campbell 
left  Honolulu  to  resume  his  work  in  Europe  on  July  19th,  and  as  a  result  of  his  activ- 
ities the  vessel  arrived  here  on  December  3  with  639  men,  480  women,  1,797  persons 
in  all. 

A  third  shipment  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  arrived  in  Honolulu  by  the  S.  S.  Har- 
palion,  also  a  specially  chartered  vessel,  in  the  month  of  April,  1912,  with  1,450 
persons,  496  men,  328  women,  and  626  children. 

The  cost  of  immigrants  brought  by  the  Orteric  was  $112,341.59,  an  average  cost  per 
male  of  $205.37  and  per  capita  of  $77.42.  The  cost  of  those  by  the  Willesden  was 
$109,307.97,  an  average  cost  of  $171.06  per  male  and  a  per  capita  of  $60.82,  and  those 
by  the  Barpalwn,  $117,926.13,  an  average  cost  per  male  of  $237.75  and  a  per  capita 
of  $81.32.  The  total  cost  of  the  immigrants  brought  by  the  three  vessels  was 
$339,575.69,  an  average  expense  of  $72.28  per  individual,  or  $201.88  per  adult  male. 
The  three  vessels  brought  1,682  men,  1,101  women,  and  1,915  children,  4,689  in  all, 
from  which  number,  however,  20  must  be  deducted  who  were  returned  to  their  homes 
by  the  board  for  various  reasons. 

FURTHER   RUSSIAN   IMMIGRATION. 

After  some  preliminary  correspondence  touching  upon  Russian  immigration  to 
Hawaii  generally,  the  board  of  immigration  during  the  month  of  July,  1911,  entered 
into  an  agreement  with  the  International  Immigration  and  Colonization  Association 
for  the  introduction  of  small  parties  of  Russian  immigrants.  This  agreement  was  in 
existence  up  to  April  19,  1912,  when  the  board  notified  the  association  of  its  unwilling 
ness  to  further  continue  its  work  in  Manchuria.  During  the  period  in  which  the 
agreement  existed,  266  Russians  were  brought  into  the  Territory  at  a  cost  to  the 
Government  of  $16,055.10,  an  average  cost  per  male  of  $140.83  and  a  per  capita  of 
$60.35.  The  total  number  of  Russians  introduced  since  the  commencement  of  this! 
work  in  1909  was  2,056,  comprised  of  1,038  men,  457  women,  and  561  children,  at  a 
cost  of  $177,963.16,  an  average  cost  per  male  of  $171.44  and  a  per  capita  of  $86.55.  It 
was  estimated  that  of  the  total  number  introduced  there  were  remaining  in  the  Terri 
tory,  June  30,  1912,  some  1,085,  most  of  whom,  however,  engaged  upon  general  work 
throughout  the  country  other  than  that  supplied  or  offered  by  the  plantations,  and  a 
considerable  number  oi  these  have  since  left.  For  the  year  ending  June  30,  1917,  the 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  reported  but  49  Russians  as  being  employed 
on  the  plantations. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


545 


SPANISH    AND   PORTUGUESE. 


It  was  earnestly  desired  by  the  board  to  continue  its  policy  of  steadily  in(,Teasing 
n  Hawaii  the  number  of  persons  of  the  Caucasian  race  accustomed  to  agricultural 
Dursuits.  Accordingly  Mr.  Raymond  0.  Brown,  who  had  succeeded  Mr.  Campbell 
IS  the  board's  agent  in  Europe,  was  instructed  in  the  latter  part  of  1912  to  make  ar- 
rangement for  the  chartering  of  one  or  more  vessels  to  bring  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
immigrants  to  the  Territory.  As  a  result  of  his  efforts  the  steamships  Willcsden  and 
Ascot  were  obtained  for  the  service.  The  Willesden  arrived  at  Honolulu  on  March  30, 
L913,  and  the  Ascot  on  June  4,  1913,  the  former  vessel  landing  1,377  persons — 491  men, 
377  women,  and  509  children — and  the  latter  landing  1,283  persons — 424  men,  327 
women,  and  532  children,  those  arriving  by  the  Ascot  being  entirely  of  Spanish 
descent.  The  cost  of  the  immigrants  brought  by  the  Willesden  was  $177,061.81,  an 
average  cost  per  male  of  1360.61  and  a  per  capita  of  $130.38.  The  cost  of  those  brought 
by  the  Ascot  was  $140,695.80,  an  average  cost  of  $331.83  per  male  and  a  per  capita  of 
1109.66.  Of  the  total  number  of  persons  landed,  amounting  to  2,660,  24  children 
died  and  57  immigrants  were  returned.  With  the  exception  of  a  party  of  17  Poles, 
who  arrived  at  Honolulu  in  November,  1913,  nothing  further  has  been  done  by  the 
board  to  bring  immigrants  into  the  Territory,  lack  of  funds  and  the  war  in  Europe 
being  the  main  factors  in  bringing  about  this  result. 


APPENDIX  IV. 

Statistics  showing — 

1.  The  population  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  by  races,  sex,  and  citizenship.  (Com- 
piled from  records  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Census.) 

2.  The  aliens  admitted  to  and  departing  from  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  between  the 
years  of  1910  and  1921,  inclusive,  by  races.  (Compiled  from  records  of  the  Bureau  of 
Immigration.) 

3.  Distribution,  by  age  and  race,  of  children  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  of  or  below 
the  age  of  21  years  on  January  1,  1920.  (Compiled  from  records  of  the  Bureau  of 
the  Census.") 

The  population  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 


Race. 


Hawaiian 

Caucasian-Hawaiian 
Asiatic-Hawaiian. . . 

Portuguese 

Porto  Rican 

Spanish , 

Other  Caucasian 

Chinese 

Japanese 

Korean , 

Filipino 

Negro  and  all  other. . 

Total 


Male. 


11,990 

5,528 

3,524 

13, 737 

3,133 

1,326 

12,309 

16, 197 

62,644 

3,498 

16,851 

409 


151, 146 


Female. 


11,733 
5,544 
3,431 

13, 265 
2,469 
1,104 
7,399 
7,310 

46,630 

1,452 

4,180 

249 


104, 766 


Total. 


23,723 
11,072 

6,955 
27,002 

5,602 

2, 430 

19, 70S 

23,507 

109, 274 

4,950 

21,031 

658 


255,912 


Citizen. 


23,723 
11, 072 

6.955 
22;  346 

5,602 

1,145 
17,542 
12, 728 
49, 016 

1,518 

21,031 

559 


173, 237 


Alien. 


4,656 


1,285 

2,166 

10, 779 

60, 258 

3,432 


99 


82, 675 


56754 — 21 — SER  7,  pt  1- 


22. 


546 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


Aliens  admitted  to  and  departing  from  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  between  the  years  1910  and 

1921,  inclusive. 


Race  of  people. 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

African  (black). 

1 

6 

1 

1 

2 

1 

Armenian 

1 

2 

1 

91 

Bohemian 

1 

1 

Bulgarian 

Clunese 

Croatian     and 
Slovenian 

478 

130 

370 

114 
3 
5 

253 

143 

230 

129 

198 

Ill 

183 

Dutch    and 

Flemish 

East  Indian 

3 

227 

46 

""'19' 

1 
70 
67 

2 

6 
6 

81 
1 
3 

19 
1 
1 
8 
2 
4,082 

45 

1 

'""49' 

2 

2 

68 

1 

""iQ 

4 

1 

46 

i 

English 

Finnish 

32 

73 
1 
2 

23 
1 

35 
2 

5" 

1 

41 

French. . . 

2 

67 
6 
3 
13 
1 
1,239 
7 

2 
12 

'i'632" 

108 

4 

1 

5 
20 
1 
1 
3 
2 
1,883 
8 

1 

5 

25 

3 

16 
1 

6' 

1 

216 

32 

""21" 

1 
1 

20 

2 

3,817 

92 

6 
6 
6 

2 

17 

1 

2 

German 

Greek 

1 

Hebrew 

Irish 

10 

3 

3 
1 

215 
30 

3 
1 

2,025 

78 

6 

Italian 

Japanese 

Korean 

Mexican 

912 

32 

2,818 
17 

517 
40 

100 
37 

Pacificlslander 

""u 

864 

1 

3 

228 

....... 

1 

17 
13 

1 

1 

Polish 

6 

548 

1 
3 

7 
1,114 

2 

2 

Portuguese 

Rumanian 

33 

2 
1 
6 

1 
31 

32 

Russian 

Scandinavian . . 
Scotch 

1,542 
3 

58 

4 
3 
6 

202 

1 

64 

7 

2 

15 

9 
3 

234 

6 

65 

23 

4 

16 

99 

7 
73 

90 

1 

17 

14 
3 

54 

119 
1 

30 

96 

2 

24 

Slovak 

Spanish 

Turkish 

1 
5 
1 
1 

868 

2,156 

2 

1,043 

3 

1,362 

49 

3 

31 

Welsh 

3 

1 

3 

2 

1 

1 

West  Indian 

Other  peoples.. 

1 

4 

1 

•      1 

3 

Grand  total.. 

4,186 

2,267 

3,886 

1,421 

6,654 

907 

5,87 

682 

5,622 

747 

2,934 

561 

Race  or  people. 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919 

1920 

Net. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

Loss. 

Net. 

African  (black). 

1 

1 

4 

Armenian 

1 

Bohemian 

1 

5 

Bulgarian 

1 

Chinese 

Croatian     and 
Siovenian 

119 

104 

141 

Ill 

101 

209 

72 

266 

107 

345 

1,489 

3 

Cuban 

1 
2 



1 

Dutch    and 

Flemish..' 

East  Indian 

2 
1 

76 

1 

3 

1 
23 

5 

1 

29 

307 

English 

Finnish 

29 

71 
5 
2 

16 
4 
4 

,6 

28 

35 

48 

33 

128 

38 

340 
5 

French 

16 

22 
2 
1 

18 

2 

1 

6" 

1 
2 

3 

2 

3 
1 

1 

1 

'""'is' 

20 

German 

151 

Greek 

1 

Hebrew 

2 

14 

2 

2,138 

45 

13 

Irish 

5 

8 

2 

5 

5 

2,384 

66 

1 
14 

3 

73 

Italian 

13 

Japanese 

Korean 

Mexican 

2,797 
80 

58 
24 

3,178 
116 

84 
34 

2.856 

'    78 

249 
57 

229 

7 

4' 

25,409 
219 

Pacificlslander 

2 

2 

1 
1 
1 

2 

Polish 

4 
2 

1 
39 

46 

Portuguese 

81 

6 

i2 

3 

;.  :::i  ■-   " 

2,558 

Rumanian 



Russian 

Scandinavian . . 

12 

8 
29 

2 

2 

22 

9 

8 

30 

65 
""12 

6 

6 

13 

61 

2 

25 

5 

2 

22 

8 
...... 

10 

5 

114 

14 

1,650 
33 

Scotch 

20 

9" 

356 

Slovak 

Spanish 

63 

4 

25 

1 

18 

5,243 

Spanish-Ameri- 
can  

2 
1 

1 

4 

Syrian 

1 

Turkish 

5 

Welsh 

1 

2 

1 

1 

i' 

1 

12 

West  Indian... 

Other  peoples . . 

1 

2 

1 

Grand  total . . 

3,194 

394 

3,607 

405 

3,100 

674 

2,619 

511 

2,578 

659 

34,989 

LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


547 


Distribution,  by  age  and  race,  on  Jan.  1,  1920. 

CHILDREN  BELOW  AGE  OF  12  YEARS. 


Age  in  years 
on  Jan.  1, 
1920. 

Eh 

•a 

w 

8» 

CO 
<1 

0 
0 

ft 

Si 

0 

0 

03 

i 

0 

M 

6 

•ft 

a 

Negro    and 
all  other. 

1 

7,980 
7,961 
7,409 
6,641 
6,765 
6,  789 
6,084 
5,532 
5,025 
4,764 
4,457 

548 
500 
473 
484 
492 
595 
484 
473 
474 
440 
436 

469 
402 
416 
407 
384 
406 
393 
344 
361 
313 
310 

432 
400 
346 
321 
330 
320 
291 
255 
236 
202 
195 

948 
958 

974 
847 
917 

926 
893 
783 
752 
782 
720 

166 
186 
173 
177 
151 
180 
212 
176 
162 
181 
153 

93 

87 
91 
84 
99 
84 
82 
76 
75 
89 
83 

281 
255 
226 
236 
239 
249 
258 
224 
224 
194 
202 

602 
.565 
604 
544 
566 
573 
443 
506 
432 
444 
362 

3,  875 
4,052 
3,567 
3,075 
3,135 
3,168 
2,677 
2,424 
2,120 
1,  906 
1,827 

175 

168 

130 

106 

110 

83 

78 

65 

56 

65 

48 

353 
366 
391 
347 
326 
280 
250 
191 
119 
133 
107 

18 

2:::...:.... 

22 

3 

18 

4 

13 

5 

16 

6 

15 

7 

23 

8   

15 

9 

14 

10  

15 

11 

14 

Total-... 

69, 387 

5,309 

4,205 

3,  328 

9,500 

1,917 

943 

2,588 

5,641 

31,  826 

1,084 

2,883 

183 

CHILDREN  BETWEEN  AGES  OF  12  AND  18  YEARS,  INCLUSIVE. 


12 

4,526 
4,256 
4,057 
3,936 
3,927 
3,891 
4,189 

484 
488 
481 
435 
435 
426 
392 

317 
312 
300 

283 
248 
245 

228 

202 
179 
182 
126 
138 
132 
133 

744 
668 
640 
672 
627 
592 
555 

177 
149 
155 
143 
150 
107 
80 

75 
68 
63 
65 
48 
43 
55 

198 
206 
195 
175 

188 
187 
499 

398 
363 
409 
398 
379 
400 
387 

1,753 
1,657 
1,481 
1,492 
1,595 
1,  633 
1,556 

53 
45 
35 
43 
32 
23 
28 

110 

110 

101 

93 

75 

90 

263 

16 

13 

11 

U 

15 

15 

11 

16 

12 

17 

13 

18 

13 

Total.. 

28,782 

3,141 

1,933 

1,092 

4,498 

961 

417 

1,648 

2,734 

11, 167 

259 

842 

90 

CHILDREN  BETWEEN  AGES  OF  19  AND  21  YEARS,  INCLUSIVE. 


19 

4,702 
4,762 
4,681 

503 
449 
392 

228 
220 
194 

147 
90 

106 

540 

458 
428 

47 
60 
59 

30 
35 
33 

846 
533 
659 

336 
353 
309 

1,579 
1,537 
1,423 

36 
40 

58 

397 
986 
990 

13 

a) 

1 

21 

10 

Total.. 

14, 125 

1,344 

642 

343 

1,426 

166 

98 

2,038 

998 

4,539 

134 

2,373 

24 

RECAPITULATION. 


1-11 

69,387 
28, 782 
14, 125 

5,309 
3,141 
1,344 

4,205 

1,933 

642 

3,328 

1,092 

343 

9,500 
4,49S 
1,426 

1,917 

951 
166 

943 
417 

98 

2,588 
1,648 
2,038 

5,641 

2, 734 

998 

31, 826 

11, 167 

4,539 

1,084 
259 
134 

2,863 

842 

2,373 

183 

12-18 

90 

19-21 

24 

Total.. 

112, 294 

9,794 

6,780 

4,763 

15,424 

3,044 

1,458 

6,274 

9,373 

47, 532 

1,477 

6,078 

297 

X 


r^ 


'^^VtC^A-C^ 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAW  A 


w^ 


HEARINGS 


BEFORE 


THE  COMMITTEE  ON 
IMMIGRATION  AND  NATURALIZATION 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 


y. : 


SIXTY-SEVENTH  CONGRESS 

FIRST  SESSION 

ON 


A  JOINT  RESOLUTION  PROVIPING  AN  EMERGENCY 

REMEDY  FOR   THE  ACUTE   LABOR 

SHORTAGE  IN  HAWAII 


AND  ON 


•       «l  o 


.  171 


JOINT  RESOLUTION  PROVIDING  FOR  IMMIGRATION  TO  MEET  THE 
EMERGENCY  CAUSED  BY  AN  ACUTE  LABOR  SHORTAGE 
IN  THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII 


Serial  7— Part  2 


JULY  22,  27,  AND  29;  AUGUST  1,  2,  3,  4,  10,  and  12,  1921 


STATEMENTS   OF 


V.  S.  McClatchy, 
J.  V.  A.  MacMurray, 
Henry  T.  Oxnard, 
John  M.  Rogers, 
George  W.  Wright,  / 
C.  C.  Hamlin, 
Samuel  Gompers, 


Walter  F.  Dillingham,  , 

J.  K.  Kalanianaole, 

Royal  D.  Mead, 

Wilmot  R.  Chilton, 

Harry  Irwin, 

Charles  F.  Chillingworth. 


9 


•56754 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1921 


COMMITTEE  ON  IMMIGRATION  AND  NATURALIZATION. 

House  of  Representatives. 

sixty-seventh  congress. 

ALBERT  JOHNSON,  WasMngton,  Chairman. 
ISAAC  SIEGEL,  New  York.  ADOLPH  J.  SABATH,  Illinois. 

J.  WILL  TAYLOR,  Tennessee.  JOHN  E.  RAKER,  California. 

JOHN  C.  KLECZKA,  Wisconsin.  RILEY  J.  WILSON,  Louisiana. 

WILLIAM  N.  VAILE,  Colorado.  JOHN  C.  BOX,  Texas. 

HAYS  B.  WHITE,  Kansas.  L.  B.  RAINEY,  Alabama. 

GUY  L.  SHAW,  Illinois. 
ROBERT  S.  MALONEY,  Massachusetts. 
ARTHUR  M.  FREE,  California. 
JOHN  L.  CABLE,  Ohio. 

P.  F.  Snyder,  Clerk. 
II 


INDEX. 


Page, 
American   Association   of  Engineers,   Honolulu   Chapter,    communication 

from 86S 

American  Federationist,  quotation  from i_  673 

American   P'ederation  of  Labor,   com.munications   from   organizations   of 

(Appendix  III) 93S 

American    Legion,    Department    of    Hawaii,    comnumication    from    com- 
mander of 863 

American  Legion,  Department  of  Hawaii,  communications  to  and  from_  620,  621 
Atlantic   Monthly,    quotation    from,    with   reference    to    tlie    Japanese   in 

Hawaii 795 

Board  of  Trade,  Hilo,  communication  from 863 

Cable,  Hon.   John  L.,   statement  by 788 

Cane-sugar   industry.    Department   of   Commerce   Report    on,    quoted   by 

Witness    Oxnard 614 

Cheatliam,   Elmer  M.,   homesteader,   comnumication   from 864 

Chilton,  Wilmot  R.,  statement  by : 759 

Cliina,  Republic  of,  quotation  from  emigrant  labor  laws  of  (Appendix  II )_  930 

^'olorado   Springs   P^venlng  Telegrapli,   quotation   from 670 

polumbus  Welfare  Club.  Honolidu.  connntmication  from 863 

ommissioner    General    of   Innnigration,    commtmication    from,    read    by 

Mr.  Raker 587 

Constittitionality  of  resolution  disctissed  : 

Chairman  Albert  Jolinson . 626 

(Jommittee   at  large 780 

Representative  John  L.   Cable 788 

Harry  Irwin,  attorney  general  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 869 

Contract  made  by  sugar  plantation  laborers,  sample  of . 723 

Cuba,  quantity  and  valtie  of  stignr  imported  from 589 

Huba,  number  of  Chinese  employed  in 585 

Daughters  and  Sons  of  Hawaiian  Warriors,  communication  from 864 

I>epartment  of  Commerce,  report  pitblished  by,  with  reference  to  sugar 

crops 792 

Dillingham.  Walter  F.,  statements  by 862,917 

Farr,   John,   conuuunication   from 720 

Filipino  Laborers'  Association,  resoltitions  by 734 

Foreign   language  press  control  bill,  enacted  by  the  Legislature   of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii : 

Quoted  by  Representative  Free 737 

Opposed  by  American  Federation  of  Labor 740 

Fuller,  W.  P.,  »S:  Co.,  connnunication  from : 867 

(Gentlemen's  agreement,  quoted  by  Witness  MacMurray 552 

Cxompers,  Sanmel,  int.<r'rview  of  .lulv  11,  1921,  statements  bv 621,  625,  653 

695,  717,  797.  842 

Hamlin.  (\  C,  statement  by 663. 

Hawaii  p]mergency  Laboi-  Connnission,  statement  by 918: 

Hawaii  Laborers'  Association    (of  Japanese),  statement  by,   with  refer- 
ence to  strike  of  1920 " -.  N2T 

Hawaii,  quantity  and  value  of  sugar  imported  from 589 

Hawaii,  resume  of  industrial  and  connuercial  development,  presented  bv 

Mr.  Box 616 

Hawaii,  occupation  statistics,  1920^ -* 571 

Hawaiian  Civic  Club,  commtmication  from 863 

Hindie,  W.  W.,  comnumication  from 866. 

Ill 


1) 


IV  -  INDEX. 

Page. 

Hilt,  ('oii.^rcssiiiaii.  (jaoteHl  })y  WitDess  ('liirii!i.'4W()rL)i 570 

Hoiuthilu  Advertiser,  quotations  from 656,680,734 

Honolulu  St:ir-Buneti!i.  quotations  from 692 

Horst,  E.  C.  connnunication  from 865 

Howes,  Frank,  president  of  Honolulu  Welding  &  Macliine  ('o.,  eomnumi- 

eation  from 86::^ 

Irish,  John  P.,  communications  from 602 

Irwin.  Harry,  statement  by 869 

Japanese  associations  of  KaJiuku  and  Oahu,  expulsion  of  members  of,  re- 
ferred to  by  Cliairmaji  Johnson * 559 

Japanese  contributions  to  expenses  of  delegates  from  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  organizations  in  Hawaii : 

Denied  by  Mr.  George  W.  Wright 7-13 

Admitted  by  Mr.  George  W.  Wright 745-748 

Statement  by  Mr.  WTimot  R.  Chilton 746-759 

Japanese  Exclusion  League  of  California,  communication  from 550 

Japanese  Federation  of  Laboi-.  statement  bv,  with  reference  to  strike  of 

1920 1 827 

Japanese  in  Hawaii,  quotation  from  Atlantic  jNIonthly 795 

Japanese  Laborers'  Federation  of  Hawaii,  by-laws  of,  quoted  l)y  Cliair- 

man  Johnson 558 

Jaj)anese  picture  brides,  number  of  admitted  to  Hawaii 560 

Japanese  plantation  laborers,  strike  of.  during  1920: 

Discussed  by  Mr.   George  W.   Wright 705 

Statement  by  Hawaii  Lal)orers'  Association   (of  Japanese),  with  ref- 
erence to 827 

Kaaliumanu  Society,  oonnnuni^'ation  from 863 

Kalanianaole,   Hon.    J.    K.,   statements   by 676,926 

Kinney,  W.  A.,  communicaticm  from 864 

Lal)oi'  lieview  of  Hawaii,  quotations  from 646,  790 

liOuisiana.  quantity  of  sugar  produced  in 589 

Louisiana  Plantei-  and  Sugar  Manufacturer,  article  from,  quoted  by  Wit- 
ness  Rogers   613 

MaclNIurra.v,  J.  Y.  A.,  statement  of 552 

Manlapit,  Pablo,  communication  from 734 

McClatchy,  Y.  S.,  connnunications  from 549,  619 

Mead.  Royal  D.,  statement  by 899 

Mexican  labor,  orders  of  Department  of  Labor  concerning 587 

North  Hilo  Civic  Club,   comnumication  from 864 

Oxnard,  Henry  T.,  statement  of 575 

Philippines,  quantity  and  value  of  sugar  imported  from 589 

Porto  Rico,  quantity  and  value  of  .sugar  produced  in 592 

Rogers.   John  M,,   statement  of 602 

Secretary   of  Labor,   communication  from 624 

Secretary  of  State,  conniumlcation  from 928 

Sugar  producti(m  of  Cuba,  Llawaii,  Louisiana.  Phillippines,  and  United 

States - 58S 

Uchida,  Y.,  quoted  by  Chairman  Johnson 551 

LTniversity  of  Illinois  Alumni,  of  Hawaii,  communication  from 865 

Waiakea  Homesteaders'  Association,  communication  from 86.^ 

Wall  Street  Journal,  quotations  from 66-] 

Waller,  Gilbert  J.,  jr.,  communication  from 86( 

Welch,   Charles   J.,    communication   from 72( 

Withington,  Leonard,  communications  from 61J 

Wright,  George  W. : 

Statements  by 631,679.701 

Statements  by,  with  reference  to  Japanese  contributions  to  his  ex- 
penses  743,  745.  7-4<^ 

Supplementary   statement   by 75^ 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII. 


.   Committee  on  Immigration  and  IN'aturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Friday,  July  22^  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  informed  by  the  Public  Printer,  Mr.  Carter, 
that  a  misprint,  in  the  omission  of  the  word  "  not "  after  the  w^ord 
''shall,"  in  line  1,  page  2,  in  House  joint  resolution  171  has  been 
corrected  and  that  a  star  print  has  been  made,  w^hich  permits  the 
resolution  to  retain  the  same  number.  It  is  before  us  in  corrected 
form,  and  without  objection  this  statement  will  be  sufficient  notice. 
The  clerk  w^ill  so  note  in  the  minutes. 

The  Chair  took  the  liber t}^  of  wiring  Mr.  V.  S.  McClatchy,  of 
Sacramento,  wdio  has  appeared  before  this  committee  several  times 
with  information  concerning  the  Japanese  question  not  only  in  the 
Ignited  States  but  in  Hawaii,  asking  him  for  a  statement.  This 
morning  I  have  received  from  him  a  telegraphic  statement  of  about 
600  w^ords,  wdiich  I  Avill  read  to  the  committee  [reading]  : 

111  response  to  your  request  for  telegraphic  statement  on  Hawa  ian  s  tuat:oii, 
this  statement  represents  personal  views  only.  I  do  not  speak  in  this  case  for 
Japanese  Exclusion  League  of  California,  whose  executive  committee  has  uni- 
formly declined  to  take  part  in  any  controversy  not  clearly  w.thin  its  declared 
purpose.  Comprehensive  advices  and  data  from  Hawaii'  and  personal  inter- 
course with  prominent  people  from  there  assure  me  that  hest  informed  intelli- 
gence in  the  Territory  anjong  Americans  an;]  white  and  native  Hawaians  is 
now  pi-actically  a  unit  in  recogniz'ng  the  impending  certainty  of  economic  and 
political  and  rjicial  control  of  the  Territory  by  Japanese  unless  Congress  acts 
promptly  and  effectively.  That  sentiment  is  remarkable  because  it  is  exactly 
contrary  to  that  held  by  the  same  people  up  to,  say,  one  year  ago.  They  then 
critic  zed  and  derided  my  statement  of  facts  and  warnings;  they  now  indorse 
them,  though  not  ;dl  will  clo  so  publicly.  I  assume  facts  are  before  you  in 
statem.ents  of  two  commiss  ons  sent  by  territorial  legislators. 

The  change  in  sentiment  was  brought  about  partly  by  the  determined  fight 
of  the  Japanese  to  maintain  separate  Japanese  schools,  which  a  survey  by 
commissions  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Education,  after  investiga- 
tion, declared  should  be  abolished  as  un-American  if  not  anti-American,  but 
principally  through  facts  brought  to  liglit  in  the  sugar-plantation  strike  of 
last  year.  Whites  and  native  Hawaiians  were  oismjiyed  by  the  almost  per- 
fect solidarity  shown  by  Japanese,  even  Hawaiian-born  Japanese,  in  carrying 
out  a  strike  Vv-hich  evidently  had  for  its  ultimate  object  d'spossess  on  of  whites 
on  the  sugar  plantatiorss  and  securing  control  and  ownership  of  all  valuable 
lands  by  the  Japanese. 

Their  objective  was  precsely  the  same  as  that  exposed  in  California,  where 
they  have  already  secured  one-eighth  of  all  the  State's  rich  irrigated  lands 
and  are  determined  by  holding  through  American-born  children  and  by  the 
presentation  of  diplomatic  demands  at  Washington  to  secure  control  of  un- 
limited acreage.  With  a  few  solitary  and  notable  exceptions,  all  Hawaiian- 
born  Japanese  enjoying  American  citizenship  and  generally  claimed  to  have 
been  assimilated  through  contact  with  American  institutions  aided  actively  or 

549 


550  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

tacitly,  and  either  willingly  or  under  duress,  llii!-^  monster  conspiracy  to  estab- 
lish Japanese  supremacy  in  Hawaii  . 

We  have  known  for  the  past  tw^o  years  Hawaii  could  not  receive  statehood 
because  of  conditions  clearly  pointed  out  in  my  several  statements  before  your 
committee.  Recently  it  has  been  conceded  the  Territorial  form  of  government 
must  be  replaced  in  time  by  a  Federal  commission.  Now  it  appears  radical 
action  must  be  taken  immediately  by  Congress  if  Hawaii  is  to  be  anything 
but  a  Japanese  colony. 

What  makes  the  situation  more  serious  is  that  Hawaii  is  our  protective  out- 
post in  the  Pacific.  Hawaii,  which  has  at  last  awakened  to  the  danger,  claims 
that  legislation  aslved  by  her  from  Congress  in  the  special  rehabilitation  and 
immigration  acts  furnishes  the  best  practical  remedy. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  say  and  do  not  appear  as  proponent  of  either  measure. 
I  deem  it  a  duty  to  say  that  facts  which  I  assume  are  also  before  your  com- 
mittee justify  the  conclusion  herein  expressed,  to  wit,  that  if  Hawaii  is  to  be 
saved,  prompt  action  by  Congress  is  necessary ;  that  if  the  plan  suggested  by 
Hawaii  is  ^lefective  or  objectionable,  Congress  should  substitute  another  which 
will  accomplish  the  result ;  that  the  American  public,  when  it  learns  the  facts, 
will  not  be  satisfied  with  side-stepping  or  negative  action ;  that  conditons  being 
radically  different  in  Hawaii  and  the  situation  critical,  it  may  be  not  only 
proper  but  necessary  to  adopt  policies  there  which  are  neither  desirable  nor 
necessary  in  continental  United  States ;  and  that  neither  class  prejudice  or 
class  interest  should  be  permitted  to  block  the  adoption  of  policies  or  measures 
if  it  be  demonstrated  beyond  reasonable  question  they  are  necessary  to  main- 
tain American  white  control  permanently  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  McClatchy  sends  another  telegram,  which 
carries  a  statement  with  reference  to  the  riots  and  the  driving  out 
of  Japanese  from  the  town  of  Tiirlok,  Calif.,  signed  by  the  Japa- 
nese Exclusion  League  of  California,  by  J.  M.  Inman,  president,  and 
J.  S.  Chambers,  chairman  executive  committee. 

Mr.  McClatchy  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  his  statement 
of  July,  1920,  page  206  of  hearings,  he  told  the  House  Committee  on 
Immigration  and  Naturalization  that  continuance  of  existing  con- 
ditions must  change  present  economic  problem  due  to  presence  of 
Japanese  into  racial  conflict,  since  whites  would  not  quietly  submit  to 
displacement  by  an  alien  unassimilable  race  under  lower  wage  scale 
and  with  lower  living  standards.  This  committee  was  at  Turlock 
last  year  and  is  familiar  with  the  situation.  Mr.  McClatchy  says 
the  present  incident  illustrates  the  absolute  necessity  for  prompt 
Federal  action  in  the  matter  of  exclusion. 

He  sent  the  following  statement,  issued  by  the  Japanese  Ex- 
clusion League  of  California,  yesterday: 

STATEMENT    OP    JAPANESE   EXCLUSION    LEAGUE    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

San  Feancisco,  July  21,  1921. 
The  Japanese  Exclusion  Lea.uue  of  California  deprecates  and  condemns  the 
violation  of  law  and  tieaty  right  by  mob  at  Turlock  in  expelling,  withoiiv 
violence,  however,  Japanese  who  were  working  in  cantaloupe  fields  of  that 
district.  The  exclusion  league  is  obligated  publicly  to  a  preservation  of  the 
treaty  and  other  rights  of  Japanese  who  are  legally  in  this  State.  In  this 
policy  it  represents  a  practically  unanimous  sentiment  of  the  State  up  to  this 
time.^  It  has  been  the  boast  of  California,  and  the  facts  are  conceded  by 
Japanese  authorities,  that  notwithstanding  most  trying  conditions  in  the 
determined  efforts  of  the  Japanese  to  evade  the  intent  of  State  laws  there 
has  been  neither  by  organization  nor  by  individuals  any  overt  act  or  invasion 
of  the  personal  or  legal  rights  of  any  Japanese  in  this  State.  The  Turlock 
incident,  offering  an  instance  of  violation  of  rights  of  this  kind,  is  deeply 
deprecated,  not  only  as  injustice  to  the  Japanese  but  because  it  is  an  injury 
to  the  cause  of  exclusion.  A  campaign  of  education  is  being  conducted  through- 
out the  East  by  the  exclusion  league,  and  any  acts  of  violence  against  the  per- 
sons or  property  of  Japanese -in  this  State  will  inevitably  prejudice  our  cause 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  551 

and  destroy  some  effect  of  that  educational  work.  The  exclusion  leaf2;ne  pledges 
itself  to  exert  its  power  and  inllnence  to  prevent  any  recurrence  of  the  Turlock 
incident  and  calls  upon  its  members  and  all  friends  of  the  cause  to  act 
accordingly. 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  in  California  a  very  serious  economic 
problem  is  developing  into  a  racial  conflict,  which  may  involve  international 
complications  through  the  determined  and  concerted  action  of  tlie  Japanese, 
and  that  the  Turlock  incident  is  an  indication  of  that  development.  One  year 
ago  in  Turlock,  when  the  House  Connnittee  on  Immigration  personally  investi- 
gated conditions  there,  while  laborers'  organizations  established  to  handle 
transient  labor  and  move  it  from  point  to  point  in  the  State  as  the  crop  matured 
was  receiving  35  cents  a  crate  for  handling  cantaloupe  the  Japanese  came  in 
something  less  than  1,000  strong  and  through  their  organization  offered  to  and 
did  do  the  work  for  26  cents  per  crate.  The  whites  in  consequence  were  driven 
out.  This  year  the  whites  were  crating  cantaloupe  at  the  lowered  price  of  26 
cents  per  crate  when  the  Japanese  again  stepped  in  and  took  contracts  to 
move  the  crop  at  16  cents  per  crate.  Last  year  the  whites  did  nothing;  this 
year  they  acted,  and.  as  pointed  out  to  the  Immigration  Committee  in  its 
hearings  in  California,  constant  occurrences  of  this  kind,  in  which  an  alien 
unassimilable  race  is  determinedly  supplanting  white  people  by  underbidding 
and  organized  effort,  will  inevitably  lead  to  racial  conflict.  In  Japan  similar 
conditions  would  have  undoubtedly  provoked  action  on  the  part  of  Japanese 
very  much  more  drastic  than  taken  at  Turlock.  This  statement  of  facts  is  in 
no  way  intended  as  an  excuse  for  mob  action,  but  it  points  out  the  inevitable 
results  unless  through  congressional  action  the  necessary  remedy  is  provided 
and  protection  given  to  white  citizens  against  the  steadily  increasing  encroach- 
ments of  the  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  asked  Mr.  MacMurray,  of  the  State  De- 
partment, to  be  present  to-day,  and  with  the  permission  of  the 
committee  we  will  hear  him  now.  I  will  say  to  the  committee  that 
we  asked  him  to  come  here  in  order  that  we  might  ask  him  a  few 
questions  about  the  gentlemen's  agreement,  or  Japan's  agreement 
with  the  United  States,  in  regard  to  the  admission  of  common 
laborers. 

Let  us  finst  refresh  our  memories  as  to  what  has  been  printed  as 
the  gentlemen's  agreement.  As  has  been  stated  in  hearings  before 
this  committee  from  time  to  time,  and  which  have  been  printed,  a 
printed  statement  was  made  in  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  Gen- 
eral of  Immigration  for  the  year  1908.  Then,  in  the  hearings  of  this 
committee  from  June  12  to  June  20,  1919,  is  carried  the  Japanese 
statement  concerning  that  agreement  and  a  declaration  as  fol- 
lows  

Mr.  Box  (interposing).  Did  Senator  Phelan  introduce  that? 

The  Chairman.  Yes.  This  appears  in  his  statement  at  the  hear- 
ings upon  the  percentage  plans  for  the  restriction  of  immigration: 

February  24,  1911. 

In  proceeding  this  day  to  the  signatui'e  to  the  treaty  of  commerce  and  navi- 
gation between  Japan  and  the  United  States  the  undersigned,  Japanese  ambas- 
sador in  Washington,  duly  authorized  by  his  Government,  has  the  honor  to 
declare  that  the  Imperial  Japanese  Government  are  fully  prepared  to  maintain 
with  equal  effectiveness  the  limitation  and  control  which  they  have  for  the 
past  three  years  exercised  in  regulation  of  the  emigration  of  laborers  to  the 
United  States. 

Y.    UCHIDA. 

Now,  reverting  to  the  statement  given  out  by  the  Labor  Depart- 
ment, we  find  that  they  invariably  speak  of  continental  United 
States,  and  clearly  Hawaii  is  left  out  of  it.  I  want  to  ask  Mr. 
MacMurray  what  the  understanding  of  the  State  Department  is 
with  regard  to  Hawaii  and  the  gentlemen's  agreement. 


552  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAIL 

STATEMENT  OF  ME.  J.  V.  A.  MacMUEEAY,  CHIEF,  DIVISION  OF 

FAE  EASTEEE^  AEFAIES,  STATE  BEPASTMENT. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  will  read  from  the  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner General  of  Immigration,  that  has  been  referred  to  by  the 
chairman,  for  1908,  page  125 : 

To  section  1  of  the  Immigration  act,  approved  February  20,  1907,  a  pro- 
vision was  attaclied  reading  as  follows : 

"  That  whenever  the  President  shall  be  satisfied  that  passports  issued  by 
anj^  foreign  Government  to  its  citizens  to  go  to  any  other  country  than  the  | 
United  States  or  to  any  insular  possession  of  the  United  States  or  to  the 
Canal  Zone  are  being  used  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  holders  to  come  to 
the  continental  territory  of  the  United  States  to  the  detriment  of  labor  condi- 
tions therein,  the  President  may  refuse  to  permit  certain  citizens  of  the 
country  issuing  such  passports  to  enter  the  continental  territory  of  the  United 
States  from  such  other  country  or  from  such  insular  possessions,  or  from  the 
Canal  Zone." 

This  legislation  was  the  result  of  a  growing  alarm,  particularly  on  the 
Pacific  coast  and  in  States  adjacent  to  Canada  and  Mexico,  that  labor  con- 
ditions would  be  seriously  affected  by  a  continuation  of  the  then  existing  rate 
of  increase  in  admissions  to  this  country  of  Japanese  of  the  laboring  classes. 
The  .Japanese  Government  had  always  maintained  a  policy  opposed  to  the 
emigration  to  continental  United  States  of  its  subjects  belonging  to  such 
classes,  but  it  has  been  found  that  passports  granted  by  said  Government  to 
such  subjects  entitling  them  to  proceed  to  Hawaii  or  to  Canada  or  to  Mexico 
were  being  used  to  evade  the  said  policy  and  gain  entry  to  continental  United 
States.  On  the  basis  of  the  above  quoted  provision,  the  President,  on  March 
14,  1907,  issued  a  proclamation  excluding  from  continental  United  States  "  .Jap- 
anese or  Korean  laborers  skilled  or  unskilled,  who  had  received  passports  to  go 
to  Mexico,  Canada,  or  Hawaii,  and  come  therefrom." 

Department  circular  No.  147,  dated  March  26,  1907,  which  has  been  con- 
tinued in  force  as  rule  21  of  the  immigration  regulations  of  July  1,  1907,  out- 
lined the  policy  and  procedure  to  be  followed  by  the  immigration  officials  in 
giving  effect  to  the  law  and  proclamation. 

Mr.  Kaker.  Can  you  insert  a  co])}^  of  that  circular  in  the  record? 
Mr.  MagMurray.  I  am  afraid  I  can  not,  as  that  is  an  order  of  the 
Department  of  Labor.     This  statement  continues : 

In  order  that  the  best  results  might  follow  from  an  enforcement  of  the 
regulations,  an  understanding  was  reached  with  Japan  that  the  existing  policy 
of  discouraging  emigration  of  its  subjects  of  the  laboring  classes  to  conti- 
nental United  States  should  be  continued,  and  should,  by  cooperation  of  the 
Governments,  be  made  as  effective  as  possible.  This  understanding  contem- 
plates that  the  Japanese  Government  shall  issue  passports  to  continental  United 
States  only  to  such  of  its  subjects  as  are  nonlaborers,  or  are  laborers  wdio,  in 
coming  to  the  continent,  seek  to  resume  a  formerly  acquired  domicile,  to  join 
a  parent,  wife,  or  children  residing  there,  or  to  assume  active  control  of  an 
already  possessed  interest  in  a  farming  enterprise  in  this  country ;  so  that  the 
three  classes  of  laborers  entitled  to  receive  passports  have  come  to  be  desig- 
nated "  former  residents,"  "  parents,  wives,  or  children  of  residents,"  and 
"  settled  agriculturalists." 

With  respect  to  Hawaii,  the  Japanese  Government  of  its  own  volition  stated 
that,  experimentally  at  least,  the  issuance  of  passports  to  members  of  the  labor- 
ing classes  proceeding  thence  would  be  limited  to  "  former  residents "  and 
"parents,  wives,  or  children  of  residents."  The  said  Government  has  also  been 
exercising  a  careful  supervision  over  the  subject  of  emigration  of  its  laboring 
class  to  foreign  contiguous  territory. 

The  Chairman.  That  purports  to  be  a  paraphrase  of  the  gentle- 
man's agreement.  That  is  in  accordance  with  tlie  view  of  the  Com- 
missioner General  of  Immigration,  and  it  states  that,  experimentally 
at  least,  the  agreement  will  be  observed  as  to  Hawaii.  Is  that  the 
meaning  of  it? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIJ.  553 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No,  sir;  it  is  stated  that  the  same  rule,  or  practi- 
cally the  same  rule,  will  be  voluntarily  applied  to  Hawaii.  The 
agTeement  does  not  apply  to  Hawaii,  but  the  agreement  concerns  con- 
tinental United  States. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  State  Department  let  it  iro  by  as  if 
Hawaii  were  not  a  part  of  the  United  States? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No,  sir;  it  was  a  part  of  the  United  States,  but 
it  was  an  insular  rather  than  a  continental  posess'on,  and  the  con- 
ditions in  the  two  were  admittedly  different. 

The  Chairiman.  Did  Japan  make  a  stand  upon  the  proposition  of 
having-  Hawaii  left  out  of  the  gentleman's  agreement  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  In  answering  that  question.  I  should  confe -s  my 
own  ignorance  as  to  whether  it  was  a  suggestion  that  came  from 
our  ov\m  side  or  a  suggestion  from  the  Japanese  side,  that  a  distinc- 
tion be  made  in  that  respect,  or  a  distinction  that  was  obviously  nec- 
essar}^  in  view  of  the  labor  conditions  at  that  time  in  Hawaii,  which 
was  very  anxious  to  get  Asiatic  labor  at  that  time,  whereas  conti- 
nental United- States  was  not. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  was  not  this  gentleman's 
agreement  built  up  as  the  result  of  exchanges  of  correS|:»ondence  be- 
tween diplomatic  officials  of  the  United  States  and  diplomatic  officials 
of  Japan? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir ;  it  is  not  embodied  in  a  single  text,  but 
it  appears  in  the  course  of  some  long  and  argumentative  corre- 
spondence between  onr  embassy  at  Tokyo  and  the  Japanese  foreign 
office. 

The  Chairman.  It  w^as  the  result  of  a  series  of  di])lomatic  ex- 
changes ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  whether  Japan  in  those  letters, 
wdiich,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  constitute  a  part  of  the  gentleman's 
agreement,  reserved  the  right,  whenever  it  thought  there  was  a  labor 
shortage  in  Hawaii,  to  send  coolies  over  there? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  It  reserved  freedom  of  action,  and  it  made  only 
a  voluntary  undertaking  in  regard  to  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  at  any  time  that  Japan  has  information   ^ 
that  there  is  a  shortage  of  common  labor  in  Hawaii,  she  can,  without 
violating  the  gentleman's  agreement,  supply  that  demand?     Is  that 
j^our  understanding? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir;  it  is  my  understanding  that  they  are 
not  excluded  b}^  the  terms  of  the  agreement. 

Mr.  Wilson.  At  whose  request  was  Hawaii  not  included  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  There  again  I  must  confess  my  ignorance.  I  do 
not  know  whether  it  was  at  our  own  request  or  Japan's. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  the  records  and  correspondence  of  the 
State  Department  in  regard  to  the  matter  will  disclose  that  Japan 
insisted  on  leaving  Hawaii  out  of  it,  and  that  the  United  States  in- 
sisted that  it  would  have  to  be  included  in  the  agreement,  because 
Haw^aii  was  a  part  of  the  United  States.  My  understanding  is  that 
Japan  then  undertook  to  reserve  the  right  to  send  common  labor  into 
Haw^aii  whenever  it  learned  in  an  official  way  from  the  United  States 
that  Hawaii  was  short  of  such  labor. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Did  we  consent  or  acquiesce  in  that  ? 


554  LABOR    PEOBI.EMS   TJs^    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Apparently  we  acquiesced.  Is  the  gentleman's 
agreement  a  little  memorandum  laid  on  top  of  a  pile  of  letters? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No,  sir ;  it  is  not  a  memorandum  or  document  in 
itself,  but  the  gentleman's  agreement  is  embodied  in  statements  pass- 
ing back  and  forth  between  them  in  the  course  of  the  correspondence. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  never  had  the  text  of  the  agreement. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  This  is  the  statement  of  the  Commissioner  Gen- 
eral of  Immigration. 

The  Chairman.  But  that  is  not  a  State  Department  publication. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  more  properly  a  gentleman's  understanding  than 
a  gentleman's  agreement. 

The  Chairman.  I  call  attention  to  the  note  put  out  by  the  Jaj:)anese 
ambassador  in  1911.  a  statement  signed  by  him  and  attached  to  a 
trade  treaty. 

Mr.  Free.  I  have  somewhere  in  my  files  a  copy  of  a  statement 
issued  by  some  Secretary  of  State  on  the  subject  of  the  gentleman's 
agreement,  in  which,  or  in  a  letter,  he  embodies  what  the  State  De- 
partment construed  it  to  be.  Whether  that  is  an  official  statement 
I  do  not  know,  but  it  is  outlined  in  that  letter. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  in  the  hearing  a  letter  addressed  to  Sen- 
ator Phelan,  dated  August  28,  1919,  and  signed  by  William  Phillips, 
Acting  Secretary  of  State;  but  if  that  is  the  letter  you  refer  to,  it 
does  not  fully  convey  it.  What  I  want  to  get  at,  Mr.  MacMurray, 
is  this :  If  a  resolution  of  the  kind  that  is  pending;  before  this  com- 
mittee— resolution  171 — permitting  the  President  to  proclaim  that  a 
labor  emergency  exists  in  Hawaii  is  sent  out  from  this  committee 
with  a  report  confirming  that,  showing  that  there  is  a  labor  shortage 
in  Hawaii,  and  if  such  a  resolution  should  be  enacted  into  law,  would 
not  that  be  all  that  Japan  would  need  to  induce  her  to  send  her 
coolies  into  Hawaii  in  any  desired  number,  or  in  any  number  that 
suited  her? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  That  is  a  matter  of  conclusion  from  the  discus- 
sion, and  as  to  that  I  woidd  venture  only  my  personal  opinion;  but 
as  I  read  the  documents,  Japan  would  be  at  liberty  to  do  that. 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  so  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned, 
Japan  evidently  foresaw  what  was  coming  and  made  careful  pro- 
A^sion  for  it. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  would  rather  put  it  this  way ;  At  that  time 
Hawaii  was  exceedingly  anxious  to  get  Japanese  laborers,  and  the 
Japanese  Government  undertx^ok  to  restrict  the  emigration  of  laborers 
from  Japan  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  until  such  time  as  they  were 
required,  or  she  undertook  to  restrict  it  in  the  absence  of  any  urgently 
pressing  need;  but  that  was  entirely  apart  from  the  gentleman's 
agreement,  which  left  Japan  free  in  the  matter.  We  must  assume 
that  when  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  in  need  of  Asiatic  labor,  as  this 
resolution  assumes,  Japan  could  properly  claim  that  the  situation  is 
one  in  which  they  are  absolved  from  any  attempt  to  keep  their 
labor  out. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  we  assume  the  burden  of  proof  for 
Japan,  from  the  testimony  before  this  committee,  that  there  is  a 
shortage  of  labor  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  If  we  present  a  resolu- 
tion based  upon  that,  and  authorize  the  President  to  make  an  investi- 


LABOFv    PROBLEMS    IN    HAW  ATT.  555 

gation  to  determine  from  the  evidence  whether  tiiere  i-  such  a  short- 
age, having  passed  such  a  resohition,  we  woukl  be  in  a  very  poor 
position  then  to  chaim  that  there  was  not  such  a  shortage. 

Mr.  MacMukray.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  We  would,  in  fact,  prochiini  a  shortage  of  hibor  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  under  Mr.  MacMurra^^'s  construction  of 
the  correspondence  which  practically  constitutes  the  gentleman's 
agreement,  we  would  be  estopped  from  complaining  if  Japan  in- 
sisted upon  supply  that  shortage. 

Mr.  Rakejr.  Yes.  In  other  words,  we  would  be  building  up  a  case 
for  them  to  sa}^  that  there  was  a  shortage. 

Mr.  Wilson.  If  that  is  true,  then  what  becomes  of  the  declared 
purpose  of  the  resolution,  as  stated  by  its  proponents,  to  bring  in 
Chinese  labor? 

The  Chairman.  As  I  read  the  resolution,  it  seeks  to  regulate  im- 
migration of  various  kinds  to  Hawaii  on  a  percentage  basis,  and  it 
would  supersede  anything  that  might  be  in  the  gentleman's  agree- 
ment, so  that  additional  Japanese  laborers  could  not  come  in  after 
the  enactment  of  the  resolution  because  of  the  percentage  limitation. 
But  if  Congress  starts  with  the  resolution.  Congress  has  got  to  pass 
it;  otherwise  the  door  is  open. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  see.  You  would  be  in  the  position  of  opening  up 
a  situation  whereby  Japan  would  have  the  right  under  the  gentle- 
man's agreement  to  send  the  men,  and  then  of  savino*  bv  the  same 
resolution  that  they  could  not  bring  them  in. 

The  Chairman.  Japan  might  take  advantage  of  her  reservations 
to  the  gentleman's  agreement  before  such  a  resolution  could  be  finally 
enacted  into  law 

Mr.  Eaker  (interposing).  In  other  words,  w^e  have  been  striving 
for  10  or  12  years  to  have  a  restrictive  law  placed  upon  the  statute 
books  excluding  Asiatic  coolie  labor,  which  includes  Chinese  and 
Japanese.  We  have  been  trying  to  do  that  by  direct  legislative  act. 
Now,  if  you  take  the  view  that  is  presented  by  the  gentleman,  that 
this  resolution  w^ould  restrict  Japanese  immigration,  notwithstand- 
ing the  gentleman's  agreement  to  the  effect  that  they  can  bring  them 
in  under  a  certain  state  of  facts,  or  when  they  believe  that  there  is  a 
shortage  of  common  labor  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  we  will  be  doing 
indirectly  what  we  have  been  attempting  to  do  directly  in  excluding 
the  Japanese.    Is  that  about  the  situation  ? 

Mr.  MaoMurray.  It  seems  to  me  that  that  interpretation  of  it 
would  constitute  an  exclusion  act  against  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii. 
Does  that  answer  your  question  ? 

Mr.  Haker.  Yes.  At  the  same  time,  by  the  resolution  we  declare 
that  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor,  which,  under  the  gentleman's  agree- 
ment, if  it  does  exist,  authorizes  the  Japanese  Government  to  permit 
their  nationals  to  come  in,  and  it  would  permit  other  nationals  that 
we  have  excluded  from  other  lands  to  come  in  because  of  that  short- 
age. 

Mr.  MacMlh^ray.  By  that  you  mean  Chinese? 

Mr.  Eaker.  Yes;  Chinese;  and,  in  addition  to  that,  we  would 
permit  to  come  in  under  this  resolution  other  classes,  namely,  the 
diseased,  the  criminal,  the  bolsheviki,  the  prostitutes,  and  other  un- 
desirable classes  to  do  hotel  work,  including  pimps  and  all  others. 


556  LABOR   PROBLEMS    ]N    HAWAII. 

That  would  be  done  by  virtue  of  this  resolution,  because  it  perm  its: 
the  otherwise  ineligible  to  come  in. 

Mr.  MacMueray.  I  do  not  know  as  to  that;  that  is  a  phase  of 
the  matter  that  does  not  seem  to  come  within  the  competence  of  the 
State  Department. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  regard  to  the  gentleman's  agreement,  how  could 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  as  it  ^vas  called  at  that 
time,  obtain  this  agreement  if  it  was  not  in  writing?  How  could 
the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  ^et  that  document  or  write 
that  language  that  you  have  read  in  here? 

Mr.  MacMurrat.  It  was  in  writings 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  a  letter  on  file  in  these  hearings,  introihiced 
by  myself,  from  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  and  one  from  the  Secretary 
of  State,  both  stating  there  is  nothing  in  writing  upon  this  matter. 

Mr.  Free.  Does  that  mean 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  I  want  his  explanation  of  that. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Does  it  not  state  rather  that  there  is  no  agreed 
form  of  statement  in  writing? 

Mr.  Raker.  Perhaps  it  is  stated  that  way. 

Mr.  MacMfrray.  I  suggest  that,  because  that  is  the  fact.  It 
might  properly  be  designated  as  simply  what  appears  from  a  rather 
long  course  of  correspondence,  in  which  various  matters  were  de- 
bated and  discussed,  and  in  the  course  of  that  correspondence,  from 
time  to  time,  there  would  appear  to  be  a  meetifig  of  minds  on  ques- 
tions a.  b,  and  c,  we  will  say. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  instead  of  putting  that  considerable 
correspondence,  and  possibly  interviews,  discussions,  and  confer- 
ences, covering  a  long  period  of  time,  into  the  form  of  an  agreement 
drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  ambassadors  of  the  two  countries  and 
approved  by  the  Senate,  they  took  their  correspondence  and  finally 
drew  up  a  document,  or,  rather,  not  a  document,  but  a  letter,  which 
expressed  and  brought  together  all  of  their  understandings  upoi? 
those  subjects? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No,  sir;  there  was  no  letter  gathering  the  sub- 
ject up.  There  was  nothing  in  the  form  either  of  an  agreed  state- 
ment or  of  a  final  letter  from  one  side  to  the  other.  There  was 
nothing  which  could  be  said  to  be  a  summing  up  of  the  matter  in  a 
single  document  or  agreement.  As  for  what  I  quoted  here  from  the 
statement  of  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration,  it  is  what 
we  might  call  a  summary  of  the  points  of  agreement  in  an  extended 
correspondence. 

The  Chairmaist.  The  presumption  is  that  he  had  access  to  the  cor- 
respondence ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  That  was  supplied  to  him  by  the  State  Depart- 
ment, and  he  made  that  paraphrase  of  it? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  So  far  as  I  know ;  yes,  sir.  Mr.  Strauss  was  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  at  that  time,  and  I  think  this  was 
his  owfi  statement. 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  be  able  to  get  for  this  committee  a 
copy  of  the  exchanges  that  took  place  with  regard  to  the  gentleman's 
agreement  and  Hawaii? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  should  have  to  consult  the  department. 


LABOR    PROBLEMS    IN    HAV/ATT.  657 

The  Chairman.  They  mi<^ht  Avrite  off  a  (*o[)y  of  what  was  said 
regarding  that  subject  in  the  various  letters,  so  that  we  could  see 
whetlier  the  United  States  really  undertook  to  protect  Haw^aii  or 
whether  Japan  undertook  to  make  sure  that  she  could  fill  Hawaii 
whenever  she  wanted  to. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  could  not  promise  you  that. 
The  Chairman.  It  would  be  better,  perhaps,  for  the  committee  to 
make  a  formal  request  of  the  Secretary  in  writing. 
Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker,  In  aiTiving  at  what  we  call  the  gentleman's  agreement, 
the  Jajxmese  Government  contended  that  there  should  be  no  restric- 
tions \iY)on  the  admission  of  Japanese  laborers  into'  Hawaii  when 
there  was  a  shortage  of  labor,  and  our  Government  contended  that 
the  same  rule  should  apply  there  as  applied  to  continental  United 
States.  Then,  as  I  understand  it,  our  Government  finally  yielded  to 
the  Japanese  Government,  permitting  them  to  issue  passports  for 
their  nationals  to  go  to  Hawaii  when  the  labor  situation  was  some- 
what short  there. 

Mr.  MAcMuRiiAY.  I  think  the  situation  was  more  properly  this, 
that  we  made  our  original  proposal  without  distinction  as  between 
the  two  kinds  of  American  territory,  continental  and  insular,  where- 
upon Japan  pointed  out  the  existence  of  a  different  set  of  facts,  as 
was  known  to  us  ^s  w^ell  as  to  them ;  that  is,  that  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  were  actually  seeking  Asiatic  labor;  that  tliere  was  an  ar- 
rangement in  effect  at  tliat  time — of  course,  it  was  an  entirely  infor- 
mal arrangement  out  there  in  the  islands — by  which  the  planters' 
association  would  actually  notify  the  Japanese  consul  each  year- of 
the  number  of  laborers  that  they  thought  could  be  profitably  em- 
ployed, whereupon  the  Japanese  consul  would  advise  his  Govern- 
ment, and  the  Japanese  Government  would  issue  passports  for  the 
laborers,  or  a  portion  of  the  laborers,  indicated  as  necessary  to  go  to 
the  islands.  That  being  the  fact,  the  distinction  Avas  not  one  as 
between  American  territory  and  something  that  Avas  a  little  bit  less 
than  American  territory,  but  as  between  American  territory  where 
we  Avere  endeavoring  to  protect  Avhite  labor  and  x\merican  territory 
in  Avhich  white  labor  Avas  not  demanding  protection,  and  in  AAdiich 
there  Avas,  in  fact,  no  opportunity  for  Avhite  labor,  Avith  the  result 
that  the  industries  of  the  islands  were  actively  seeking  to  get 
Asiatic  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  it  be  impertinent,  or  beyond  the  scope  in  seek- 
ing for  information,  if  there  should  be  conveyed  to  the  committee 
information  as  to  through  Avhat  source  the  HaAvaiian  government,  or 
the  Hawaiian  people,  at  that  time  Avere  seeking  and  requesting  the 
admission  of  Japanese  laborers  into  HaAvaii? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  do  not  think  there  was  anything  official  about 
it,  but  it  Avas  simply  the  result  of  a  condition  that  existed  there  in 
their  industries  which  required  labor,  and  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
extent  to  which  labor  was  required  the  Japanese  consul  Avould  ask 
the  planters'  association,  that  being  probably  the  largest  employer 
of  labor,  what  the  requirements  were. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  there  anything  in  the  records,  letters,  or  corre- 
spondence that  Avould  indicate  the  desire  of  the  planters'  association 
and  of  the  various  industries  of  Hawaii  to  permit  Japanese  laborers 
to  come  into  Hawaii  ? 


558  LABOR    PROBLEMS    IX    HAWAII. 

Mr.  MacMureay.  Frankly,  I  do  not  know  of  anything-  on  record 
in  regard  to  that,  except  the  statement,  which  does  appear  in  tlie 
course  of  the  correspondence,  that  this  arrangement  was  aheady  in 
effect  and  had  been  for  a  number  of  years. 

The  Chairman.  I  believe  the  correspondence  on  the  Japanese 
side  indicates  that  the  Japanese  consul  would  usually  suppl}^  a  fewer 
number  of  laborers  than  were  requested. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  That  is  the  fact. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  another  question  I  want  to  ask  you : 
Does  the  State  Department  have  any  information  about  the  exist- 
ence of  the  organization  known  as  the  Japanese  Laborers'  Federa- 
tion in  Hawaii  and  its  activities  this  last  year  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  So  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  we  have  nothing 
of  record.    Of  course.  Ave  have  letters  from  individuals. 

The  Chairman.  The  United  States  does  not  have  diplomatic 
agents  in  her  Territorial  possessions? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No,  sir;  of  course  not,  in  our  own  territory. 

The  Chairman.  So  such  information  would  come  to  the  United 
States  Government  through  reports  to  the  Department  of  the  In- 
terior, or  to  Congress  through  the  Committee  on  Territories,  or  the 
1^'oreign  Affairs  Committee,  or  this  committee,  or  perhaps  to  the 
Military  Intelligence  Office  of  the  War  Department. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Or  possibly  it  might  come  ty  the  State  Depart- 
ment through  the  governor.  I  think  I  am  correct  in  sa^dng,  although 
I  say  it  not  altogether  positively,  that  we  have  nothing  official  on 
the  subject  from  the  governor  or  from  any  branch  of  the  Terri- 
torial government. 

The  Chairman.  Then  you  Avould  not  know  anything  regarding 
article  6,  section  14,  of  the  by-laws  of  the  Japanese  Laborers'  Federa- 
tion of  the  Island  of  Hawaii.  Paragraph  3  of  that  section  and  arti- 
cle reads  as  follows : 

Should  a  member  be  found  ,u;Milry  <>f  any  act  coutraveiiing  .tlie  interests  of 
this  federation  he  shall  ])e  expelled  from  its  meml)ership  and  his  certificate  of 
UAembersliii)  canceled:  I'iorUlcd  fnrttt(i\  That  the  matter  shall  be  reported  to 
the  several  affiliated  branciies,  the  Federated  Union  of  the  Japanese  Labor 
Or.uani/.ations  of  Hawaii,  and  the  ])urgomaster  (mayor)  of  the  offending  niem- 
iK^r's  permanent  domicile  in  Japan. 

In  other  words,  one  of  the  punishments  for  nonconformity  with 
the  rules  of  the  Japanese  Laborers'  Federation  in  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii,  which  is  a  portion  of  the  United  States,  is  that  of  publicity 
and  scorn  in  Japan.  That  is  likely  to  be  a  matter  that  the  State  De- 
partment would  look  into,  is  it  not? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  am  frank  to  tell  jou  that  I  do  not  know  what 
the  attitude  of  our  Government  would  be  on  that. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  the  department  should  know  about  it,  and 
Congress,  too,  for  that  matter. 

Now,  I  will  insert  in  the  record  some  of  these  advertisements  ap- 
pearing in  Japanese  papers  in  Hawaii,  with  the  photographs  of  cer- 
tain Japanese.  The}^  are  entitled  "  Expulsion  advertisements.' 
Here  is  one  containing  the  photographs  of  four  Japanese,  who  are 
named,  followed  by  this  statement : 

The  above  persons  have  broken  the  pledge  of  this  federation  and  have  taken 
independent  action.  Therefore,  the  federation  hereby  expels  them  and  will 
not  recognize  them  hereafter  as  members  of  any  social  organization,  and  pro- 
hibits any  member  to  have  any  relationship  whatever  with  them. 


LABOK    PnOBl.KMS    IN    HAWAII.  559 

That  is  signed  '' Kaliuku  eJapanese  Association.  Approved:  Oaliu 
Labor  Federation,  Labor  Federation  of  Hawaii." 

The  second  one  promulgates  the  same  information  concerning  six 
Japanese,  expelling  them  and  carr^/ing  this  statement : 

The  above  persons  have  disgraced  the  name  of  this  federation,  have  violated 
the  rules,  have  broken  the  strike,  and  have  independently  returned  to  work. 
We  have  granted  them  a  period  of  days  to  come  back  to  themselves,  but  they 
have  positively  refused  to  confess.  Therefore  they  are  hereby  expelled  from 
the  federation.  The  federation  prohibits  its  members  to  have  any  relationship 
with  them  and  will  not  recognize  them  as  qualified  members  of  any  public 
organization. 

This  advertisement  will  be  printed  in  all  Hawaiian-Japanese  papers  as  well 
as:  papers  in  the  home  towns  in  Japan. 

That  advertisement  is  signed,  '' Waiphu  Japanese  Federation  of 
Labor.  Approved  the  action  of  Waiphu  Federation,  Oahii  Federation 
of  Labor ;  approved  the  action  of  Oahu  Federation,  Japanese  Federa- 
tion of  Hawaii." 

Another  advertisement  relating  to  two  Japanese  reads  as  follows : 

The  above  persons,  after  having  taken  a  pledge  to  abide  with  us  until  the 
objective  of  our  wage  increase  movement  has  been  attained,  and  received  the 
means  of  livelihood  from  this  association,  have  treacherously  broken  the  pledge 
and  returned  to  work.  The  association  can  not  see  any  reason  for  mercy  and 
hereby  it  declares  they  are  expelled. 

Kahuku  Japanese  Association. 

This  association  approves  the  action  of  Kahuku  Japanese  Association. 

Oahu  Fedekation  of  Laboe, 
Hawaiian  Federation  of  Japanese  Ladoi-  Headquarters. 

I  take  it  that  these  labor  associations  in  the  islands  of  Hawaii  are 
similar  to  the  associations  in  the  States  of  California  and  Washing- 
ton, where  the  associations  are  coextensive  with  the  Japanese  consuls 
as  regards  territory. 

Mr.  Eaker.  I  am  interested  in  trying  to  get  at  this  gentleman's 
agreement  as  it  relates  to  Hawaii.  Referring  to  the  evidence  that 
has  been  presented  to  the  committee  and  discussed  generally,  that 
even  when  the  Hawaiian  Government  was  a  monarchy  and  before  it 
became  a  Territory,  they  had  excluded  the  Japanese,  and  the  fact 
that  we  have  been  intent  on  excluding  them  all  the  time,  I  want  to 
ask  you  just  how  that  appears  in  the  gentleman's  agreement?  You 
referred  to  the  fact  that  passports  could  be  issued  by  the  Japanese 
Government  to  laborers  to  go  to  Hawaii  if  there  was  a  shortage  of 
common  labor.  Could  you  amplif}^  that  statement  a  little  bit  more  ? 
It  may  be  that  the  rest  of  the  committee  fully  understand  it,  but  I 
must  confess  that  I  do  not. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  The  substance  of  it  is  this,  that  in  accepting  the 
suggestion  that  the  gentleman's  agreement  should  be  made  appli- 
cable, or  that  there  should  be  adopted  a  gentleman's  agreement  under 
which  the  Japanese  Government  would  itself  impose  upon  its  labor- 
ing classes  restrictions  preventing  them  from  emigrating  from 
Japan,  or,  in  other  words  that  Japan  should  control  the  emigration 
rather  than  that  we  should  control  the  immigration — thej^  asked  in 
view  of  the  wholly  different  situation  with  regard  to  labor  in  HaAvaii, 
that  Hawaii  should  not  be  included,  but  that  the  agreement  should 
in  its  terms  refer  to  continental  United  States ;  but  at  the  same  time, 
they  announced  that  as  a  matter  of  policy,  but  independent  of  the 


560  LABOR    PEOBLKMS    IN    HAWAII. 

arrangement  reoardino-  continental  United  States,  they  would  them- 
selves voluntaril}^  restrict  emigration  of  Japanese  labor  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  though  reserving  the  right  to  withdraw  from 
that  voluntarily  assumed  position  in  case  it  should  appear  that  there 
was  no  longer  a  need  for  it,  and  that  there  w^as,  in  fact  a  need  for 
oriental  labor.    Does  that  make  it  clear? 

Mr.  Eaker.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  another  question :  When 
the  Japanese  Government  agreed  to  suspend  sending  picture  brides 
to  continental  United  States  did  they  make  a  similar  agreement 
with  regard  to  Hawaii?  First,  did  they  notify  the  State  Depart- 
ment that  they  would  suspend  sending  picture  ])rides  to  the  United 
States  ? 

Mr.  MAcMrKRAY.  The}^  did  notify  the  State  Department.  That 
was  in  January,  1919 ;  they  notified  us  that  before  the  end  of  Febru- 
ary they  would  discontinue  the  issuance  of  passports  to  what  are 
commonly  called  picture  brides.  I  think  February  28,  1920.  Avas 
the  date.  At  the  same  time,  they  notified  us  that  each  of  those  pass- 
ports was  available  for  six  months,  and  that  it  would  be  the  end  of 
August  before  they  would  cease  to  come. 

Mr.  Eaker.  It  was  in  December,  1919.  that  they  issued  that 
notice  ? 

Mr.  MacMurrat.  They  notified  us  December  15,  1919,  that  be- 
ginning, as  I  recall,  on  February  28,  they  would  discontinue  issuing 
passports. 

The  Chairman.  They  notified  you  tliat  the  last  Japanese  picture 
brides  would  come  along  in  August  or  September. 

Mr.  MacMi  RRAY.  In  August. 

The  Chairman.  I  find  that  they  are  still  sending  picture  brides  to 
Hawaii  this  year.  I  cabled  to  the  commissioner  of  imimigration  at 
Honolulu,  Hawaii,  asking  him  to  wire  me  the  number  of  picture 
brides  admitted  by  months  since  January  1,  and  he  Avired  me  as 
follows : 

Picture  brides  admitted  Honolulu:  Taniiary,  39:  February,  20;  March,  26; 
April,  52 ;  May,  23 ;  and  June,  51. 

That  makes  211  for  the  six  months.  That  number,  this  distance 
from  Hawaii,  would  not  seem  ver^^  many,  but  by  adding  that  number 
of  women  or  young  brides  to  the  Japanese  population  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  in  addition  to  the  facts  which  were  pointed  out  in  the  tele- 
gram from  Mr.  McClatchy  that  was  read  this  morning  and  the  con- 
ditions pointed  out  in  the  hearings  held  last  year  by  Chester  H. 
Rowell,  the  Fresno  editor,  and  stated  time  and  time  again  with  ref- 
erence to  Hawaii  particularly,  it  would  indicate  the  possibility  that 
peaceful  penetration  is  proceeding  nicely  in  HaAvaii. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  think  Mr.  MacMurray  Avas  interrupted 
in  his  statement,  and  possibly  it  does  not  appear  clearly  in  the  record. 
There  was  a  little  conversation  between  Judge  Raker  and  Mr.  Mac- 
Murray,  and  I  would  lilve  to  have  him  restate  what  he  then  said,  so 
that  it  will  appear  definitely  in  the  record.  I  refer  to  his  state- 
ment in  regard  to  picture  brides. 

Mr.  MacMurrat.  I  stated  that  beginning  February  28,  1920,  they 
would  cease  issuing  passports  for  so-called  picture  brides  of  the 
laboring  class  to  emigrate  from  Japan  to  the  United  States.     Those 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   11^   HAWAII.  561 

passports,  lioAvevcr,  as  pointed  out,  being  oood  for  six  months,  they 
notified  ns  that  the  last  picture  brides  might  be  expected  to  leave 
Japan  in  August,  1920.  There  \Yas  an  omission  there,  and  I  shoidd 
have  stated  that  that  was  applicable  to  continental  United  States. 
It  was  an  application  of  the  gentleman's  agreement,  which  refers  to 
continental  United  States. 

Mr.  Fkee.  Is  there  any  imderstanding  with  Japan  with  regard  to 
the  admission  of  picture  brides  into  Hawaii? 

Mr.  MacMhrray.  There  is  none. 

]\rr.  Box.  Under  the  interpretation  that  Japan  makes  of  the 
gentlemen's  agreement,  they  have  the  right  to  send  those  women  as 
wives  of  those  Japanese  coming  to  their  husbands  here  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  And  that  application  of  it  still  continues  as  to  Hawaii? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  Can  you  answer  this  question :  Under  the  gentlemen's 
agreement  they  have  contended  that  they  have  the  right  in  this  coun- 
try to  adopt  children  in  Japan  and  even  to  adopt  grown  men;  now, 
after  such  a  man  is  adopted,  permitting  him  to  come  to  the  United 
States  proper,  after  he  gets  here,  he  can  bring  in  his  parents  and  chil- 
dren, can  he  not  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No,  sir ;  not  his  parents.  It  is  to  be  understood, 
of  course,  on  this  whole  question  of  Japanese  adoption,  that  it  is  an 
immemorial  custom  among  the  Japanese  which  is  very  severely  regu- 
lated. After  a  person  is  adopted,  he  foregoes  his  own  family  com- 
pletely. Therefore,  he  could  not  be.  brought  in  as  the  adopted  son 
of  a  Japanese  in  this  country  and  be  permitted  to  bring  in  his  natural 
parents 

Mr.  Free.  But  he  could  bring  in  his  wife  and  children  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  That  is  a  matter  applying  to  continental  United  States? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes.  I  believe  that  there  are  not  enough  to 
make  any  considerable  number. 

Mr.  Free.  I  know  that  an  investigation  was  made  by  the  State 
board  of  control  of  California,  and  out  of  a  certain  number  investi- 
gated they  found  171  in  one  lot  of  a  few  hundred.  Now,  has  that 
b)een  practiced  in  Hawaii,  too  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  assume  that  the  practice  would  be  identical  in 
Hawaii.  With  regard  to  Hawaii,  it  is  still  possible  for  the  parents 
and  wives  and  children  of  residents  to  come  in. 

Mr.  Free.  I  have  been  requested  to  ask  you  a  couple  of  questions : 
Did  the  State  Department  ever  take  any  steps  to  ascertain  from  the 
Hawaiian  Planters'  Association,  or  from  government  officials  in 
Hawaii,  whether  any  arrangement  between  the  association  and  the 
Japanese  consul,  by  which  they  requested  him  to  furnish  labor, 
which  you  testified  about,  really  did  exist? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  will  have  to  answer  that  from  inference.  I 
have  never  seen  any  correspondence  about  it-  That  was  long  before 
I  was  in  the  State  Department  myself,  and  I  have  never  seen  any- 
thing about  it  in  any  of  the  records  that  I  have  examined.  I 
should  perhaps  add,  however,  that  the  situation  Avith  regard  to 
Hawaii  was  pretty  well  known  to  our  Government  at  that  time,  be- 
cause Mr.  Strauss,  who,  I  think,  at  the  moment  of  the  agreement, 

56Tr)4--21— SER  7,  PT  2 2 


562  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IE"   HAWAII. 

was  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  went  himself  to  Hawaii 
and  looked  into  the  matter. 

Mr.  Free.  Under  what  administration  did  Mr.  Strauss  serve  as 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor? 

Mr.  MacMueray.  Under  President  Roosevelt's  administration  in 
1907  and  1908. 

Mr.  Free-  Was  your  information  regarding  the  arrangement  Ije- 
tween  the  Hawaiian  Planters'  Association  and  the  Japanese  consul 
obtained  entirel}^  from  Japanese  sources? 

Mr.  MacMttrray.  That  is  the  same  question  in  another  form, 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  can  give  only  the  same  answer,  that  I  know 
nothing  personally  about  it,  and  have  not  seen  anything  in  the  rec- 
ords about  it,  but  I  have  assumed  that  there  was  no  occasion  to 
question  it  in  view  of  Mr.  Strauss's  investigation  out  there. 

The  Chairman.  Was  not  the  situation  about  like  this:  Japan  in 
insisting  upon  its  right  to  supply  labor  to  Hawaii,  claimed  that  they 
had  from  time  to  time  supplied  labor  on  the  report  of  the  consul; 
that  the  consul  made  inquiries  of  the  planters  as  to  the  probable 
amount  of  labor  required,  and  that  the  Japanese  Government  in 
helping  them  out,  invariably  sent  short  of  the  number  reported  by 
the  consul  as  necessary,  in  an  effort,  undoubtedl3^  to  save  the  Japa- 
nese laborers  from  being  caught  in  a  wage  cut. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  connection  with  the  gentlemen's  agreement,  it 
appears  to  be  well  understood  that  there  was  a  difference  when  it 
was  applied  to  continental  LTnited  States  from  the  way  it  was  ap- 
plied to  Hawaii  in  respect  to  laborers,  and  it  appears  that  it  was  left 
in  such  a  way  that  the  Japanese  Government  could  claim  the  right, 
or  rather,  privilege  in  case  of  a  shortage  of  labor  in  Hawaii  to  supply 
that  labor. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir;  the  gentlemen's  agreement,  covering 
only  continental  United  States,  left  Japan  with  respect  to  Hawaii, 
bound  only  so  long  as  she  wished  to  be  bound  by  her  voluntary  under- 
taking that,  for  the  time  being — experimentally,  as  the  statement  of 
the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration  reads — the  issuance  of 
passports  to  members  of  the  laboring  class  would  be  limited. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  was  left  very  largely  to  the  discretion  of  Japan? 
.     Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  appears  from  the  testimony  that  when  the  planters' 
association  desired  to  secure  laborers,  they  made  their  representations 
to  the  representative  of  the  Japanese  Government  in  Hawaii,  and 
then,  upon  the  recommendation  of  that  representative  the  laborers 
were  brought  from  Japan. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  The  passports  were  issued  enabling  the  laborers 
to  go  from  Japan. 

Mr.  Wilson.  On  the  representation  of  the  Japanese  consul  in 
Hawaii,  who  secured  his  information  from  the  planters'  association 
and  not  from  the  Hawaiian  Government? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No;  as  I  understand  it,  it  was  only  unofficial. 
That  ceased  upon  the  making  of  the  gentlemen's  agreement — ^the 
arrangement  by  which  the  planters  gave  an  indication  of  the  labor 
situation. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  did  not  know  that. 


LABOIl    niOBl.EMS    IN    HAWAII.  563 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Tliat  was  the  situation  with  which  they  were 
confronted  when  they  made  the  j^^entlemen's  agreement. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Noav,  since  the  o-entlemen's  agreement,  what  steps 
are  taken  in  order  to  bring  Japanese  kxbor  to  Hawaii? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  The  Japanese  Government  has  voluntarily 
waived  any  right  to  issue  passports  for  this  labor. 

Mr.  Wilson.  AVell,  is  that  understood  by  the  gentlemen's  agree- 
ment, that  they  are  no  longer  in  a  position  to  claim  that  right? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No.  The  Hawaiian  arrangement  is  separate 
from  the  gentlemen's  agreement,  but  simultaneously  Avith  it  they  said, 
"Experimentally,  and  in  effect  at  our  own  will,  and  so  long  as  we 
deem  the  conditions  justify  it.  we  will  altogether  stop  passports  for 
Hawaii." 

Mr.  Wilson.  Now,  if  that  is  at  the  will  of  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment, is  it  left  open  for  them  to  resume  that  i^ractice  and  say  under 
the  gentlemen's  agreement  that  they  have  the  right  to  supply  labor 
for  Hawaii? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes ;  I  think  that  under  the  treaty  of  1911  they 
have  that  right;  and  under  earlier  treaties,  too. 

The  Chairman.  Then  does  it  not  say  in  so  many  words  that  when 
the  Japanese  Government  receives  notice — straight,  official  notice — 
that  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  short  of  labor,  the  Japanese  GoA^ern- 
ment  reserA^es  the  right  to  send  labor  there? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  did  not  quite  understand  the  question. 

The  Chairman.  Does  any  of  the  correspondence  that  led  up  to  this 
gentlemen's  agreement  carry  any  phraseology  to  the  effect  that  Japan, 
upon  learning  officially  from  the  United  States  that  there  is  a  short- 
age of  labor  in  Hawaii,  shall  have  the  right  to  send  labor  into  HaAvaii  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No  ;  there  is  no  positive  grant  like  that. 

The  Chairman.  What  does  it  say  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  The  correspondence  contemplates  that  the  Jap- 
anese Government,  upon  ascertaining  in  consultation  Avith  the  Ameri- 
can authorities  that  there  is  a  shortage,  Avould  be  at  liberty  to  resume 
its  freedom  of  action.  That  is  not  the  precise  Avording,  but  that  is 
the  sense  of  it,  as  I  recall  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  MacMurray,  has  the  United  States  an  agreement 
or  arrangement  with  any  other  country,  except  the  one  that  you  haA^e 
designated  with  the  Japanese  GoA^ermnent  known  as  the  "  gentlemen's 
agreement,"  relatiA^e  to  the  entry  into  the  United  States  of  their 
nationals  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No.  In  the  case  of  the  Chinese,  of  course,  the 
matter  is  gOA^erned  by  our  own  legislation. 

Mr.  Raker.  By  treaty  and  by  laAV  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No;  not  by  treatj^ — according  to  the  Chinese 
claim,  at  least — but  by  law. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  it  is  the  laAv,  and  then  Ave  have  a  treaty  as  to 
commerce;  but  the  laAV  as  to  exclusion  is  known  as  the  Chinese  ex- 
clusion act  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes ;  and  that  is  a  domestic  act.  In  the  case  of 
other  Asiatics  of  the  barred  zone,  there  is  also,  of  course,  exclusion 
by  domestic  act  of  our  oAvn.  But  with  the  Japanese  the  matter  is 
regulated  Avholly  by  this  understanding  that  we  will  leaA^e  it  to  the 
Japanese  to  stop  it  at  the  source,  instead  of  our  building  a  dam 
against  it  here. 


564  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAlL 

Mr.  Rakee.  Then  to  make  it  as  clear  as  we  can,  there  are  two  gen- 
tlemen's agreements :  One  relating  to  continental  United  States,  and 
one  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr,  MacMurray.  Frankly,  I  think  the  Japanese  would  object  to 
calling  the  other  one  a  "  gentlemen's  agreement"  That  was  a  volun- 
tary undertaking  in  its  entirety. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  get  jour  distinction. 

The  Chairman.  They  object  to  calling  which  one  a  "gentlemen's 
agreement?  " 

Mr.  MacMurray.  The  Hawaiian  one. 

The  Chairman,  The  Japanese  originated  the  name  "  gentlemen's 
agreement,"  did  they  not? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  That  was  their  fancy  name  for  their  end  of  the 
bargain  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  am  not  sure. 

Mr.  Sabath.  That  was  the  first  agreement ;  and  this  Hawaiian 
situation  came  up  later,  did  it  not? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No  ;  it  was  simultaneous. 

Mr,  Sabath.  Was  it? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  It  appears  in  the  same  correspondence;  but  in 
that  correspondence  they  asked  that  this  question  be  treated  on  a 
wholly  different  basis,  in  view  of  the  ascertained  difference  of  labor 
conditions. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  as  I  was  asking,  irresx^ective  of  what  they  would 
call  it,  there  is  a  gentlemen's  agreement  as  to  continental  United 
States  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes. 

Mr,  Raker.  And  then  there  is  this  other  agre^^ment  or  under- 
standing ?.s  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  We  made  there  two  separate 
and  distinct  gentlemen's  agreements  relative  to  immigration  of  the 
Japanese,  and  botji  at  the  will  of  the  Japanese  Governm_ent  and 
not  at  the  will  of  the  American  Government  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  May  I  put  it  this  way,  with  regard  to  the  state- 
ment that  both  of  these  agreements  are  entirely  at  the  will  of  the 
Japanese  Government,  that  in  a  note  accompanj^ing  the  treaty  of 
1911  with  Japan — the  new  commercial  treaty— reference  was  made 
to  that  arrangement  in  terms  which  perhaps  I  had  better  read. 

Mr.  Raker,  Is  that  signed  at  the  bottom  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes;  this  was  a  note  attached  to  the  treaty  and 
ratified  with  the  treaty.  The  Japanese  ambassador  who  signed  that 
treaty  with  Mr.  Knox  recorded  that — 

In  proceeding  this  day  to  the  signature  of  the  treaty  of  commerce  and  navi- 
gation between  Japan  and  the  United  StatevS,  the  iindersi^rned  Japanese  am- 
bassador in  Washington,  dnly  authorized  by  his  Governmeiit,  has  thio  honor 
to  declare  that  the  Imperial  Japanese  Govemment  are  fnily  prepared  to  main- 
tain with  equal  effectiveness  the  limitation  and  control  which,  they  have  for  the 
past  three  years  exercised  in  regulation  of  the  emigration  of  laborers  to  the 
United  States. 

The  Chahiman.  That  is-s'gned  by  whom? 
Mr.  MacMurray.  By  Uchida,  the  Japanese  am]ia--'sador. 
Mr.  Raker,  Just  state  where  is  that  found. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  On  page  245  of  3^our  hearings,  Sixty-sixth  Con- 
S'ress. 


LABOE  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  565 

» 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  in  the  treaty  of  commerce  between  Japan  and 
the  United  States  of  1911? 

Mr.  .MAcMuiaiAY.  Yes. 

Mr.  Eaker.  And  it  is  not  part  of  the  treaty  signed  by  our  ambas- 
sador, but  is  a  note  at  the  end  of  the  treaty,  simply  signed  by  the 
ambassador  of  Japan  '^ 

The  Chairman.  In  which  he  "  has  the  honor  to  dechire  that 
the  Imperial  Japanese  Government  are  fully  prepared  to  maintain 
with  equal  effectiveness  the  limitation  and  control  which  they  have 
for  the  past  three  years  exercised  with  respect  to  the  immigration  of 
laborers  to  the  United  States." 

Now,  if  they  had  any  separate  and  detailed  agreement  in  regard 
to  Hawaii  that  was  not  covered  by  that  signed  note.  It  is  now  about 
time  to  declare  that  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  part  of  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Raker.  Very  well.  Now,  what  I  was  asking  Mr.  MacMurra}^ — 
and  I  have  read  it  over  and  called  attention  to  it  a  number  of  times — 
was  that  that  provision  as  to  Hawaii  was  simply  a  statement  made  by 
the  ambassador  of  Japan,  attached  to  the  treaty  of  commerce  and  navi- 
gation of  1911,  and  not  signed  by  our  ambassador.  Nor  does  it  in- 
clude the  kind  or  character  of  gentlemen's  agreement  that  vvas  made 
as  to  continental  United  States  and  apply  it  to  the  Territory.  Of' 
course,  it  speaks  for  itself;  but  there  is  nothing  else  in  writing  on  the 
subject  except  the  notes  that  you  have  been  describing  this  morning. 

Mr.  Wilson.  This  protocol  was  supposed  to  have  been  written  b;^ 
the  Japanese  ambassador  before  he  signed  this  treaty.  Do  3^011  un- 
derstand that  to  be  just  a  reaffirmation  of  their  position  in  relation  to 
what  had  already  been  agreed  on  three  years  before  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  other  words,  it  was  his  intention  to  indicate  that 
that  was  undisturbed? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes, 

Mr.  Wilson.  Well,  Mr.  Chairman,  do  you  infer  that  that  applies 
to  Hawaii? 

The  Chairman.  Uchidi  writes  the  words  "  United  States  "  in  his 
note  of  1911.  Now,  I  know  the  State  Department  will  not  sit  by  and 
consider  that  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  outside  of  the  United  States,, 
and  I  hope  that  this  committee  will  not. 

Mr.  Wilson.  But  his  position  was  that  everything  in  respect  to- 
that  immigration  of  laborers  was  to  remain  in  its  former  position; 
it  was  not  to  be  disturbed  b}^  the  treatj.  That  is  what  he  is  intend- 
ing to  declare  in  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  Namely,  that  the  gentlemen's  agreement  as  to  the 
United  States  would  stand  and  that  the  gentlemen's  agreement  as 
to  Hawaii  would  stand? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes;  but  the  agreement  with  respect  to  Hawaii 
is  in  terms  designated  as  a  separate  agreement,  which  they  are  under 
no  obligations  to  maintain. 

Mr.  Klsczka.  Who  is  under  no  obligations  to  maintain  it? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  The  Japanese. 

Mr.  Sabath.  They  reserve  to  themselves  the  right  to  act  when  they 
feel  inclined. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Well,  so  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned,  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  determination  is  left  to  Japan. 


566  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IIST    HAWAII. 

« 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  is  what  I  was  trying  to  bring  out. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  You  said  that  in  some  correspondence  subsequent  to 
the  agreement  Japan  waived  the  right  to  send  her  nationals  to  this 
country.     Is  that  true? 

Mr.  Box.  No. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No.  Perhaps  you  came  in  when  we  were  speak- 
ing of  the  picture  brides? 

Mr.  Kleczka.  No;  I  came  in  subsequently  to  that,  but  I  under- 
stood you  to  say  that  she  waived  some  right  to  send  her  nationals 
here  ? 

Mr.  MacMurr^^y.  Of  the  laboring  classes?  That  is  the  original 
gentlemen's  agreement  of  1908,  by  which  she  agreed  not  to  issue 
passports  to  Japanese  laborers  enaJDling  them  to  come  to  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Then  this  agreement  of  1011  abroiT'^tes  her  willino-- 
ness  or  waiver  of  1908,  does  it  not  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No;  it  confirms  it. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  It  confirms  it? 

The  Chairman.  Are  there  any  further  questions? 

Mr.  Cable.  I  would  like  to  ask  this :  Has  the  State  Department 
approved  this  joint  resolution  171? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Has  it  approved  it? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes;  that  is,  the  one  under  consideration. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  am  afraid  that  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  speak 
for  the  State  Department  as  to  that. 

The  Chairman.  I  will  say  this,  that  it  has  not  been  sent  to  the 
State  Department  with  a  request  for  an  opinion  in  writing. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Under  what  administration  was  this  supplemental 
protocol  of  1911  signed? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Under  President  Taft's  administration. 

Mr.  Eaker.  And  the  original  gentlemen's  agreement  was  under 
Eoosevelt's  administration  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Now,  let  nie  ask  you  this  question :  Has  the  United 
States,  through  its  duly  constituted  officials,  agreed  to  the  gentle- 
men's agreement  as  it  relates  to  the  continental  United  States? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  wonder  if  I  understand  you.  We  are,  of 
course,  a  part}^  to  the  correspondence  which  resulted  in  that  under- 
standing. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Well,  then,  is  it  your  view,  and  do  you  convey  to  the 
committee  the  idea  or  the  fact,  that  through  that  correspondence  the 
United  States,  through  its  dul}^  constituted  official  having  jurisdiction 
over  that  matter,  entered  into  and  became  a  party  to  that  gentle- 
men's agreement? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Well,  now,  second,  did  the  duly  constituted  authorities 
of  the  United  States  agree  with  the  Japanese  Government  through 
this  gentlemen's  agreement  and  the  correspondence  to  the  experi- 
mental gentlemen's  agreement  as  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes;  I  think  that  follows  from  the  correspond- 
ence. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Then  v^e  stand  bound  to-day  b}^  this  experimental  gen- 
tlemen's agreement  as  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  567 

Ml'.  MacMi  lUJAY.   Yes. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Well,  now,  that  is  a  very  important  legal  proposi- 
tion. How  were  we  bound, to  this  Hawaiian  agreement?  Was  it 
through  correspondence  between  the  Japanese  (lovernment  and  our 
Statc^  Department  or  was  it  through  correspondence  between  our 
State  Department  and  the  authorities  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  MacMitrray.  Through  correspondence  between  the  Japanese 
foreign  office  and  the  American  Embassy  at  Tokyo. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Well,  then,  there  was  no  delegation  of  authority  by 
our  State  Department  to  Hawaii  in  any  form  to  enter  separately  into 
this  experimental  agreement  of  1908? 

]Mr.  MacMurray.  I  am  not  quite  sure  I  catch  the  drift  of  3^our 
question. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  Our  State  Department  did  not  waive  its  authority 
to  control  or  approve  the  experimental  agreement  between  Japan 
and  Hawaii? 

Mr.  MacMurkay.  But  that  was  not  the  result  of  negotiations  be- 
tAveen  Japan  and  Hawaii  as  a  separate  territory  or  entity. 

Mr.  Kleczka.  It  was  not? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No.  Both  of  what  we  may  loosely  call  the  two 
agreements — the  original  gentlemen's  agreement  relating  to  conti- 
nental United  States  and  then  the  experimental  understanding  with 
res]:»ect  to  Japanese  Avith  regard  to  Hawaii — were  embodied  in  the 
same  correspondence. 

]SIr.  Eaker.  Mr.  Chairman,  so  that  we  may  have  the  matter  fully 
before  the  committee  for  legislation  Avhen  this  matter  is  disposed  of, 
I  moA'e  that  the  chairman  of  tliis  committee  request  of  the  State  De- 
])artment  all  the  correspondence  on  the  gentlemen's  agreement  if 
not  incompatible  with  the  public  interest. 

(The  motion  w^as  unanimously  adopted.) 

Mr.  Sabath.  Mr.  Chairman,  t  am  obliged  to  leave  the  city  to-day 
and  go  home;  and  I  would  like  to  know  what,  if  anything,  is  to  be 
done  in  this  matter.  The  committee  has  reported  out  the  resolution ; 
and  I  wish  to  know  if  the  committee  is  going  to  take  any  further 
action  in  the  matter,  whether  there  will  be  any  action  taken  before 
further  hearings  are  held  ? 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  state  what  is  here.  I  am  sure  the  members 
of  the  committee  are  all  anxious  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  this  thing. 
Resolution  No.  171  was  authorized  to  be  reported  out.  The  chairman, 
in  the  course  of  the  hearings,  offered  to  secure  and  furnish  certain 
evidence,  and  it  has  taken  more  time  than  was  expected.  Now,  we 
are  proceeding  to  add  those  statements  to  the  record  of  the  hearings, 
including  statements  with  regard  to  Chinese  working  on  plantations 
in  Cuba,  and  protests  from  various  labor  organizations.  Mr.  Samuel 
Gompers,  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  desired  to 
be  heard,  and  we  thought  he  would  be  here  to-day;  but  he  is  not. 
Various  information  has  been  called  for.  I  have  in  front  of  me  in  a 
bulletin  just  issued  the  census  figures  of  those  employed  in  Hawaii  in 
these  various  capacities 

Mr.  Kaker  (interposing).  Mr.  Chairman,  before  we  proceed  any 
further.  Judge  Sabath  has  raised  a  very  important  question.  I  do 
not  propose  to  make  any  objection.  Of  course,  we  have  nothing 
before  the  committee  now  upon  which  we  are  hearing  this  testimony — 
nothing  on  earth.    The  committee  has  disposed  of  this  joint  resolu- 


568  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

tion  171  and  ordered  it  reported  out.  It  was  introduced  on  the  7th  of 
July,  and  on  the  morning  of  July  8,  at  half  past  10  o'clock,  the  com- 
mittee met,  and  in  20  minutes  it  was  reported  out. 

And  upon  that  resolution  the  following  members  were  present — I 
want  to  insert  this  in  the  record  at  this  time;  I  do  not  propose  to 
make  any  objection;  but  we  ought  to  be  in  a  position,  since  Judge 
Sabath  has  raised  the  question 

Mr.  Sabath  (interposing).  Well,  I  was  not  present  at  that  meet- 
ing. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  Judge  Raker  was  absent. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  I  was  in  the  hospital  that  morning.  And  this 
resolution  was  introduced  on  the  afternoon  of  July  7.  The  committee 
was  called  for  10.30,  July  8.  I  called  up  the  committee  at  10  minutes 
before  11,  and  the  committee  had  ajourned. 

The  Chairman.  On  the  morning  of  the  8th  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  On  the  morning  of  July  8. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  misinformed. 

Mr.  Raker.  No  ;  I  am  not. 

Mr.  Free.  We  had  hearings  for  weeks  on  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  No.  And  at  that  meeting  there  were  present  Albert 
Johnson,  chairman;  J.  Will  Taylor;  John  C.  Kleczka,  Hays  B. 
White;  Guy  L.  Shaw;  Riley  J.  Wilson,  and  John  C.  Box.  Absent 
at  that  meeting  were,  Isaac  Siegel;  William  N.  Vaile;  Robert  S. 
Maloney ;  Arthur  M.  Free 

The  Chairman  (interposing).  I  think  you  are  violating  the  rules 
in  attempting  to  read  a  vote  of  the  committee ;  I  do  not  care  a  thing 
about  it,  however.  Your  list  is  incorrect.  The  minutes  of  the  com- 
mittee are  available.  H.  J.  Res.  171  was  by  vote  substituted  for  the 
earlier  resolution,  which  was  H.  J.  Res.  158.  All  that  was  done  in 
open  hearings. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Well,  the  only  thing  I  am  interested  in  is,  whether 
we  will  have  further  hearings  and  further  action  in  the  matter. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Chairman,  is  it  necessary  to  make  a  motion  to 
reconsider  in  order  to  have  further  evidence  here  ? 

The  Chairman.  No  ;  not  at  all. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  finish  my  statement—and  I  think  I  am  entitled 
to  it.  At  that  meeting  there  were  also  absent  Adolph  J.  Sabath, 
John  E.  Raker,  and  L.  B.  Raine}'. 

The  Chairman.  The  minutes  of  this  committee,  which  are  open 
to  the  members  of  the  committee,  and  which  are  the  property  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  disclose  the  matters  which  you  are  now 
reading  into  the  record,  which  have  nothin^g  to  do  with  the  matter. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  want  to  be  on  record  as  having 
voted  for  that  resolution,  and  I  want  to  be  on  record  showing  that 
I  was  not  present.  I  would  have  voted  against  it  if  I  had  been 
present. 

The  Chairman.  You  may  make  that  statement  if  you  desire. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  have  the  committee 
take  all  the  testimony  necessary. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  that  you  have  made  that  statement,  we  will 
proceed. 

Does  Mr.  Mead  desire  to  ask  questions  of  Mr.  MacMurray  ? 

Mr.  R.  D.  Mead.  Yes,  Mr.  Chairman. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAW  AH.  569 

Mr.  Sabath.  Well,  in  vieAV  of  the  fact  that  further  hearin<rs  will 
be  had,  may  I  be  excused  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes ;  all  members  will  be  notified  in  plenty  of  time 
if  further  action  is  taken. 

Mr.  Sabath.  Can  you  give  two  days'  notice,  as  I  will  be  in  Chi- 
cago ? 

Mr.  Kaker.  Mr.  Chairman,  just  a  moment;  let  us  be  orderly,  if 
nothing  else.    Will  there  be  a  motion  made  to  reconsider  this  matter? 

The  Chairman.  We  will  see  what  the  testimony  develops.  That 
depends  on  those  who  voted  for  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right ;  that  is  perfectly  satisfactory. 

The  Chairman.  Proceed,  Mr.  Mead. 

Mr.  Mead.  You  made  a  statement,  Mr.  MacMurray,  that  at  the 
time  of  the  gentlemen's  agreement  it  Avas  found  that  an  informal 
arrangement  existed  between  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Associa- 
tion and  the  Japanese  Government,  through  its  consul  at  Honolulu, 
that  if  we  were  short  of  labor  we  would  notify  the  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment, through  its  consul,  of  our  requirements.  That  is  the  first 
I  ever  heard  of  an^^  such  arrangement,  and  I  have  been  with  the 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  since  1901.  Such  an  arrange- 
ment, to  my  knowledge,  has  never  existed.  As  it  is  rather  an  impor- 
tant matter,  I  would  like  to  inquire  further  about  it.  You  said  that 
Mr.  Strauss  had  been  to  Hawaii  and  had  reported  upon  conditions. 
What  did  Mr.  Strauss  say  when  he  came  back  from  Hawaii,  about 
those  conditions? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  do  not  know  that  he  ever  made  a  report  on 
the  subject  of  the  conditions ;  but  he  was  a  participant  in  all  the  dis- 
cussions, as  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor ;  he  was  in  conference 
with  the  Secretary  of  State  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Mead.  Did  he  say  he  had  been  in  conference  with  the  Ha- 
waiian Sugar  Planters'  Association  on  this  matter,  or  anything  like 
that? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  do  not  know  w^hat  he  said. 

Mr.  Mead.  Because  he  never  had  been.  I  do  not  understand  where 
the  information  comes  from  that  there  was  such  an  arrangement  be- 
tween the  Japanese  Government  and  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters' 
Association.    Did  you  get  it  from  Japanese  sources? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No.  I  explained  that  the  correspondence  showed 
that  the  Japanese  said  that  their  consul  would  advise  the  planters' 
association  how  many  Japanese  laborers  there  was  room  for. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  said  that  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  was  nothing  said  from  our  side  that  such  an  ar- 
rangement existed  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  have  already  answered  that,  that  so  far  as 
appears  in  the  records  that  I  have  had  occasion  to  examine,  there 
was  no  report — there  was  no  statement  of  it  at  all,  but  the  state- 
ment of  the  Japanese,  unchallenged  and  acquiesced  in,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Straus  had  been  out  there  and  presumably  had  seen 
the  same  thing. 

Mr.  Mead.  Acquiesced  in  by  the  State  Department,  without  con- 
sulting the  Hawaiian  officials  or  the  Hawaiian  planters? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  Yes;  so  far  as  I  know  there  was  no  such  con- 
sultation. 


570  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  what  I  wanted  to  get  into  the  record — that  the 
Hawaiian  government  or  the  Hawaiian  planters  had  not  been  con- 
sulted in  regard  to  such  an  arrangement;  and  I  wish  to  deny  that 
any  such  arrangement  ever  existed. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  if  we  can  secure  this  correspondence  that 
lies  under  the  gentlemen's  agreement  I  think  we  will  find  out  all 
about  these  matters. 

Mr.  C.  F.  CiiiLLiNGSWORTH.  Mr.  Chairman,  ma}'  I  ask  Mr.  Mac- 
Murray  a'  few  questions  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  You  stated,  Mr.  MacMurray,  that  it  was 
your  impression  that  Hawaii  joined  in  the  arrangement,  to  a  certain 
extent,  for  the  admission  of  Japanese  laborers  into  Hawaii  under 
the  second  so-called  gentlemen's  agreement.  That  is  your  impres- 
sion ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  am  afraid  that  that  method  of  putting  it  re- 
veals, perhaps,  some  negligence  of  statement  on  my  part.  Hawaii  as 
a  Territorial  entity  was  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  a  party  to  the  nego- 
tiations.   Is  that  what  joiiv  question  is  directed  toward? 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  Yes. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  What  I  meant  to  convey  was  that  reports  were 
made  when  the  conditions  in  Hawaii  were  such  that  there  Avas  a 
need  for  labor,  and  a  general  desire  for  labor  there. 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  Is  it  not  a  fact.  Mr..  MacMurra3\  that  the 
evidence  in  the  possession  of  the  United  States  Government  was  just 
to  the  contrary,  as  far  as  Hawaii's  position  is  concerned? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  What  evidence? 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  For  instance,  in.  1896-97,  1,100  Japanese 
were  deported  from  Hawaii,  for  which  the  Republic  of  Hawaii,  at 
the  time  of  annexation  had  to  pay  $75,000  to  Japan,  in  order  that 
there  might  be  no  hindrance  to  its  annexation  to  the  United  States. 
Were  you  aware  of  that? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  knew  that  in  a  general  sense. 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  Did  you  know  of  an  investigation  that  was 
made  in  1898  by  a  committee  headed  by  Congressman  Hitt,  in  which 
he  makes  this  very  significant  statement : 

The  issue  is  wiietlier,  in  tliat  inevitable  strnggle,  Asia  or  America  shall  have 
the  vantage  ground  of  the  control  of  the  njival  key  of  tlie  Pacific,  the  conunercial 
crossroads  of  the  Pacific.  All  that  has  held  and  is  now  liolding  Hawaii  for  the 
United  States  is  a  handful  of  resolute  and  deternnned  men,  who,  against  tre- 
mendous odds,  are  doing  all  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  to  prevent  Hawaii 
from  becoming  an  Asiatic  outpost,  and  to  hold  this  country  to  its  true  destiny, 
which  statesmen  for  50  years  have  regarded  as  imperative.  And  there  is  still 
hope ;  but  if  there  is  help  to  come  from  this  great  Republic,  it  must  come  now. 

Were  you  aware  of  that  report,  Mr.  MacMurray  ? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  No.    What  did  you  say  that  was  ? 

Mr.  Chillii^gsworth.  A  report  by  Congressman  Hitt  in  1898 — 
House  report  1856. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  never  heard  of  it. 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  And  later  on,  were  you  aware  of  the  protest 
of  the  governor  of  Hawaii,  in  1917? 

Mr.  MacMurray.  In  1917  ? 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  Yes. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  To  whom  was  that  protest  made? 


LAHOK    PMOIMJCMS    IS    HAWXU.  571 

Mr.  Chilling SAVOKTIT.  Made  to  the  Interior  De])ar'tni<>3it,  and  to 
the  President,  b^^  the  governor  of  Hawaii. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  I  am  personally  ignorant  of  that.  1  do  not  know 
whether  it  is  on  file  in  the  department  or  not. 

Mr.  Chillings WORTH.  Are  you  aware  that  in  1912  the  delegate  to 
Congresj=^  from  Hawaii,  J.  Kalanianaole,  also  protested  as  to  condi- 
tions in  Hawaii,  and  asked  for  relief? 

I  will  ask  you  whether  or  not  there  is  a  report  on  fde,  dated 
in  1904,  from  the  governor,  or  a  report  of  an  investigation  made  in 
Plawaii  by  Mr.  Pinkham,  who  afterwards  became  governor  of  Ha- 
waii? Pie  was  at  that  tim_e  appointed  as  commissionei'  to  look  into 
the  question  that  was  then  worrying  the  people  of  Hawcvii. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  It  might  be ;  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Chillingsworth.  All  this  is  already  a  part  of  the  official 
records  of  this  committee,  Mr.  Chairman,  and  I  ju^-t  wanted  to  call 
the  attention  of  Mr.  MacMurray  to  it. 

The  Chairman.  All  right.  We  are  much  obliged  to  you,  Mr.  ]Mac- 
Murray,  and  we  are  sorrv  to  have  taken  so  much  of  vour  time. 

Mr.  MacMurray.  That  is  all  right. 

The  Chairman.  If  there  is  no  objection,  I  will  place  in  the  record 
a  report  of  the  Department  of  Commerce,  Bureau  of  the  Census, 
showing  the  occupation  statistics  of  Hawaii  in  the  census  of  1920. 

(The  report  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

0('(  '1  ■  PAT ! ON   Statistics — Hawaii.   1920. 

DePAKTMENT    of    Co^vtlMEKCE, 

BUEEAU  OF  THE  CENSUS, 

WasJiington,  July  1J{,  1921. 

The  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Department  of  Commerce,  to-day  issued  g'eneral 
occupation  statistics  for  Hawaii.  These  figures  are  preliminary  nnd  subject  to 
correction. 

The  detailed  statistics  covering-  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  each  occu- 
pation will  be  given  in  the  occupation  bulletin  for  Hnwaii,  to  be  issued  al)out 
the  first  of  September. 

in  gainfi'l  0{'ci;pations.   4n.7  pek  cent. 

According  to  the  returns  of  the  Fourteenth  Census,  taken  as  of  January  1, 
1920,  there  were  111,882  persons  10  years  of  age  and  over  in  Hawaii  engaged  in 
gainful  occupations,  constitutiing  43.7  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of  the 
Territory  (255.912),  and  59.8  per  cent  of  the  population  10  years  of  age  and 
over  (187,167). 

At  the  census  of  1910,  tlie  101,194  gainful  vrorkers  constituted  52.7  per  cent 
of  the  total  population  of  the  Territory,  and  68  per  cent  of  the  population  10 
years  of  age  and  over. 

twenty    PEU    cent    of   WOKKEKS    FEArAI.ES. 

Of  the  gainful  v.'orkers  of  Hawaii  in  1920,  97,619,  or  87.3  per  cent,  were  males 
and  14,263,  or  12.7  per  cent,  were  females.  The  male  gainful  workers  con- 
stituted 84  per  cent  of  all  males  10  years  of  age  and  over  in  1920,  as  against 
88.8  per  cent  in  1910,  while  the  female  gainful  wo]-kers  constituted  20.1  per 
cent  of  all  females  10  vears  of  age  and  over  in  1920.  as  against  23.7  per  cent  in' 
1910. 

ONE-HALF    ON    PLANTATIONS. 

Of  the  gainful  workers  of  Hawaii  in  1920,  56.244,  of  50.3  per  cent,  were  en- 
gaged in  agriculture,  forestry,  and  animal  husbandry;  169,  or  two-tenths  of  1 
per  cent,  in  extraction  of  minerals;  18.194,  or  16.3  per  cent,  in  manufacturing 
and  mechanical  industries;  7,781,  or  7  per  cent,  in  transportation;  7.343,  or  6.6 


572  LABOR   PROBLEMS   HSJ"    HAWAII. 

per  cent,  in  trade;  6,282,  or  5.G  per  cent,  in  public  service;  4,117,  or  3.7  per 
cent,  in  professional  service;  8,466,  or  7.6  per  cent,  in  domestic  and  personal 
service ;  and  3,286,  or  2.9  per  cent,  in  clerical  occupations. 

JAPANESE    WOEKEES,    43. G    PEE    CENT, 

Distributed  by  race.  Hawaiians  constituted  8,203,  or  7.3  per  cent  of  the 
gainful  workers  in  1920;  part  Hawaiians,  3,899.  or  3.5  per  cent;  CaTicasians, 
21,325,  or  19.1  per  cent ;  Chinese,  11,603.  or  10.4  per  cent ;  Japanese,  48,815,  or 
43.6  per  cent ;  and  all  other  races,  18,037,  or  16.1  per  cent. 

In  1910  the  distribution  of  the  gainful  workers  by  race  was  as  follows: 
Hawaiians,  8,654,  or  8.6  per  cent;  part  Hawa  ians,  2,760,  or  2.7  per  cent; 
Caucasians.  17,957,  or  17.7  per  cent ;  Chinese.  14.094,  or  13.9  per  cent ;  Japanese, 
51,478,  or  50.9  per  cent ;  and  all  other  races,  6,251,  or  6.2  per  cent. 

The  marked  increase  in  "  all  other  "  races,  from  6,251.  or  6.2  per  cent,  of  all 
gainful  workers  in  1910,  to  18,037,  or  16.1  per  cent,  in  1920  was  due,  principally, 
to  the  great  increase  in  the  number  of  Filipino  workers. 

Of  the  18,037  workers  in  the  "  all  other  "  group  in  1920,  15,048  were  Fili- 
pinos, 2,712  were  Koreans,  180  w^ere  Negroes,  and  97  belonged  to  other  races. 

DISTEIBUTION    BY   AGE. 

Tlio  111.882  gainful  workers  of  Hav/aii  in  1920  were  distributed  by  age  periods 
as  follows:  10  to  13  years,  269,  or  two-tenths  of  1  per  cent;  14  to  15  years^ 
1,333,  or  1.2  per  cent;  16  to  17  years,  3,508,  or  3.1  per  cent;  18  to  19  years, 
5,631,  or  5  per  cent ;  20  to  24  years.  16,880,  or  15.1  per  cent ;  25  to  44  years, 
54,682,  or  48.9  per  cent ;  45  to  64  years,  27,231,  or  24.3  per  cent ;  65  years  and 
over,  2,270,  or  2  per  cent ;  and  age  unknown,  78,  or  one-tenth  of  1  per  cent. 

Of  married  persons  15  years  of  age  and  over  in  Hawaii  in  1920,  60.9  per  cent 
were  gainfully  occupied.  The  percentages  gainfully  occupied  for  married  males 
and  females  15  years  of  age  and  over  were  97  and  18.8,  respectively, 

PEINCIPAL   OCCUPATIONS, 

The  principal  occupations  reported  for  males  and  females,  respectively,  in 
Hawaii  in  1920  were  as  follow^s : 

Males. 

Barbers,  hairdressers,  and  manicurists 406 

Blacksmiths,  forgemen,  and  hammermen 438 

Bookkeepers  and  cashiers . 907 

Building,  general  and  not  specified,  laborers^. 1,  974 

Carpenters 2,  890 

Chauffeurs 1,  784 

Clerks  (except  in  stores) . 1,  32l 

Draymen,  teamsters,  and  expressmen 466 

Engineers  (stationary),  cranemen,  hoistmen,  etc 926 

Farm  foremen,  sugar  farms 1,  034 

Farm  laborers : 

Coffee   farms 524 

General  farms 1,  931 

Pineapple  farms 2,388 

Rice  farms 1,  661 

Sugar  farms 34, 106 

Farmers : 

Coffee  farms 624 

Sugar  farms 1,  218 

Fishermen  and  oystermen 1,  280 

Garden  laborers 1, 181 

Gardeners 468 

Laborers : 

Fruit  and  vegetable  canning 826 

Public  service 563 

Road  and  street 1,  355 

Steam  railroad 583 

Sugar  factories 2,  022 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    TIST    PIAWAII.  578 

Longshoremen  and  stevedores 1^  572 

Machinists '  812 

Painters,  glaziers,  and  varnishers . G27 

Retail  dealers 2,  584 

Sailors  and  deck  hands  (merchant  service) 425 

Salesmen-. 2,  555 

Semiskilled  operatives,  sugar  factories 407 

Servants 2,  812 

Soldiers,  sailors,  and  marines  (United  States) 4,366 

Stock  herders,  drovers,  and  feeders 808 

Tailors 582 

Teachers 441 

Females. 

Barbers,  hairdressers,  and  manicurists 131 

Bookkeepers  and  cashiers 110 

Clerks  (except  in  stores) 108 

Dressmakers  and  seamstresses  (not  in  factory) 274 

Farm  laborers : 

Coffee  farms 424 

General  farms 180 

Pineapple  farms 529 

Sugar  farms . 4,  651 

Farmers,  eugar  farms 140 

Garden  laborers 124 

Housekeepers  and  stewardesses 155 

Laborers,  fruit  and  vegetable  canning 180 

Laundresses   (not  in  laundries) 502 

Nurses  (not  trained) 139 

Retail  dealers 223 

Saleswomen 433 

Servants '. 2, 159 

Stenographers  and  typewriters 331 

Tailoresses 102 

Teachers 1,  447 

Telephone  operators : 123 

Trained  nurses 233 

Waitresses 107 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  some  reference  to  the  general 
subject  of  immigration  in  Alexander's  History  of  the  Hawaiian 
-People,  several  paragraphs  of  which  I  wish  to  insert  in  our  hearings. 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  will  be  very  glad  to  have  you  do  so. 

I  wish  to  state  to  the  committee  that  Mr.  Henry  T.  Oxnarcl,  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Beet  Sugar  Co.,  Oxnard,  Calif.,  with  offices 
at  32  Nassau  Street,  New  York,  was  here  yesterda}^,  and  desires  to 
be  heard;  he  could  not  be  here  to-day.  If  there  is  no  objection,  I 
will  arrange  a  date  at  which  Mr.  Oxnard  can  be  heard. 

Mr.  Haker.  Mr.  Chairman,  in  this  connection,  may  I  insert  in  the 
i-eeord  the  foIloT^dng :  There  is  a  question  as  to  the  Hawaiian  sugar 
people,  the  amount  of  sugar  produced,  the  benefits  they  are  getting, 
and  what  the3^  are  seeking  now  to  get  from  cheap  labor.  I  wrote  to 
the  Tariff  Commission  to  find  out  the  amount  of  beet  sugar  produced 
in  the  Ignited  States,  and  the  amount  of  cane  suo-ar  produced  in  the 
L^nited  States:  the  amount  produced  in  Porto  Rico,  with  no  tariff 
on  it ;  the  amount  ]:>roduced  in  HaAvaii,  with  no  tariff  on  it ;  the 
amount  of  suear  imported  from  Cuba ;  and  the  amount  of  sugar  im- 
ported from  the  entire  world. 

And  then  the  amount  of  revenue  that  the  Hawaiian  people  would 
receive  for  their  sugar;  in  other  words,  the  amount  of  duty  they 


574  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

would  have  paid  had  there  been  a  tariff  on  the  Hawaiian  sugar^  as 
compared  ^^rith.  Cuba  and  the  United  States.  And  also  the  same  with 
reference  to  Porto  Eico,. 

And  the  Tariff  Commission  sets  out  a  full  and  complete  state- 
ment of  the  matter,  and  I  therefore  ask  to  have  it  go  in  the  record. 
In  other  words,  here  is  an  illustration 

The  Chairman  (interposing).  I  do  not  see  just  what  you  are  driv- 
ing at.    Do  you  want  Hawaiian  sugar  to  pay  a  tariff  ? 

Mr.  Baker.  No,  sir;  this  has  not  anything  to  do  with  tariff;  but 
it  shows  that  these  people  are  trying  to  get  cheap  coolie  labor;  they 
are  getting  a  benefit  on  their  sugar  of  $19,000,000,  as  to  sugar  im- 
ported; and  now  they  are  asking  for  cheap  labor  from  other  coun- 
tries. 

The  Chairman.  W^ithout  objection,  the  matter  referred  to  will 
be  inserted  in  the  record. 

Mr.  Free.  I  think  it  ought  to  be  read. 

The  Chairman.  All  right ;  the  gentleman  may  read  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  just  a  matter  of  statistics. 

Mr.  Kaker.  Here  is  a  letter  from  the  chairman  of  the  Tariff  Com- 
mission, Thomas  Walker  Page,  shoAving  the  conditions;  it* is  just  a 
matter  of  statistics. 

Mr.  Free.  We  do  not  know  what  is  in  it.  , 

Mr.  Raker.  I  shall  be  delighted  to  read  it. 

Mr.  Free.  If  the  Judge  is  offering  himself  as  a  witness 

Mr.  Eaker  (interposing).  I  am  not  offering  myself  as  a  witness, 
and  do  not  intend  to ;  but  I  want  this  to  go  in  the  record  to  show 
the  benefit  they  are  alreacly  receiving,  and  that  the}^  are  now  trying 
to  get  the  benefit  of  cheap  labor  as  compared  with  the  United  States: 
and  we  will  have  other  witnesses  hereafter  to  show  that  the  American 
sugar  people  are  trying  to  do  the  same  thing,  in  order  to  get  cheap 
labor  if  the  Hawaiians  get  it. 

Mr.  Free.  I  object  to  it  going  in  without  reading  it. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  let  the  matter  go  over  to  another  meeting. 

Mr.  IvAKER.  I  understand  the  gentleman  from  California  objects 
to  its  going  in  to  show  the  conditions  as  to  the  cost  of  sugar  there  and 
the  condition  of  labor  there. 

The  Chair]\lax.  He  has  tlie  right  to  require  it  to  be  read. 

Mr.  Kaker.  I  will  ask  to  have  these  papers  marked  for  identifi- 
cation. 

(Thereupon,  at  11.50  a.  m.,  the  committee  adjourned,  subject  to 
the  call  of  the  chair.) 

Committee  on  Immic^ration  and  Naturalization, 

House  or  Representatives, 

Wednesday,  July  27,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presidino-. 

The  Chairman.  There  art  two  witnesses  to  appear  before  the 
committee  this  morning,  Mr.  Henry  T.  Oxnard.  of  Oxnard,  Calif.. 
and  32  Nassau  Street,  New  York  City,  representing,  I  understand, 
the  beet-sugar  growers  of  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  John  M. 
Rogers,  of  New  Orleans  and  810  Union  Trust  Building,  Washing- 


LABOIl    PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  575 

ton,  D.^  C,  representing  the  American  Cane  Growers'  Association, 
Avliich  is  an  association  of  the  Louisiana  sugar  growers.  Without 
objection,  we  will  hear  Mr.  Oxnard  first. 

STATEMENT  OE  ME.  HENEY  T.  OXNAKI),  VICE  PRESIDENT  AND 
CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  BOARD  OE  DIRECTORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
BEET  SUGAR  CO. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  I  w^ant  to  apologize 
for  not  appearing  before  you  when  this  matter  was  up  some  six 
weeks  ago,  but  at  the  time  I  had  no  idea  that  anything  serious  was 
pending  affecting  the  beet  growers,  because  something  like  10  years 
ago  a  similar  proposition  was  offered  by  the  same  people,  the  Hawaii 
planters,  which  was  promptly  put  aside.  So  that  we  did  not  realize 
there  was  any  very  great  danger  of  anything  of  this  sort  becoming  a 
law  or  being  taken  up  seriousl}^ 

As  soon  as  I  did  realize  that  I  immediately  asked  for  hearings, 
because  we  are  opposed,  on  economic  grounds,  to  the  admission  of 
Chinese  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

The  Chairman.  Before  you  go  any  further,  so  that  we  will  under- 
stand what  you  mean  when  you  say  "  we  " 

Mr.  Oxnard  (interposing).  I  am  speaking  of  the  American  Beet 
Sugar  Co. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  office  or  position  in  tlie  association? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  am  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
American  Beet  Sugar  Co.  and  vice  president  of  the  company,  which 
has  factories  in  Nebraska,  Colorado,  and  California^— beet-sugar 
factories. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  not  conversant  with  the  beet-sugar  indus- 
try.    Is  there  only  one  company  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Oh,  no.  There  are,  I  should  say,  25  different  com- 
panies. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  an  association  of  all  of  them,  then? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  No;  there  is  no  real  association.  There  is  what  is 
called  the  United  States  Sugar  Industry,  and  nearly  all  of  them 
belong  to  that  association.  But  I  do  not  represent  that  association. 
I  am  representing  the  American  Beet  Sugar  Co.  here,  with  factories 
in  operation  in  three  States — California,  Nebraska,  and  Colorado. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  are  an  officer  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  am  vice  president  and  chairman  of  the  board. 

Mr.  White,  Let  me  ask  a  question  right  there,  Mr.  Chairman : 
You  are  rej^resenting  the  manufacturers — - — 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Of  sugar. 

Mr.  White  (continuing).  Or  the  growers,  or  both? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  The  manufacturers. 

Mr.  White.  But  not  the  growers? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Not  the  growers,  except  indirectly,  as  they  are  affected 
by  the  prices  which  we  pay  them  for  their  raw  material. 

The  Chairman.  How  many  factories  are  there  all  told  in  your 
organization  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  There  are  seven  factories  operated  in  Nebraska,  Colo- 
rado, and  California. 

The  Chairman.  You  represent  those? 


576  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes ;  I  represent  those. 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  name  them  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD,  There  is  one  at  Grand  Island,  one  at  Chino,  one  at 
Oxnard 

The  Chairman.  Name  them  by  States. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  There  is  one  at  Grand  Island,  Nebr.,  at  Norfolk — we 
have  since  demolished  that  plant — one  at  Grand  Island,  Nebr.,  one 
at  Lamar,  one  at  Rocky  Ford,  one  at  Las  Animas,  Colo.,  one  at  Chino, 
and  one  at  Oxnard,  Calif. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  percentage  of  all  the  beet-sugar  factories  do 
you  represent? 

Mr.  Oxnard,  I  think  there  are  something  like  60  factories. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  represent  about  10  per  cent? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  About  10  per  cent  produced;  a  little  more  than  that 
when  you  consider  our  capacity — about  12  to  15  per  cent. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  per  cent  of  the  entire  sugar  output  in  the  United 
States  do  the  beet-sugar  manufacturers  represent? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  We  produce  about  a  inillion  tons  a  j^ear. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  sugar  business,  but 
what  I  want  to  find  out  is  what  proportion  of  the  entire  sugar  output 
in  the  country  the  beet-sugar  manufacturers  represent? 

Mr,  Oxnard.  I  am  going  to  tell  you,  if  I  can.  I  ought  to  know  it 
if  I  do  not,  because  I  have  been  at  it  long  enough.  I  was  practically 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  beet  industries  in  this  country. 
There  were  a  few  factories  started  many,  many  years  ago,  but  they 
failed.    Clans  Spreckels  started  in  1888. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  want  to  know  what  per  cent  of  the  sugar  output  is 
represented  by  the  beet-sugar  manufacturers. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Supposing  the  beet-sugar  manufacturers  produced 
a  million  tons,  the  Louisia.na  people  produced,  say,  from  200,000  to 
250,000  tons,  the  Hawaiian  people  something  like  500,000  or  600,000 — 
lam  not  posted*  as  to  the  exact  figures,  but  they  are  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. These  gentlemen  who  are  here  from  Hawaii  will  tell  you 
if  I  am  wrong. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  the  figures  from  the  Tariff  Commission  show- 
ing the  exact  amount  produced. 

Mr.  White.  About  25  per  cent  of  the  sugar  consumed  in  the 
United  States  is  produced  in  the  LTnited  States,  and  that  includes 
the  beet  sugar  ancl  the  cane  sugar,  I  believe. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  It  is  a  great  deal  more  than  that.  We  consume  about 
four  and  one-half  million  tons  of  sugar  in  the  United  States,  or 
something  like  that,  and  we  produce  about  50  per  cent  of  it  in  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  White.  Perhaps  I  have  forgotten,  but  I  went  over  those  fig- 
ures very  carefully  in  the  abstract  a  short  time  ago,  and  if  I  am 
wrong,  I  stand  corrected. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  say  about  50  per  cent  of  the  sugar  consumed  in 
the  United  States  is  produced  here? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Where  does  the  other  50  per  cent  come  from? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  From  Cuba,  almost  entirely. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  is  the  argument;  is  it  a  question  of  competition 
in  the  sugar  business,  or  is  it  the  labor  side  of  the  question  ? 


LABOE   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  577 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Here  is  the  situation,  roughly  speaking.  Cuba, 
during  this  past  3^ear,  could  produce  sugar  for  4  cents,  Hawaii  could 
produce  it  for  5  cents — I  am  giving  j^ou  the  rough  figures;  these 
figures  come  from  Mr.  Wright,  the  secretary  of  the  Tariff  Com- 
mission, and  they  are  official  figures — Porto  Rico  could  produce 
sugar  during  the  past  year  for  6  cents,  the  beet  sugar  people  could 
produce  it  for  7  cents,  and  the  Louisiana  people  for  9  cents.  Those 
are  the  official  figures,  and  that  is  about  the  cost  of  producing  the 
sugar. 

Bo  you  can  see  that  the  Hawaiian  sugars  are  produced,  you  might 
say,  in  competition  with  Louisiana  and  with  the  beet-sugar  people, 
principally  with  the  beet  sugar  people.  They  manufacture  their 
sugar  over  there  in  Hawaii  and  send  it  to  the  Pacific  coast,  where  it 
is  refined  by  a  company  which  is  owned,  as  I  understand  it,  mostly 
by  the  Hawaiian  planters,  and  it  is  distributed  in  competition  with 
the  beet  sugar  that  I  produce,  we  will  say,  in  California. 

Mr.  Cable.  Are  you  here  because  you  are  a  competitor  of  these 
other  people,  or  are  you  here  to  help  us  out  in  regard  to  this  labor 
situation. 

Mr.  OxNAED.  I  am  here  to  tell  you  I  think  we  ought  to  have  a 
square  deal,  and  what  is  fish  for  one  should  be  fish  for  the  other. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  been  telling  Congress  that  for  upward 
of  25  years,  have  you  not  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  For  30  years,  Mr.  Chairman;  it  was  that  long  ago,  I 
think,  when  I  first  appeared  here. 

The  Chairman.  You  opposed  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  for  the 
same  reason  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  did,  for  that  very  reason.  I  am  looking  at  it  now 
from  an  economic  standpoint.  I  do  not  think  the  Hawaiian  planters 
are  asking  for  Chinamen  to  help  the  Government.  They  asked  for 
them  10  years  ago,  and  they  have  always  asked  for  what  they  be- 
lieved would  get  the  cheapest  and  best  labor.  They  have  made  at- 
tempts to  get  other  labor.  I  think  the  natural  labor  for  them  is  the 
Filipinos,  and  I  see  they  have  been  doing  quite  well  with  the  Fili- 
pino; he  has  been  coming  in — let  us  see;  the  Filipinos  were — well, 
there  are  something  like  8,000  or  9,000  that  have  come  in,  and  the 
number  of  Filipinos  employed  increased  from  7,490  in  1910  to  8,695 
on  1915,  an  increase  of  19.4  per  cent.  This  is  taken  from  the  statistics 
of  the  Department  of  Commerce,  at  page  63.  The  situation  was  in- 
vestigated b}^  that  department.  Why  not  take  in  some  more  Fili- 
pinos? That  is  a  question  that  these  gentlemen  can  answer  better 
than  I  can,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  is  a  very  natural  proposition. 

Take  the  Mexicans.  We  have  Mexicans  employed  in  the  beet  fields. 
There  is  a  law  that  allows  us  to  take  in  Mexicans  under  certain  condi- 
tions, if  thy  go  back  to  Mexico,  and  pay  them  the  same  wages,  that 
is,  the  current  wages. 

In  order  to  be  posted  in  regard  to  this  matter,  I  sent  a  telegram 
to  the  general  manager  of  my  Denver  office,  and  he  says  in  reply : 

Daily  wages  paid  to  Mexicans  and  Filipinos  we  employ — 

We  employ  Filipinos  also — 

is  $2.25  at  Chino  and  south  of  Los  Angeles;  $2.50  in  the  Oxnard  district;  in 
some  cases  higher  in  both  districts,  but  that  is  the  general  wage.  On  the  gen- 
eral basis  w^e  will  run  from  $2.80  to  $3.25,  respectively. 

E.  C.  Howe,  General  Manager. 
56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 3 


578  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  mentioned  just  the  point  we  want  to 
know  about.    You  employ  Mexicans  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  How  many? 

Mr.  OxNAPj).  The  exact  number  I  can  not  tell  you. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  roughly. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  suppose  we  have  about  25  per  cent  of  Mexicans. 

The  Chairman.  Twenty-five  per  cent  of  what  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Of  the  total  amount  of  field  labor. 

The  Chairman.  Which  is  about  what? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  must  employ,  I  should  say,  5,000,  or  something 
like  that. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  only,  then,  about  1,000  or  1,200  Mexi- 
cans? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Something  like  that. 

Mr.  Box.  Will  you  tell  us  what  is  the  relationship  between  the 
factories  and  the  employment  of  field  labor  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  The  beet-sugar  people,  as  a  rule,  produce  very  little 
of  their  own  sugar  beets,  only  about  10  per  cent.  The  sugar  beets  are 
produced  by  the  farmers,  and  these  wages  I  referred  to  are  paid 
mostly  by  the  farmers  who  employ  this  labor  in  the  field.  That  is 
different  from  the  cane  plantations  which  employ  the  labor  directly, 
instead  of  its  being  employed  by  the  small  growers.  We  have  thou- 
sands of  growers  that  supply  the  factories  with  the  sugar  beets 
produced  by  this  labor.  We  do  not  pay  these  men;  it  is  the  farmer 
who  pays  these  men,  except  about  10  per  cent  of  them,  or  the  number 
of  men  who  are  required  in  producing  about  10  per  cent  of  the  sugar 
beets  which  are  used  by  the  factories. 

Mr.  Box.  You  help  the  farmers  get  their  labor  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes;  we  do. 

Mr.  Box.  How? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  I  can  not  tell  you  exactly,  but  probably  by 
making  advances,  and  things  of  that  sort. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  not  your  representatives  come  before  this  com- 
mittee and  urged  the  admission  of  Mexicans  for  these  purposes,  and 
things  of  that  sort  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  expect  they  have.  I  talked  with  the  Secretary  of 
Labor  about  them — I  did  not  appear  before  the  committee  in  reference 
to  them. 

The  Chairman.  You  say  you  have  a  law 

Mr.  OxNARD  (interposing).  Not  a  law,  but  just  a  regulation,  Mr. 
Chairman,  that  allows  these  men  to  come  in. 

The  Chairman.  You  talked  to  the  Secretary  of  Labor  and  you 
appealed  to  him  for  the  admission  of  illiterate  Mexicans,  free  of  the 
head  tax. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  did,  but  we  agreed  to  pay  them  the  current 
wages. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  give  them  besides  their  wages? 
Do  you  give  them  houses? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes ;  we  do  give  them  houses. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  give  them  fuel? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  think  they  need  any  fuel  in  California. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  give  them  ice  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  579 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  know  about  that,  but  we  give  them  certain 
things. 

The  Chairman.  What  kind  of  houses  do  you  give  them? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  The  kind  they  like — the  adobe  houses — not  very  sub- 
stantial houses. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  in  California  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  give  them  hot  and  cold  baths? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  could  not  answer  that  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  Your  first  statement  was  that  you  people  are  simply 
manufacturers,  but  you  raise  some  beets  yourselves? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  About  10  per  cent. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  other  90  per  cent  is  raised 

Mr.  OxNARD  (interposing).  By  the  farmers. 

Mr.  Raker.  By  the  farmers  themselves? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  then  your  second  statement  was  as  to  how  you 
get  your  own  labor — that  is,  for  the  beet-sugar  industry  in  this 
country  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes;  we  get  it  through  this  regulation  of  the  De- 
partment of  Labor,  and  that  takes  care  of  us. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  argued  to  Congress  for  a  good  many 
years — a  good  many  times — as  to  whether  or  not  the  cane  industry 
in  Louisiana  and  the  beet-fugar  industry  in  various  States  was  a 
hothouse  proposition. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  never  argued  that  the  beet  end  of  it  was  a  hot- 
house proposition.  I  have  made  it  the  effort  of  my  life,  for  35 
years,  to  develop  the  beet-sugar  industry  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  is  why  I  have  fought  at  every  step  any  movement  that  will 
tend  to  knock  it  out.  I  remember  that  30  years  ago  the  sugar  men 
of  Hawaii  claimed  that  they  had  reached  their  maximum  of  sugar 
production  when  they  were  producing  200,000  tons,  but  gradually 
each  year  when  they  have  said,  "  We  can  not  produce  any  more 
sugar,"  they  have  gone  on  producing,  and  I  am  told,  whether  reli- 
ably or  not,  that  there  are  thin  lands  now  in  the  island  of  Maui 
and  other  places  that  can  be  developed;  that  with  farm  machinery 
coming  in  and  the  use  of  heavy  fertilizers  that  land  can  be  devel- 
oped, replacing'  the  cattle  that  used  to  do  the  plowing;  and  that  the 
grazing  land  which  was  used  for  that  purpose  is  still  available  and 
will  be  put  to  use  for  sugar  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  And  that  hurts  you? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  makes  too  much  sugar.  There  is  too  much  sugar 
produced  in  the  world  now.  It  is  an  unprofitable  business;  it  is  a. 
money-losing  proposition. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  have  made  a  good  deal  of  money  out  of  it? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  may  have  made  some  money  out  of  it  heretofore,, 
but  we  are  losing  it  now. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  made  it  up  during  the  war,  did  you  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  think  we  have  come  out  more  than  even  all 
during  the  years  of  the  war;  we  are  losing  to-day;  on  every  pound 
of  sugar  we  make  to-day  we  are  losing  money.  We  lost  last  year 
2  cents  a  pound;  it  cost  us  8  cents  a  pound  to  make  sugar,  and  we 
sold  it  as  low  as  5  cents. 


580  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  And  for  that  reason  you  do  not  want  the  com- 
petition of  Hawaiian  sugar? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  do  not  want  them  to  increase  their  output  and 
make  sugar  still  cheaper.  They  would  make  sugar,  roughly  speak- 
ing, so  cheap — they  have  always  taken  the  market  away  from  us; 
they  came  right  into  our  territory. 

The  Chairman.  Then  there  is  some  truth  in  the  statement  credited 
to  you  to  the  effect  that  you  would  be  better  off  if  the  entire  Hawaiian 
sugar  business  went  out  of  existence? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  think  we  would;  yes. 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  approve  of  that? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No;  I  will  not  say  that.  But  I  would  like  to  limit 
them. 

The  Chairman.  You  oppose  the  use  of  oriental  labor  for  the 
Hawaiian  sugar  plantations,  but  you  want  Mexican  labor  for  the 
beet-sugar  plantations  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  want  Mexican  labor  for  the  beet  growers,  and  I 
am  willing  that  the  Hawaiian  sugar  people  shall  get  the  same  labor. 
As  I  said  before,  all  I  want  is  a  square  deal  for  American  citizens 
who  have  put  their  money  into  the  manufacture  of  sugar.  I  want 
to  tell  you  gentlemen  that  30  years  ago  there  was  a  meeting  in  Wash- 
ington which  I  attended,  and  Claus  Spreckles  was  there,  and  he 
told  these  Hawaiian  planters  in  my  presence,  "  If  you  get  annexation 
to  the  United  States,  you  have  got  to  take  the  bitter  with  the  sweet. 
The  sweet  is  the  tariff  and  the  bitter  is  the  labor  laws  of  the  United 
States."  And  they  said,  "  Yes ;  we  understand  that,  and  we  will 
accept  those  conditions."  But  they  never  have;  they  have  always 
been  trying  to  get  labor  laws  for  Hawaii  different  from  the  labor 
laws  that  affect  the  sugar  producers  of  the  United  States.  I  do  not 
object  to  their  getting  Mexican  labor ;  what  I  ask  is  a  square  deal,  as 
Teddy  Roosevelt  said. 

The  Chairman.  Would  that  include  the  admission  of  illiterate 
Mexicans  into  j^our  sugar  beet  States? 

Mr.  OxnardI!  Just  the  same  as  into  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  the  point. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  want  to  be  put  on  all  fours  with  them.  That  is 
what  I  want  done,  Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  want  Chinese  labor  in  the  United 
States? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes,  I  would;  in  California  I  would  like  to  have 
some. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  be  in  a  position  where  you  would  like 
that  labor? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  would  like  to  have  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  For  the  sole  purpose  of  your  company  making  more 
money  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  For  the  sole  purpose 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  your  idea  concerning  it,  is  it  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  will  not  answer  that  directly. 

Mr.  Cable.  Are  you  afraid  of  it  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD,  I  will  say  no. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  is  your  sole  purpose,  then  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  My  sole  purpose  is  to  develop  the  beet-sugar  indus- 
try of  the  United  States. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  .581 

Mr.  Cable.  For  the  benefit  of  the  people  in  your  company  ? 
Mr.  OxNARD.  I  have  a  pride  in  the  thing ;  I  am,  you  might  say,  the 
one  who  started  it  in  this  country,  and  I  want  to  see  it  go  on. 
Mr.  Cable.  It  has  grown  pretty  big,  has  it  not  ? 
Mr.  OxNARD.  It  has  done  fairly  well,  but  it  looks  as  though  it 
might  be  knocked  out. 

Mr.  Cable.  If  you  got  cheaper  labor,  would  you  keep  the  price 
of  sugar  down  or  raise  it?  I  want  you  to  go  on  record  on  that  propo- 
sition. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  can  not  say  w^hat  I  would  do! 
Mr.  Cable.  What  is  your  idea  of  what  you  would  do  ? 
Mr.  OxNARD.  My  idea  is  that  I  would  be  able  to  compete  with  the 
Hawaiian  people  if  I  have  the  same  kind  of  labor  they  have. 
Mr.  Cable.  I  w^ould  like  to  have  you  answer  my  question. 
Mr.  OxNARD.  What  is  your  question  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Why  do  you  want  Chinese  labor  in  the  United  States? 
Mr.  OxNARD.  Because  I  consider  the  Chinaman  the  best  laborer  I 
have  ever  run  across.     He  is  docile  and  frugal,  and  attends  to  his 
business,  and  works  harder. 

Mr.  Cable.  Vv^ould  you  get  him  any  cheaper? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  is  the  question;  I  do  not  know  how  cheap  I 
can  get  the  Chinaman.  It  is  a  question  of  getting  the  labor,  rather 
than  the  price  of  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  Are  you  not  getting  plenty  of  labor  now  ? 
Mr,  OxNAliD.  No ;  vv^e  always  have  trouble. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  Hawaiian  people  are  getting  enough  labor,  are 
they  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  is  a  question  you  will  have  to  ask  them.     It 
does  not  seem  that  they  are,  when  they  are  asking  for  more. 
Mr.  Cable.  What  do  j^ou  think  about  it  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  So  far  as  that  is  concerned,  I  do  think  that  with 
more  labor  they  want  to  increase  their  production  of  sugar.  With 
all  the  laborers  they  have  had  there,  the  planters  kept  asking  for 
more  and  more.  I  do  not  blame  them ;  I  would  have  done  the  same 
thing. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  not  the  sole  purpose  of  your  coming  before  the  com- 
mittee to-day  to  protect  your  own  sugar  interests  against  some  com- 
petitor ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  said  it  is  an  economic  proposition;  just  put  us  on 
the  same  basis  as  the  Hawaiian  people.  If  they  are  under  the  same 
tariff,  I  want  to  have  them  under  the  same  labor  laws. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  are  willing  to  have  Mexican  labor  come  in  here, 

and  yet  you  want  them  to  pay  the  added  expense 

Mr.  OxNARD  (interposing).  I  will  take  the  risk  of  tlie  extra  ex- 
pense of  the  Chinese  labor  in  California. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  are  willing  to  have  Chinese  labor,  if  they  do? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  But  you  do  not  want  them  to  have  it  unless  you  get  it  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No ;  because  they  sell  in  competition  with  us. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  the  whole  question — competition  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  losing  money,  you  say? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes ;  we  are. 


582  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  It  costs  you  about  how  much  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Last  year  I  think  it  cost  us — I  have  no  absolute  fig- 
ures, but  I  think  it  cost  us  about  8  cents  a  pound  to  produce  sugar. 

The  Chairman.  And  it  costs  the  Hawaiians  5  cents? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  It  costs  the  Hawaiians  about  5  cents. 

Mr.  White.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  this  question:  In  the  broad 
sense,  do  you  want  to  be  understood  as  favoring  unrestricted  oriental 
immigration  into  this  country? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Absoljitely  not.     Oh,  no. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  say  you  are  not  in  favor  of  unrestricted  oriental 
immigration  into  this  countr}^  Are  you  in  favor,  now,  of  the  ad- 
mission of  Chinese  labor  into  the  United  States? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No;  I  would  rather  not  have  them;  but  I  will  say 
that  if  the  Hawaiians  have  them,  then  I  want  them.  That  is  the 
whole  thing. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Then  you  are  opposed,  as  far  as  continental  United 
States  is  concerned,  to  the  admission  of  Chinese  coolie  labor,  are 
you? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  have  always  been  opposed  to  it,  but  if  some  China- 
men could  be  brought  in  under  certain  restrictions,  and  sent  back 
again  to  China,  as  they  do  in  the  case  of  the  Mexicans,  I  do  not 
know  but  what  I  would  modify  my  views  on  that  subject. 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  about  the  Japanese  ?  Are  you  in  favor  of  the 
Japanese  laborers  coming  to  continental  United  States?^ 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Well,  I  do  not  know  that  I  am. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Are  you  opposed  to  it? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Those  are  all  political  questions. 

Mr.  Wilson.  No  ;  that  is  an  American  question.  The  proposition 
is  this :  You  are  coming  here  before  this  committee,  which  is  a  legis- 
lative committee.  Of  course,  the  people  who  appear  on  this  par- 
ticular phase  of  the  proposition  appear  as  those  interested  in  the 
business  for  which  this  labor  would  be  used  if  it  is  brought  into 
continental  United  States.  You  are  also  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  question  is,  "Are  you  opposed  to  legislation  that 
would  admit  Chinese  coolie  labor  or  Japanese  laborers  to  the  con- 
tinental United  States? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  will  not  answer  that  question,  except  to  say  that  I 
change  it  to  the  United  States,  leaving  out  the  word  "  continental." 
I  am  opposed  to  the  admission  to  the  United  States. 

The  Chairman.  Meaning 

Mr.  OxNARD  (interposing).  Meaning  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Wilson.  When  I  speak  of  continental  United  States  I  do  not 
mean  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  we  have  come  to  the  vital  question.  Do  you 
think  there  is  any  possibility  of  the  Japanese  acquiring  the  mastery 
of  Hawaii  by  process  of  peaceful  penetration? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No;  I  have  not  the  slightest  fear,  as  an  American 
citizen,  that  Japan  in  any  way,  shape,  or  form  will  accomplish  that 
result.  We  could  blow  them'^off  of  the  earth  in  five  minutes  if  we 
decided  to  do  it.  I  have  been  to  Hawaii,  and  I  have  been  to  Japan, 
and  I  have  not  the  slightest  fear  about  Japan  ever  getting  any 
mastery  over  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Eaker.  What  do  you  mean  by  blowing  them  off  the  earth? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  583 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  could  bortib  them,  and  our  Navy  could  bottle 
them  up. 

The  Chairman.  Sugar  would  sell  for  15  cents  a  pound,  then, 
would  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  No  ;  it  would  sell  for  40  cents  a  pound. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Gentlemen,  I  heard  Mr.  Hoover  make  a  statement 
two  or  three  years  ago,  which  was  a  great  gratification  to  me,  that 
if  it  had  not  been  for  the  beet-sugar  industry  the  people  of  the 
United  States  would  have  been  paying  15  or  20  cents  a  pound  for 
sugar,  and  that  was  when  they  were  paying  5  cents  a  pound  for  it  in 
1918.  In  other  words,  the  development  of  the  beet-sugar  industry 
and  the  fact  that  we  were  producing  a  million  tons  of  sugar  here  at 
home  saved  the  American  people  millions  and  millions  of  dollars  in 
their  suo^ar  bill. 

The  Chairman.  Does  beet  sugar  sell  for  less  than  cane  sugar  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  It  is  sold  for  a  fraction  less,  generally  10  cents  or 
20  cents  a  hundred  pounds  less. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  another  little  handicap  your  industry  has 
to  endure  ?  ^ 

Mr.  OxNAPj>.  Eeally,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  should  not  endure  that 
handicap  because  there  is  absolutely  no  difference  between  cane  and 
beet  sugar  when  it  is  purified;  it  does  not  make  any  difference 
whether  you  make  sugar  from  beets  or  cane,  or  almost  any. product 
you  could  think  of,  provided  it  is  pure  sugar. 

Mr.  Wilson.  With  conditions  as  they  are.  supposing  we  do  not 
legislate  upon  the  question  at  all  and  leave  matters  as  they  are  in 
Hawaii,  and  as  they  are  in  continental  United  States,  what  then 
will  be  the  situation  as  to  the  beet-sugar  industry  and  as  to  the  cane- 
sugar  industry  ? 

Mr.  OxNAPJD.  They  would  go  on  just  as  the}^  have  in  the  past,  in 
my  opinion.  They  would  go  on  making  sugar,  both  of  cane  and  of 
beets. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  difference  will  be- 

Mr.  OxNARD  (interposing).  But  they  will  not  go  on  making  more 
sugar  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  if  you  hold  them  to  where  they  are ; 
we  do  not  want  them  to,  if  we  can  help  it.  I  want  to  be  perfectly 
frank  about  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  If  they  can,  under  any  laws,  consistent  with  the  best 
interests  of  the  United  States,  I  do  not  see  why  anyone  should  oppose 
that. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Making  sugar  consistently  in  that  way  would  be 
making  it  with  semislave  labor.  You  would  then  be  taking  away 
the  ability  to  grow  a  similar  product  made  by  the  farmers  of  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  am  talking  about  the  conditions  as  they  are  now, 
without  changing  the  law,  either  for  the  admission  of  Chinese  labor 
or  any  other  kind  of  labor  into  Hawaii,  without  changing  the  laws 
in  relation  to  the  admission  of  Mexican  labor  into  continental  United 
States.    In  that  case  can  these  various  industries  go  ahead  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  think  they  can. 

The  Chairman.  You  said  the  cost  of  the  Cuban  sugar  was  about 
what? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  am  going  to  tell  you  roughly,  on  the  authority  of 
Judge  Wright,  of  the  Tariff  Commission. 


584  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  pretty  good  authority. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Four  cents  for  Cuban  sugar,  5  cents  for  Hawaiian 
sugar — eliminating  the  fractions  of  a  cent — 6  cents  for  Porto  Eican 
sugar,  7  cents  for  beet  sugar,  and  9  cents  for  Louisiana  sugar. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  then,  a  large  part  of  the  cost  is  the  labor 
cost,  is  it  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Nearly  all  of  it ;  I  think  about  two-thirds  of  the  cost 
of  the  manufacture  of  beet  sugar  is  in  the  beets  themselves,  and  the 
cost  of  producing  the  beet  is  nearly  all  labor.  We  pay  the  farmers 
$12  a  ton  for  our  beets. 

Mr.  White.  Is  there  not  a  very  heavy  overhead  expense  in  the 
investment  in  land  and  machinery  of  the  farmers,  outside  of  the 
labor  ?    That  land  is  very  valuable,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  The  rental  for  the  land  comes  in,  but  outside  of 
that — for  instance,  if  a  man  rents  land  and  puts  in  a  crop — that  is, 
the  farmer^ — and  pays  the  rental 

Mr.  White  (interposing).  Is  not  the  land  owned  by  the  people 
who  produce  the  beets  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  If  he  works  the  land 

►     Mr.   White    (interposing).  The  land  is  owned  by  the  producer 
usually,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  said  before  that  I  think  other  farmers  are  on  the 
same  footing  with  our  own  companies,  that  grow  10  per  cent  of  the 
beets — that  is,  the  90  per  cent  that  are  grown  by  the  small  farmers. 

Mr.  White.  The  small  farmers  own  the  land,  do  they  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Most  of  them  do. 

Mr.  White.  Where  they  do  not,  who  does  own  it— not  the  manu- 
facturers ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  If  a  man  has  good  beet  land,  he  will  rent  it  to  any- 
body who  will  come  along  and  raise  beets. 

Mr.  White.  If  the  owner  should  improve  the  land  or  increase  the 
amount  of  his  investment,  it  is  very  valuable,  as  I  understand  it, 
for  sugar  land  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes.  We  will  say  he  rents  his  land  for  $5,  that  he 
grows  10  tons  of  beets  on  it,  and  gets  $5 

Mr.  White  (interposing).  Does  he  actually  get  $5? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  They  pay  all  kinds  of  prices. 

Mr.  White.  Take  a  typical  illustration. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  have  known  them  to  pay  all  kinds  of  prices. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  get  at  this  labor  situation,  on  his  own 
statement  that  he  is  here  for  economic  motives,  and  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  fact  that  he  states  the  cost  of  production  in  sugar  in 
Hawaii  and  Porto  Eico,  and  in  certain  Western  States.  I  want  to 
ask  you,  Mr.  Oxnard,  if  the  use  of  Chinese  laborers  in  Cuba  would 
affect  3^our  beet-sugar  situation? 

Mr.  'OxNAiiD.  I  am  very  m.uch  opposed  to  letting  Cuba  have  Chi- 
nese labor;  but  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  Cuba. 

The  CHAiR?.rAN.  But  it  will  affect  your  situation? 

Mr.  OxNAED.  I  understand  they  have  40,000  Chinese  working 
there,  making  sugar  in  Ciiba,  and  if  you  let  them  do  that  it  will 
affect  the  situation,  because  they  can  make  it  that  much  cheaper. 

The  Chairman.  You  think  they  have  40,000  there  now  ? 

Mr.   Oxnard.  Yes. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  585 

The  Chairman.  I  made  an  effort  to  ascertain  some  facts  in  regard 
to  that,  and  I  cabled  to  the  editor  of  one  of  the  newspapers  there, 
and  I  have  this  reply  from  him: 

Habana,  July  22,  1921. 
Johnson, 

Chairman  Immigration  Committee,  Washington: 

Authentic  information  difficult  obtain.  Estimated  1,000  Chinese  brought  to 
Cuba  each  month  during  1920,  perhaps  two-thirds  sent  sugar  mills  under  con- 
tract, approximating  a  total  for  the  year  8,000.  A  few  of  those  brought  in  1921 
are  being  repatriated. 

ROBERDS, 

Editor  Evefiing  Netvs. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Where  is  that,  in  Cuba? 

The  Chairman.  That  is  from  Habana. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  am  told  about  40,000  Chinese  are  there  now ;  I  am 
told  that  on  very  good  authority. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  you  have  always  been  fighting  the  sugar 
industry  in  Hawaii  because  it  was  in  competition  with  the  sugar- 
beet  proposition. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  am  always  fighting  them  when  they  want  to  get  an 
advantage.  They  came  before  Congress  years  ago  with  the  same 
sort  of  proposition. 

The  Chairman.  And  six  years  ago,  and  four  years  ago;  I  do  not 
know  that  the  sugar  people  did,  but  we  have  had  hearings  from  time 
to  time.  But  in  the  meantime,  the  Chinese  are  being  put  into  Cuba, 
and  that  is  where  the  price  for  sugar  in  the  United  States  is  set,  is 
it  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  have  a  tariff  against  them. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  a  little  tariff. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  expect  to  have  more. 

The  Chairman.  You  want  a  big  tariff? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  can  stand  it  very  well. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  been  around  Congress  for  years  on  that 
subject,  have  you  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Thirty  years,  starting  in  1889.  When  I  first  came 
before  committees  of  Congress,  there  was  hardly  one  Congressman 
who  believed  it  was  possible  to  make  sugar  from  beets.  They  told 
me  so. 

The  Chairman.  You  will  not  admit,  now,  that  it  is  a  hothouse 
proposition  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  It  is  not  a  hothouse  proposition. 

The  Chairman.  Will  it  not  have  an  increasingly  hard  time  in 
competition  with  the  Chinese  who  produce  sugar  in  Cuba  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Certainly ;  it  is  being  assailed  in  all  directions. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Oxnard,  the  chairman  just  asked  you  a  moment 
ago  a  question  which  is  unusual  for  him  to  ask,  and  he  said  that  you 
came  here  solely  and  entirely  for  selfish  motives. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  do  not  believe  I  did  say  that,  I  had  a  patriotic 
motive  when  I  started  this. 

I  said  I  did  this  from  economic  reasons.  I  started  out  to  say  it 
was  not  selfish,  that  the  beet  industry  was  my  pet,  my  baby ;  I  did  not 
have  to  go  into  it  when  I  did,  but  I  did  go  into  it. 

Mr.  Shaw.  The  record  will  show  that  when  we  first  started  on  this 
examination  you  said  you  were  here  for  selfish  purposes. 


586  LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  meant  to  prevent  them  from  making  more  sugar, 
if  you  want  to  put  it  that  way. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  are  not  here  in  the  interests  of  the  consumers  ? 

Mr.  OxNAKD.  I  started  to  say  I  went  into  this  thing  to  show  that 
the  United  States  could  produce  its  own  sugar,  when  there  was  hardly 
anybody  who  thought  it  could  be  done. 

Mr.  Eaker.  In  addition  to  your  special  interest  in  this  "  baby  "  of 
yours,  have  you  any  interest  in  the  proper  care  and  treatment,  and 
the  condition  of  labor  in  this  country  ? 

Mr.  OxNAED.  Of  course,  we  try  to  make  our  labor  as  comfortable 
as  possible,  for,  I  will  say,  selfish  reasons,  if  you  want,  gentlemen. 
We  try  to  make  it  so  they  will  appreciate  their  surroundings,  and 
stay  with  us,  and  do  it  under  comfortable  conditions. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  have  no  control  over  the  mode  or  manner  of  han- 
dling labor  in  Cuba,  do  we? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  None  whatever. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  can  have  slave  and  peonage  labor  in  Cuba,  as 
they  have  under  the  Chinese  contract,  over  which  we  have  no  control  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Absolutely. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  levy  a  duty  on  the  importation  of  Cuban  sugar 
into  this  country  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  on  the  Hawaiian  sugar  there  is  no  duty;  is  that 
right  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  is  absolutely  right. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  on  the  Philippine  sugar  there  is  no  duty  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  on  the  Porto  Rican  sugar  there  is  no  duty  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

Mr.  Raker.  And,  of  course,  upon  sugar  raised  in  the  United  States 
there  is  no  duty  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  read  over  those  contracts  relative  to  the  im- 
portation of  the  Mexicans,  in  1917, 1918,  and  1919  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  have  read  parts  of  them ;  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  understood  how  the  contract  was  commonly  per- 
formed, that  when  these  men  violated  their  entry  into  the  United 
States,  they  were  arrested  and  deported  to  Mexico  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD,  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  any  of  those  cases,  to  your  knowledge  been  taken 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  order  to  have  that  court 
determine  whether  or  not  that  was  involuntary  servitude,  or  slavery? 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  that  connection,  so  that  the  record  may  be  complete, 
I  want  to  offer  a  letter  from  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigra- 
tion, Mr.  W.  W.  Plusband,  dated  July  16,  1921,  which  includes  two 
orders,  one  dated  March  1,  1921,  and  one  dated  March  14,  1921. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  you  might  as  well  read  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  addition  to  the  contracts  placed  in  the  hearings  here- 
tofore, I  want  to  put  into  the  record  all  of  the  orders  in  reference  to 
Mexican  labor. 

I  will  read  this  letter  from  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigra- 
tion, dated  July  16,  1921,  and  I  want  to  consider  in  connection  with 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN"   HAWAII.  587 


this,  the  hearings  before  the  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturali- 
zation of  the  House  in  January  and  July,  1920,  on  the  subject  of 
"Temporary  Admissions  of  Illiterate  Mexican  Laborers,"  page  358 
•et  seq.    This  follows  that,  and  gives  the  whole  record. 
The  letter  of  July  16,  1921,  reads  as  follows : 

United  States  Department  of  Labor, 

Bureau  of  Immigration, 
WasMigton,  July  16,  1921. 
Hon.  John  E.  Raker,  M.  C, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Sir:  Referring  to  request  received  over  the  telephone  from  your  secretary  a 
few  clays  ago,  I  beg  to  advise  you  that  the  bureau  is  unable  at  this  time  to 
assemble  a  complete  list  of  the  so-called  Mexican  labor  circulars  for  the  pur- 
pose of  supplying  you  with  the  same.  However,  it  is  my  understanding  that  a 
full  set  of  these  circulars  was  furnished  to  the  chairman  of  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Immigration  and  Naturalization  something  like  a  year  ago,  and  they 
w^ere  published  in  pamphlet  form  during  the  course  of  a  hearing  which  was 
held  by  that  committee  in  connection  with  a  resolution  which  was  introduced 
for  the  purpose  of  delegating  authority  to  the  Secretary  of  Labor  to  admit, 
temporarily  and  conditionally,  laborers  from  Mexico  and  other  countries  when 
conditions  here  satisfied  him  that  such  laborers  were  urgently  needed.  If  the 
bureau  was  supplied  with  a  copy  of  this  pamphlet,  it  appears  to  have  been 
misplaced,  so  that  I  am  unable  to  furnish  you  with  its  number.  However,  you 
will  doubtless  be  able  to  secure  a  copy  of  it  from  the  clerk  to  the  committee. 

The  Chairman-.  Those  were  all  printed  at  the  date  and  in  the 
order  of  the  hearings  designated. 

Mr.  Eaker.  The  letter  goes  on  to  say : 

The  concluding  orders  which  the  department  issued  in  connection  with  the 
subject  matter  of  temporarily  admitted  Mexican  laborers  are  dated  March  1 
and  March  14,  1921,  respectively.  I  am  inclosing  herewith  several  copies  of 
these  orders;  and  if  you  are  able  to  secure  a  copy  of  the  brochure  above 
referred  to,  I  believe  that  the  list  will  be  practically  complete,  if  not  entirely  so. 
Respectfully, 

W.  W.  Husband, 
Com7nissioner  General. 

(The  orders  referred  to  are  as  follows:) 

Department  of  Labor, 
Office  of  the  Secretary, 
Washington,  March  1,  1921. 
All  further  importations  and  engagements,  respectively,  through  or  at  immi- 
gration  stations   of   aliens   for   employment   in   the   United.  States   under   the 
department's  exceptions  to  the  contract-labor,   head-tax,   and   illiteracy  provi- 
sions of  the  immigration  act  are  hereby  ordered  discontinued,  effective  at  the 
close  of  the  2d  instant,  and  all  orders  heretofore  issued  in  conflict  herewith  are 
hereby    rescinded.     The    Commissioner    General    of    Immigration    will    imme- 
diately by  telegraph  make  all  district  heads  concerned   acquainted  with  this 
order  and  at  the  same  time  direct  that  those  officers  in  charge,  either  directly 
or  in  a  supervisory  way,  of  ports  through  which  such  importations  have  been 
made  or  at  which  such  aliens  have  been  engaged  call  upon  the  present  employ- 
ers of  such  aliens  to  return  such  aliens  charged  to  them  under  existing  contracts 
with  the  Government  as  appear  of  record  to  be  now  in  their  employ. 

W.  B.  Wilson,  Secretary. 


Department  of  Labor, 
Office  of  the  Assistant  Secretary, 

Washington,  March  IJf,  1921. 
The  Secretary  of  Labor  having  issued  an  order  on  March  1,  1921,  effective  at 
the  close  of  March  2,  1921,  rescinding  all  previous  orders  of  the  department  per- 
mitting the  importation  of  aliens  under  the  so-called  exceptions  to  the  contract 
labor,  head  tax,  and  illiteracy  provisions  of  the  immigration  act  and,  having  by 


588  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

said  order  directed  the  return  of  all  aliens  theretofore  so  imported,  of  record 
shown  to  be  in  the  employ  of  the  importers  or  others  under  contract  with  the 
Government,  and  numerous  protests  against  such  recision  having  come  to  the 
department  together  with  many  requests  for  permission  to  extend  the  period 
of  employment  of  such  laborers  already  here,  the  subject  was  discussed  in  con- 
ference on  the  10th  instant,  at  which  were  present  the  Commissioner  General  of 
Immigration,  the  Assistant  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration,  the  chief 
law  officer  of  the  bureau,  and  the  assistant  supervising  inspector  of  the 
Mexican  border  district.  A  report  from  the  latter,  transmitted  by  the  Com- 
missioner General  of  Immigration,  w^ith  certain  recommendations,  was  re- 
ceived and  considered.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  conference  it  was  my  judg- 
ment so  stated  and  here  affirmed,  that  in  view  of  the  cessation  of  active 
hostilities,  the  repeal  generally  of  war-time  legislation  and  considering  post- 
war economic  conditions,  the  order  of  March  1,  1921,  hereinabove  referred  to 
must  and  will  remain  undisturbed :  Provided,  however,  That  consideration  will 
be  given  by  the  department,  upon  satisfactory  showing  of  necessity,  to  applica- 
tions from  employers  who,  prior  to  March  3,  1921,  entered  into  contracts  with 
the  Government  and  in  good  faith  discharged  their  obligations  thereunder,  for 
permission  to  retain  in  their  employ  for  a  limited  period  and  for  agricultural 
work  exclusively  aliens  so  imported  or  engaged  under  said  exceptions:  Pro- 
vided further.  That  transfers  of  such  aliens  for  agricultural  work  for  hmited 
neriods  will  be  permitted  under  the  terms  and  conditions  obtaining  previous 
to  March  3,  1921,  if  and  when  the  department  so  directs  in  individual  cases 
upon  satisfactory  showing  made  to  it  of  the  necessity  of  such  action :  Provided 
further,  hotcever,  That  such  transfers  shall  be  limited  to  employers  who  prior 
to  March  3  1921,  executed  a  contract  with  the  Government  and  thereafter  in 
good  faith  discharged  their  obligations  thereunder :  Provided,  That  all  apphca- 
tions  of  the  character  herein  provided  for  shall  be  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of 
Labor  and  filed  in  triplicate  with  the  inspector  in  charge  at  the  port  at  or 
through  which  the  aliens  involved  were  engaged  or  imported,  as  the  case  may  De. 
The  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration  is  hereby  instructed  to  be  gov- 
erned in  accordance  with  the  foregoing  whenever  applications  for  special 
indulgence  of  the  character  hereinabove  referred  to  are  received.  Meanwhile- 
that  part  of  said  order  directing  the  return  of  said  ahens  is  suspended  for  to- 
days from  date  hereof.  ^  ^  Henning,  Assistant  Secretary. 

Mr  Raker.  I  put  those  orders  in  so  that  Ave  will  have  all  of  the' 
orders  in  relation  to  this  matter  Avhich  the  former  chairman  ot  this 
committee  and  the  present  chairman,  I  thmk,  and  practically  ail  the 
members  of  the  committee  then  held  and  determined  was  involun- 
tary servitude  and  slavery,  and  tried  to  amend  the  law,  but  the  bill 

was  never  put  through,  .       ^  ^      ^  -,         ^i      i  i 

J\Tow,  I  would  like  to  further  examine  Mr.  Oxnard  on  the  labor 

The  Chairman.  The  chairman  did  not  undertake  to  amend  the  law 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes ;  he  introduced  a  bill. 

The  Chairman.  To  do  what? 

Mr.  Raker,  To  prohibit  the  Secretary  from  making  that  order. 

The  Chairman.  You  mean  Judge  Burnett  did  that? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  Who  gave  an  opinion  with  reference  to  the  importation^ 

of  Mexican  labor  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  It  was  never  taken  to  the  courts. 

Mr.  Cable.  Did  any  official  ever  give  an  opinion? 

Mr.  Raker.  No  ;  we  got  no  opinion  on  that. 

Mr.  Cable.  Have  you  asked  for  an  opinion? 

Mr.  Raker.  No ;  because  it  is  past  and  gone,  but  I  am  convinced,, 
from  all  the  decisions  upon  the  matter,  that  it  is  involuntary  servi- 
tude and  slavery. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  589 

The  Chairman.  Before  we  go  into  that 

Mr.  Eaker  (interposing).  This  is  what  I  want  to  examine  him  on. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  am  very  sure  you  will  not  get  much  out  of  me  on 
that,  because  I  do  not  know  about  it. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Yes;  I  will.  On  July  13,  1921,  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
United  States  Tariff  Commission  in  order  to  get  some  information  in 
regard  to  cane  sugar,  and  I  have  a  reply  from  the  chairman  of  the 
United  States  Tariff  Commission,  dated  July  15,  1921,  containing  a 
number  of  tables,  one  showing  the  sugar  imports  from  Cuba,  with 
the  rate  and  the  amount,  showing  in  1920  over  5,000,000  pounds,  with 
a  duty  paid  amounting  to  $57,132,909. 

Mr.  "White.  You  do  not  mean  5,000,000  pounds,  do  you? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  White.  Do  you  not  mean  5,000,000,000  pounds? 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  is  correct,  the  amount  is  5,740,933,486  pounds. 
Table  No.  2  shows  the  imports  of  the  dutiable  sugar  from  all  coun- 
tries except  Cuba ;  Table  No.  3  shows  the  sugar  imported  free  of  duty 
from  all  countries,  chiefly  the  Philippine  Islands ;  Table  No.  4  shows 
the  cane  sugar  production  in  Louisiana  and  the  revenue  had  this 
sugar  been  subject  to  duty,  and  the  amount  is  241,998,400  pounds 
in  1920,  and  the  duty  would  have  been  $3,039,499.  Table  No.  5  shows 
the  cane  sugar  production  in  Hawaii  and  the  revenue  had  this  sugar 
been  subject  to  duty.  In  1920  the  production  was  1,056,023,998 
pounds,  and  if  it  had  paid  duty,  the  amount  of  the  duty  would  have 
been  $13,263,661. 

Table  No.  6  shows  the  beet  sugar  production  in  continental  United 
States  and  the  revenue  had  this  sugar  been  subject  to  duty.  The 
amount  of  beet  sugar  produced  in  1920  was  1,452,902,000  pounds,  and 
the  duty  would  have  been  $19,759,467. 

(The  letters  and  tables  referred  to  are  as  follows:) 

.luLY  13,  1921. 
United  States  Tariff  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen  :  I  would  like  to  have  the  following  information  in  regard  to 
cane  sugar : 

1.  The  total  amount,  in  pounds,  and  the  value  of  cane  sugar  imported  from 
Cuba  for  1913  to  1920,  both  inclusive,  stated  separately. 

2.  The  duties  collected  on  the  above  importations  for  each  year  and  the  rate. 

3.  The  total  amount  of  cane  sugar  from  all  other  countries,  in  pounds,  and 
value  of,  imported  during  the  years  1913  to  1920,  inclusive,  stated  separately. 

4.  The  amount  of  duties  collected  for  each  year  and  the  rate. 

5.  The  total  amount  of  cane  sugar  produced  in  Louisiana  during  the  years 
1913  to  1920,  both  inclusive. 

■    6.  What  w^ould  have  been  the  duty  collected  on  this  sugar  thus  produced  in 
Louisiana  had  it  been  imported. 

7.  What  was  the  quantity  of  sugar,  in  pounds,  produced  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  stated  separately,  for  the  years  1913  to  1920.  both  inclusive. 

8.  What  would  have  been  the  duty,  in  dollars,  had  this  same  sugar  been  im- 
ported from  a  foreign  territory  for  each  year,  and  the  total  amount  for  the 
years  named. 

I  would  appreciate  very  much  if  you  can  furnish  me  with  this  information 
so  that  I  might  have  it  by  to-morrow  evening.     Send  same  to  my  address, 
room  292,  House  Office  Building. 
Thanking  you  in  advance  for  the  same,  I  am 
Yours,  most  truly, 

John  E.  Rakee,  M.  C. 


590 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


United  States  Taeiff  Commission, 

Washington,  July  15,  1921. 
Dear  Sir:  We  are  mailing  you  herewith  the  data  requested  in  your  letter 
of  the  13th  instant.  Table  I  shows  the  importation  of  sugar  from  Cuba  in 
quantity  and  value,  the  duty  collected,  and  average  ad  valorem  rate.  Table  II 
shows  the  same  data  for  importations  of  all  dutiable  sugar  from  all  other  coun- 
tries. Table  III  shows  the  importation  in  quantity  and  value  of  free  sugar, 
chiefly  from  the  Philippines.  Tables  IV,  V,  and  VI  show,  respectively,  the 
production  of  cane  sugar  in  Louisiana  and  Haw^aii  and  of  beet  sugar  in  the 
continental  United  States,  together  with  the  duty  which  would  have  been  col- 
lected had  these  sugars  been  foreign  and  imported  at  full-duty  rate.  Had  they 
been  imported  from  Cuba  the  duty  would  have  been  20  per  cent  less  than  the 
figures  shown.  The  duties  are  computed  on  the  basis  of  96°  sugar  for  Louisiana 
and  Hawaii  and  on  the  basis  of  refined  sugar  for  the  beet.  Sugar  imported  in 
1913  would  have  been  assessed  for  duty  under  the  act  of  1909.  Part  of  the 
importation  for  1914  would  have  been  under  the  act  of  1909  and  part  under 
the  act  of  1913 ;  all  subsequent  importations  would  have  been  under  the  act  of 
1913.  The  actual  duty  collected  in  1914  would  therefore  have  been  somewhere 
between  the  two  figures  shown. 

We  would  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  sugar  from  Porto  Rico  is  on  the 
same  basis  as  sugar  from  Hawaii.  Figures  were  not  given  because  not  asked 
for. 

We  hope  that  these  figures  will  meet  your  requirements  and  will  not  arrive 
too  late  to  be  of  service. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

Thomas  Walker  Page, 

Clmirman. 
Hon.  John  E.  Raker, 

House  of  Representatwes,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Table  I. — (?ugar  imports  from  Cuba. 


Fiscal  year. 

Pounds. 

Value. 

Duty. 

Rate. 

1913 

3, 746, 985, 521 
5, 270,  888, 194 
4, 672,  014, 681 
5, 170, 626,  754 
4,  790, 946,  051 

4,  522, 112,  593 
6, 672,  643, 624 

5,  740,  933,  486 

$84, 456, 408 
105,628,001 
146,  495, 034 
190,  406, 710 
209, 165,  594 
218,  491, 905 
373,  Oil,  812 
667, 918,  562 

$49, 443, 045 
61, 169, 453 
46, 061, 049 
51,  816, 121 
47, 682, 364 
44, 956,  501 
66, 400,  299 
57, 132, 909 

Per  eent. 
58.54 

1914                

57.91 

1915 

31.44 

1916 

27.21 

1917 

22.80 

191S 

20.  58 

1919  1 

17.80 

1920 

8.55 

1  Calendar  year. 

Table  II. — Imports  of  dutiable  sugar  from  all  countries  except  Cuba. 


Fiscal  year. 

Pounds. 

Value. 

Duty. 

Rate. 

1913 

42,401,887 
17,370,244 
260,661,096 
312, 245, 717 
506,610,949 
225,572,757 
120,713,415 
1,643,690,091 

$1,101,277 

400, 535 

8, 581, 453 

10, 558, 507 

22,300,669 

11,231,957 

8,336,758 

244,651,877 

$701,316 

248,569 

3, 176, 121 

3,458,054 

6,288,881 

2,824,885 

1,508,508 

21,037,421 

Per  cent. 
63.68 

1914 

62.06 

1915 

37.01 

1916 

32.75 

1917. 

22.79 

1918 

25.15 

1919  1. 

18.09 

1920 

8.60 

i  Calendar  year. 

LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAIL 


591 


Table  III. — Su(/ar  imported  free  of  duty  from  all  countries,  chiefly  the 

Philippine  Islands. 


Fiscal  year. 

Pounds. 

Value. 

$4, 593, 199 
2, 555. 822 
7,511,645 
6,389,017 

Fiscal  year. 

Pounds. 

Value. 

1913 

203, 161, 765 
113,466,554 
326,885,495 
217, 222, 804 

1917 

270, 008, 416 
197,523,182 
196,319,609 
318, 156, 663 

$8,479,362 
9  337  705 

1914 

1918 

1915 

1919  I 

9^  328]  574 
4, 636, 117 

1916 

1920 

1  Calendar  years. 

Table  IV. — Cane  sugar  production  in  Louisiana,  and  revenue,  had  this  sugar 

been  subject  to  duty. 


Fiscal  year. 

Under  act 

Pounds          ^^  1909, 
Jr-ounas.      1.685  cents 

per  pound. 

Under  act 

of  1913, 
1.256  cents 
per  pound. 

1913 

325,147,200 
601, 074, 880 
493,  239,  040 
277,  240,  320 
621,  799,  360 
487, 197, 760 
561,796,480 
241, 998, 400 

$5,  478, 730 
10, 128, 112 

1914 

$7, 549, 50O 
6  195  082 

1915 

1916 

3,  482',  13S 
7, 809, 800 
6  119  204 

1917 

1918 

1919 

7  056  164 

1920 

3,  039, 499 

Table  V. — Cane  sugar  production  in  Hawaii  and  revenue  had  this  sugar  been 

subject  to  duty. 


Fiscal  year. 

Pounds. 

Under  act 
of  1909. 

Under  act 
of  1913. 

1913 

1,085,362,344 
1,114,750,702 
1,280,863,812 
1,137,159,828 
1,162,605,056 
1,080,908,797 
1,215,594,766 
1,056,023,998 

$18,288,355 
18,783,549 

1914 

$14,001,269 
16,087,649 
14  282  727 

1915 

1916 

1917 

14  602  319 

1918 

13  576  214 

1919 

15, 267, 870' 
13  263  661 

1920 

Table  VI. — Beet  sugar  production  in  continental  United  States  and  revenue  had 

this  sugar  been  subject  to  duty. 


Year. 

Pounds. 

Under  act 

of  1909, 

1.90  cents 

per  pound. 

Under  act 

of  1913, 

1.36  cents 

per  pound. 

1913 

1, 385, 112, 000 
1, 466, 802, 000 
1, 444, 108, 000 
1, 748,  440, 000 
1,641,314,000 
1,  530,  414, 000 
1,521,900,000 
1,452,902,000 

$26, 317, 128 
27, 869, 238 

1914 

$19,948,507 
19  639  869 

1915 

1916 

23'  778]  784 
22  321  870 

1917 

1918 

20  813  630 

1919 

20  697  840 

1920 

19  759  467 

Mr.  White.  I  would  like  to  put  in  the  record  again  the  state- 
ment I  made  awhile  ago  that  was  questioned.  I  stated  that  we  pro- 
duce in  the  United  States  to-day  25  per  cent  of  all  the  sugar  con- 


592 


LABOE  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII, 


sumed  in  the  United  States.     I  still  maintain,  Mr.  Chairman  and 
gentlemen,  that  I  am  confident  I  am  correct  in  that  statement,  be 
cause  we  produced  2,500,000,000  pounds  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  statement  that  was  read  from  that  table  is  agreeable  with  my 
statement. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  would  be  50  per  cent,  would  it  not? 

Mr.  White.  No,  sir;  we  consumed  9,000,000,000  pounds  of  sugar 
in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  About  4,500,000  tons,  I  think. 

Mr.  White.  Your  statement,  reduced  to  pounds,  Mr.  Oxnard,  is 
9,000,000,000  pounds,  if  you  will  pardon  me,  which  agrees  with  the 
statement  of  Mr.  Raker. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  letter  of  the  Tariff  Commission  dated  July  15, 
1921,  says : 

We  would  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  sugar  from  Porto  Rico  is 
on  the  same  basis  as  sugar  from  Hawaii.  Figures  were  not  given  because  not 
asked  for. 

So  I  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  commission: 

July  13,  1921. 
United  States  Tariff  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Gentleaien  :   Would  you  kindly   give  me,  from  your  reports  and  from  the 
reports  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  the  relative  cost  of  production  of 
sugar,  per  ton,  for,  first,  Hawaii ;  second,  Porto  Rico ;  third,  Louisiana ;  fourth, 
Cuba;  fifth,  the  United  States  generally? 
Thanking  you  for  this  information,  I  am 
Yours,  most  truly, 

John  E.  Raker, 

Member  of  Congress. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  insert  in  the  record  the  reply  of  the  Tarilff 
Commission,  dated  July  19,  1921,  and  also  the  table  that  accompa- 
nied that  letter. 

(The  letter  and  table  referred  to  are  as  follows:) 

United  States  Tariff  Commission, 

Washington,  July  19,  1921. 

Dear  Sir  :  We  are  mailing  you  herewith  the  table  showing  the  Porto  Rico 
situation,  as  requested  in  your  letter  of  the  16th  instant. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

Thomas  Walker  Page,  Chairman. 
Hon.  John  E.  Raker, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Table  VII. — Cane  sugar  receipt  from  Porto  Rico,  in  pounds,  together  with  the 
revenue  which  would  have  been  received  had  this  sugar  been  subject  to  duty. 


Year. 


1913 
1914 
1915 
1916 
1917 
1918 
1919 
1920 


Pounds. 


765,420,310 
641,252,527 
538,922,493 
849, 763, 491 
977,377,996 
672,937,334 
703,286,023 
837,735,200 


Potential  revenue. 


Act  of  1909.1    Act  of  1913.2 


$12,897,330 
10,805,105 


$8,054,131 
7,396,866 

10,673,029 

12,275,867 
8,452,092 
8,833,272 

10,521,954 


1  Rate  of  duty, 

2  Rate  of  duty, 


3.01685  per  pound. 
).01256  per  pound. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  593 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  many  years  does  that  cover  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  From  1913  to  1920,  inclusive. 

Now,  Mr.  Oxnard,  if  the  Hawaiian  people  were  not  a  part  of  the 
United  States  and  they  had  to  pay  the  same  duty  as  is  paid  on  sugar 
that  comes  in  from  Cuba,  they  would  have  an  additional  payment 
to  make  of  something  over  $14,000,000? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  if  it  applied  to  sugar  outside  of  Cuba,  it  would 
be  more? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  if  they  got  their  cheap  labor,  you  would  put  them 
in  competition  with  those  raising  sugar  in  continental  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Absolutely. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  be  giving  them  an  advantage,  although 
they  are  a  part  of  the  United  States,  that  you  do  not  give  the  pro- 
ducer of  either  cane  or  beet  sugar  in  the  continental  United  States ; 
is  that  right? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Absolutely ;  that  is  what  I  contend. 

Mr.  Raker.  These  figures  show  the  amount? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  ask  you  this  question:  Have  you  discussed 
this  matter  in  any  way,  shape,  or  form  with  the  Hawaiian  sugar 
producers,  as  to  bringing  in  the  cheap  labor,  or  have  you  discussed 
it  with  any  one  of  their  representatives  or  agents? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  do  not  know  with  whom,  but  with  some  member, 
with  some  Hawaiian  or  other,  I  did  discuss  it,  and  they  asked  me  if 
I  did  not  want  them  myself,  and  I  said  yes.  "  Then  why  are  you 
fighting  us  ?  " 

Mr.  Cable.  Want  what;  what  do  you  mean  by  that? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Chinese. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  said  or  done,  if  anything,  in  the  conversa- 
tions or  arrangements,  to  the  effect  that  if  you  would  "  lay  off  "  of 
this  proposition  and  let  them  have  cheap  labor  for  Hawaii,  it  would 
eventually  come  to  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  can  not  say  that  in  particular ;  I  can  not  remember 
whom  I  talked  with,  or  anything  particularly  said  on  those  lines, 
except  that  the  inference  I  got  was  that  if  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
got  their  Chinese  labor,  in  time  we  would  probably  get  ours. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  I  understand  from  j^ou  that  you  are  opposed  to 
contract  labor ;  is  that  right  ? 

The  Chairman.  I  did  not  understand  that ;  ask  him  the  question 
directly. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  am  opposed.  I  am  not  asking  for  Chinamen  to 
come  into  the  United  States. 

The  Chairman.  He  did  not  say  he  was  opposed ;  he  said  there  was 
a  provision  in  the  law  that  would  let  him  bring  contract  laborers 
from  Mexico. 

Mr.  Raker.  No  ;  I  do  not  think  he  put  it  that  way. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  could  not  think  of  anything  but  what  is  the  fact ; 
there  is  no  law  about  that,  but  the  regulations  do  let  us  bring  them  in. 

The  Chairman.  Under  contract? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Under  contract — I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  under 
contract,  but  under  conditions,  certain  conditions,  and  stipulations 
that  the}^  go  back,  or  something  of  that  sort. 
56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 4 


594  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  You  undertake  to  keep  them  at  certain  places, 
and  so  on? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Something  on  those  lines.  I  do  not  want  you  to  think 
for  a  moment  that  I  am  evading  any  questions  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  We  do  not  want  you  to  evade  any. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  will  say  this,  that  I  am  the  vice  president  of  this 
company  in  a  great  many  ways,  but  I  do  not  know  all  the  details. 
Those  are  turned  over  to  our  manager.  The  man  who  sent  me  the 
telegram  I  read  to  you  a  while  ago  is  the  man  Avho  makes  these 
arrangements. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  made  a  great  study  of  this  subject,  and 
before  the  Senate  lobby  committee  you  were  a  Avitness  in  regard  to  the 
conditions  of  sugar  labor. 

Mr.  OxNARD,  Lots  of  times. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  testified  heretofore  that  you  burned  the 
books  of  the  beet-sugar  industry. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  occasioned  that  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  know  that  I  testified  to  that. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  you  testify  to  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  I  burned  the  books  ? 

The  Chairman.  You  say  you  do  not  think  you  did.  I  find,  on 
page  1214  of  the  hearings  of  the  Senate  Lobby  Committee,  this  col- 
loquy : 

Senator  Reed.  Yon  burned  your  books  two  years  ago.  When  d'd  you  burn 
them  last  prior  to  that  time? 

Mr.  OxNAED.  I  do  not  know. 

Senator  Reed.  Have  you  burned  tliem  since  that  time? 

Mr.  OxNAKD.  We  liave  not  been  keeping  books  since  tliat  time. 

Senator  Reed.  You  do  not  make  any  records  now? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No,  sir. 

Senator  Reed.  How  did  you  arrange  it  when  you  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  was  best  not  to  liave  any  boolvs  at  all  and  save  the  trouble  of  burning  them? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No  understanding  has  ever  occurred  in  that  way. 

Senator  Reed.  It  is  a  fact  that  happened.  How  did  that  fact  come  to  happen 
unless  there  was  an  understanding  or  an  agreement,  express  or  implied,  to 
bring  it  about? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  know  nothing  of  that.     I  can  not  answer  that  question. 

Then  we  read  that  Mr.  C.  P.  Hamlin,  of  Colorado  Springs,  was  at 
one  time  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors.  His  books  were  burnedy 
were  they  not? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  were  or  not. 

The  Chairman.  You  can  not  find  them  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  do  not  know  what  books  you  are  referring  to. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  you  read  from  the  Senate  hearings  on  the  subject? 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  I  have  the  Senate  hearings  here.  Mr.  Par- 
donner  seems  to  have  been  a  factor  in  the  matter. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  The  whole  crux  of  the  thing. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  What  is  the  crux  of  it? 

The  Chairman.  From  your  attitude 

Mr.  Oxnard.  What  about  my  attitude  ? 

The  Chairman.  From  your  attitude,  there  seems  to  be  no  chance 
or  possibility  of  the  consumers  ever  getting  any  cheap  sugar,  if  you 
can  prevent  it.    You  say  you  are  selling  at  a  loss  now. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  595 

Mr.  OxNARD.  They  are  g-ettincy  it  cheap  enough  now.  They  are 
getting-  it  at  a  loss  of  about  $2  a  bag,  and  if  we  make  a  million  and  a 
half  bag-s,  that  is  $3,000,000. 

The  Chairman.  What  would  you  have  to  sell  it  at  now  to  come  out 
even  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  On  this  new  crop  we  estimate  it  will  cost  us  about  6^- 
cents  to  produce,  and  if  we  do  not  get  that — and  we  are  not  getting 
it  now,  we  are  going  to  lose  money  again  this  year. 

The  Chairman.  Who  is  getting  the  benefit  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  The  American  public  is  getting  the  benefit  of  all  this ; 
everybody  is  being  ruined  in  the  sugar  business. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  no  worse  off  than  Hawaiian  planters. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  are  worse  off,  because  it  costs  us  more  to  make  it. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  not  have  to  pay  the  transportation ;  does 
not  the  matter  of  transportation  come  into  the  proposition  for  the 
Hawaiian  people  to  a  heavier  extent  than  it  does  with  you? 

Mr.  OxNARD,  No;  they  may  have  some  transportation,  although 
they  get  a  mill  and  transit  rate,  as  I  understand  it. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  attend  a  meeting  in  New  York  of  the 
sugar  growers  to  discuss  this  matter? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  discussion? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  the  Hawaiian  people  wanted  to  get  this  Chinese 
labor. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  result  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  opposed  it,  and  the  Louisiana  people  opposed  it, 
and  the  Porto  Rico  people  opposed  it. 

The  Chairman.  All  for  the  protection  of  that  particular  industry  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Why,  gentlemen,  if  you  want  to  say  I  am  selfish,  I 
will  let  you  say  it,  if  3'Ou  w^ill  say  that  the  Hawaiian  planters  are 
selfish,  too ;  but  if  you  will  say  that  they  are  patriotic,  then  put  me 
in  the  patriotic  list. 

The  Chairman.  The  main  thing  you  are  trying  to  do  is  to  get  out 
whole  with  the  beet-sugar  business  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  am  trying  to  protect  the  beet-sugar  business,  and 
have  been  doing  it  for  30  years  or  more. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  is  a  question  of  labor.  Are  5^011  in  favor  of  con- 
tract labor  as  it  existed  before  we  passed  the  law  that  was  passed  in 
1889? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No — I  will  say  no. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  in  favor  of  peon  labor,  where  a  man  goes  to 
work  until  he  pays  off  his  debt,  and  he  is  kept  in  control  of  his  em- 
ployer ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  in  favor  of  involuntaiy  servitude  of  any  kind  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.    No. 

Mr.  Raker.  Should  any  industry  be  permitted  to  exist  if  it  requires 
peon,  contract,  or  involuntary  servitude  labor  to  do  the  work  in  the 
United  States? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  It  does  not  look  that  way  from  the  way  they  acted 
during  the  Civil  W^ar,  does  it  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No,  sir. 


596  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  By  the  way,  I  do  not  understand- 


Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  Just  a  moment.     Have  you  read  this 

resolution  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No ;  I  have  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  resolution  imposes  contract  labor  as  it  existed  in 
the  case  of  Mexican  and  Chinese  contract  labor,  in  its  most  virile 
form.  Do  you  think  any  part  of  the  United  States  should  sanction 
such  labor  for  any  industry  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No ;  I  do  not.    They  are  protected  by  a  tariff. 
Mr.  Raker.  Whether  they  are  protected  by  a  tariff  or  not ;  you  said 
you  would  like  to  get  Chinese  labor  in  California. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  would,  if  my  competitors  would  have  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  say  you  would  be  willing  to  have  Chinese  laborers 
in  California? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  If  they  come  into  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  As  an  American  citizen,  do  you  stand  for  contract, 
in  voluntary  servitude  work  in  any  part  of  California  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  No  ;  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  want  to  participate  in  anything  that  will 
bring  about  such  a  kind  of  labor? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  No  ;  I  have  never  tried  to.  I  think  I  have  taken  up 
too  much  of  your  time  already. 

Mr.  Cable.  There  is  one  point  Judge  Raker  brought  out  that  I 
would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Oxnard  two  or  three  questions  about. 

The  Chairman.  Very  well. 

Mr.  Cable,  Mr.  Oxnard  stated  he  had  a  conversation  with  a 
member  of  this  Hawaiian  commission. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  No  commission ;  some  Hawaiian  man ;  I  do  not  know 
which  one  it  was. 

Mr.  Cable.  ¥/hen  did  this  conversation  take  place? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  In  New  York. 

Mr.  Cable.  When? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  In  June ;  in  the  first  part  of  June. 

Mr.  Cable,  What  year  ?   . 

Mr.  Oxnard.  This  jev.x. 

Mr.  Cable.  Who  was  the  man  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard,  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  long  had  you  talked  to  him? 

Mr,  Oxnard.  Not  three  minutes. 

Mr.  Cable.  Who  introduced  you  to  him  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  do  not  believe  anybody  did. 

Mr.  Cable,  Have  3- ou  seen  him  since  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  would  not  know  him  if  I  saw  liim. 

Mr.  Cable.  Was  he  a  member  of  the  commission  who  are  here 
to-day? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  would  not  know. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  know  Mr,  Kalanianaole,  the  gentleman  over  there, 
do  you  not  [indicating]  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  have  seen  the  gentleman. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  that  the  gentleman  j^ou  refer  to  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  do  not  know  whether  I  have  been  introduced  to  him 
or  not. 

Mr.  Cable.  Was  that  the  gentleman  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  597 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  would  like  to  have  the  members  of  the  commission 
stand  up  here.    Who  are  on  the  commission  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Senator  Ghillings worth,  Mr.  Horner,  and  myself. 

(The  members  of  the  commission  referred  to  thereupon  arose  in 
their  places  in  the  committee  room.) 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  will  not  say  it  was  any  of  these  gentlemen. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  a  serious  inference,  and  I  think  the  committee 
ought  to  find  out  whether  or  not  it  was  made. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  It  could  not  be,  because  I  would  not  know  the  man 
myself,  but  what  I  have  said  is  true. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  talked  to  him  only  two  or  three  minutes  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  is  all. 

The  Chairman.  How  does  it  happen  that  the  beet  sugar  growers 
have  an  association,  the  Louisiana  cane  planters  have  an  association, 
the  Hawaiian  sugar  growers  have  an  association,  and  they  all  seem 
to  get  together  and  have  a  general  understanding  and  that  they  es- 
cape the  antitrust  laws  ?  How  do  you  escape  ?  That  is  a  serious  ques- 
tion, as  it  comes  before  us  here. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  know  whether  we  all  get  together  or  not  in 
any  way  that  is  against  the  law. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  there  any  evidence  before  the  committee  to  show 
that  they  have  all  gotten  together? 

The  Chairman.  They  seem  to  meet. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  have  conferences;  we  meet  periodically  for  dis- 
cussions, in  the  last  year  or  so. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  fix  the  prices  of  sugar  at  these  meetings? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Oh,  no. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  do  not  talk  about  the  prices  at  all  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  all  talk  about  prices,  but  we  do  not  fix  any  prices. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Where  is  the  price  fixed  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Every  man  fixes  his  own  price,  as  I  understand  it. 
There  is  absolutely  no  meeting  to  fix  the  price  of  beet  sugar,  and  I  am 
conversant  with  that.  I  do  not  know  about  cane  sugar.  If  we  did 
fix  it,  we  would  not  have  fixed  it  at  the  price  it  is  to-day. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  say  you  have  been  interested  in  the  beet-sugar 
business  for  30  years? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes,  sir ;  since  1889.  I  started  to  build  factories  and 
went  to  Europe  and  studied  the  proposition. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  ought  to  know  considerable  about  it. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  know  something  about  it. 

Mr.  Shaw.  This  is  a  serious  question.  Do  you  think  there  is  any 
possibility  of  extending  the  beet-sugar  business  to  the  point  of  pro- 
ducing all  of  our  own  sugar  without  securing  sugar  from  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico,  and  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  There  is  no  doubt  about  it.  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
a  few  things  about  this  proposition.  The  bottom  of  the  whole  mat- 
ter in  Hawaii  has  alw^ays  been  sugar,  and  they  became  annexed  to 
the  United  States  because  of  the  tariff  laws  of  the  United  States. 
If  they  could  have  had  a  tariff  without  any  labor  laws,  they  would 
have  elected  to  have  come  in  under  those  conditions ;  but  they  could 
not  have  it  that  way.  Sugar  has  been  at  the  bottom  of  a  lot  of 
this  trouble  in  Cuba  we  have  had  in  past  years,  and  everything  else. 


598  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

I 

I  am  familiar  with  the  situation  in  Cuba,  and  the  whole  thing  is  j 
that  the  people  in  the  sugar  business  in  Cuba  would  like  to  be  an-  j 
nexed  peacefully  to  the  United  States,  just  as  Hawaii  was,  and  it  I 
would  not  greatl}^  surprise  me — greatly,  I  say — if  that  may  come  ' 
about  in  some  years  to  come.  They  want  to  get  this  market;  it  is  j 
a  splendid  market.  The  Porto  Ricans  when  they  came  in  here  i 
said  they  could  not  make  more  than  50,000  tons  at  the  outside,  and 
they  gradually  increased  it  and  it  reached  150,000  and  more,  and 
they  are  producing  450,000  now. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  an  aid  to  the  consumer  of  this  country,  is  it  not?) 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  suppose  it  is.     • 

Mr.  Shaw.  They  are  a  part  of  this  country,  just  the  same  as  any 
State. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  It  does  aid. 

Mr.  Shaw.  A¥e  produce  a  little  wool  in  Illinois,  but  it  costs  us  a 
good  deal  more  than  it  does  in  the  Northwest  to  produce  wool.  Should 
we  be  protected  over  the  northwestern  woolgrower? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  You  should  all  be  in  the  same  boat,  under  the  same 
flag,  on  the  same  footing,  with  the  same  tariff  laws  and  the  same 
labor  laws. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  not  in  the  same  boat,  with  your  labor 
getting  $2.50  a  day  and  a  hut  to  live  in. 

Mr.  Raker.  He*  said  $3. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  $2.70,  $2.80,  $3.15 ;  $2.25  is_  the  lowest. 

The  Chairman.  $2.50  is  the  average,  is  it  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Call  it  $2.50. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  to  pay  that  price  as  against  40  cents 
paid  in  Porto  Rico,  do  you  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  know  what  they  pay.  I  want  to  get  in  the 
record  the  fact  that  Hawaii  paid,  in  1902,  99  cents;  and  in  1905,  83 
cents;  in  1910,  91  cents;  and  in  1916,  $1.23  a  day  to  their  laborers. 
Those  are  the  official  figures. 

Mr.  Raker.  Per  day? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes.    Those  are  the  average  daily  earnings. 

Mr.  Cable.  Then  they  give  a  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Nobody  has  offered,  by  producing  his  books,  or  any 
other  records,  to  show  how  much  this  bonus  amounted  to,  which  was 
paid  to  any  of  these  laborers. 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  Oxnard,  in  connection  with  the  price  you  paid  to 
the  growers  for  their  beets,  to  what  extent  is  that  price  paid  to  them 
regulated  by  the  price  received  by  you  ?    Is  it  not  controlled  by  it  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Not  entirely. 

Mr.  Box.    How  f ar  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Not  entirely ;  we  give  them  a  certain  percentage  and 
a  bonus  when  we  sell  our  sugar  for  so  much  more.  We  have  the 
different  contracts.  For  instance,  in  California  is  one  price,  in  Colo- 
rado another,  and  in  Nebraska  still  another.  In  Colorado  and  Ne- 
braska 90  per  cent  of  the  contracts  are  at  a  fixed  price,  which  was 
$10  a  ton  for  the  beets  last  year.  It  is  $6  this  year.  But  in  California 
it  is  a  scaled  price.  The  growers  get  somethin^g  like  an  average  of 
$12  and  $15  a  ton  for  their  sugar  beets. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  that  not  controlled  very  largely,  if  not  entirely,  by 
the  price  you  receive  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  599 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Not  entirely,  because  most  of  our  contracts  are  made 
without  any  price  being  fixed. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  you  read  the  testimony  of  those  farmers  which  was 
oiven  before  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  in  connection  with  the 
tariff  ?    Did  you  read  that  testimony  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  was  not  here  when  the  testimony  was  given. 

Mr.  Box.  You  say  the  price  you  pay  for  beets  is  not  controlled  en- 
tirely by  the  price  you  get  for  sugar  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  say  that  because  it  is  so. 

Mr.  Box.  I  understand;  I  am  going  to  have  you  define  it  a  little 
further,  if  you  can.    It  is  so,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  have  just  told  you  that  in  Colorado  and  Nebraska 
90  per  cent — we  give  them  both  contracts,  a  straight  fixed- price  con- 
tract, based  on  what  we  get  for  the  sugar,  or  an  upset  price — 90  per 
cent  of  them  are  taking  the  upset  price ;  that  is,  the  fixed  price,  not 
based  at  all  on  what  we  get  for  our  sugar. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  in  California  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  That  is  in  Colorado  and  Nebraska.  In  California  it 
is  based  entirely  on  the  price  we  get  for  the  sugar.  There  is  a  fixed 
minimum  of  $10,  and  so  much  more,  25  cents  for  every  degree  above, 
and  so  much  more  if  we  get  9  cents  or  10  cents,  and  we  had  it  run 
up  last  year  when  we  thought  we  would  get  20  cents,  but  we  aver- 
aged about  7  or  8  cents. 

Mr.  Box.  Let  us  find,  if  we.can,  how  much  of  your  beets  are  bought 
on  the  basis  of  the  price  being  fixed  by  the  price  you  get  for  sugar. 
Is  not  a  far  greater  part  of  it  fixed  in  that  way? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No ;  not  a  far  greater  part  of  it ;  I  should  say  about 
50  per  cent. 

Mr.  Box.  About  50  per  cent  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

Mr.  Box.  Then  if  the  farmers  testified  that  they  are  getting  a 
price  which  was  entirely  controlled  by  the  price  you  got  for  sugar 
they  misstated  the  facts  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  As  far  as  our  company  is  concerned.  It  might  have 
been  true  of  a  Michigan  factory. 

Mr.  Box.  There  is  a  provision  in  those  contracts,  when  you  con- 
tract for  the  planting  of  beets  by  which  the  purchasers  of  the  beets 
agree  to  help  furnish  the  labor ;  in  those  contracts  you  stipulate  as  to 
the  price  and  you  base  it  on  the  market  price  for  sugar,  do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  said  about  50  per  cent  is  done  in  that  way. 

Mr.  Box.  About  50  per  cent  of  your  product  is  bought  on  those 
terms  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  am  speaking  of  our  product  entirely. 

Mr.  Box.  Now,  in  reference  to  the  Mexican  labor  contract  proposi- 
tion, you  know  that  those  men  are  brought  in  under  the  contract  sys- 
tem, do  you  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  believe  they  are ;  I  think  it  is  under  the  regu- 
lations promulgated  by  the  Secretary  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  ever  read  those  regulations? 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

Mr.  Box.  You  do  not  know  then  whether  or  not  those  regula- 
tions provide  for  the  abrogation  of  the  contract  features  of  the  labor 
law ;  do  you  know  whether  they  do  ? 


600  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No.  As  I  said,  I  have  not  read  them.  I  am  leaving 
that  to  our  manager. 

The  Chairman.  Your  own  agent? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  He  is  the  general  agent  for  all  our  beet-sugar  com- 
panies. 

The  Chairman.  That  accounts  for  this  statement  that  you  are  not 
in  agreement  or  combination,  but  you  have  a  general  agent,  and  he 
made  it  a  business  to  travel  up  and  down  the  Mexican  border  pick- 
ing up  this  labor? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  He  did  it  for  all  the  companies  and  charged  them  so 
much  for  his  services. 

The  Chairman.  Anyway,  he  agrees  to  get  them  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  You  can  not  prove  anything  by  me  on  that,  because 
I  do  not  know  the  details  in  reference  to  it. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  know  whether  or  not  those  regulations  provided 
for  the  arrest  and  deportation  of  a  .man  who  left  the  service  of  a 
particular  employer  or  group  of  employers? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No;  I  do  not  know  anything  about  that.  If  I  had 
known  you  wanted  information  in  reference  to  all  these  questions,  I 
would  have  had  some  one  here  to  answer  them  all  for  you. 

Mr.  White.  I  would  like  to  ask  this  question  and  make  it  a  part 
of  the  record:  Just  how  seasonal  is  this  labor;  what  is  the  length 
of  time  that  these  men  are  employed ;  about  what  is  the  length  of  the 
employment  furnished  to  this  labor,  imported  or  otherwise — any 
class  of  this  labor — in  a  year? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  They  start  in  as  soon,  as  the  ground  can  be  tilled, 
which  in  California  is  along  very  early  in  the  spring,  or  winter,  and 
go  right  along.  In  Colorado,  Nebraska,  Utah,  and  all  those  other 
places  they  go  right  along  in  the  spring  of  the  year  and  then  stay 
there  until  the  crop  is  harvested. 

Mr.  White.  What  period  of  the  year? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  In  California  they  start  harvesting  next  Monday. 
In  Nebraska  and  Colorado  we  will  start  about  the  1st  of  October. 
We  will  have  all  the  beets  out  by  the  1st  of  November  in  California, 
and  by  the  1st  of  December  in  the  other  places. 

Mr.  White.  Would  you  say  you  have  six  months'  steady  employ- 
ment in  a  year? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Oh,  yes. 

Mr.  White.  More  than  that  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  No. 

The  Chairman.  That  labor  is  moving  from  State  to  State,  in  order 
to  get  steady  employment? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  They  have  to  care  for  the  crop,  weed  it,  and  do 
things  of  that  kind ;  and  they  thin,  it,  and  then  about  that  time  it  is 
pretty  nearly  time  to  get  ready  for  harvesting. 

The  Chairman.  They  are  employed  at  one  place  six  months  during 
the  year? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Something  like  that. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  they  do  the  rest  of  the  time? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  think  some  of  them  go  back  and  some  of  them  do 
not.    I  do  not  know  what  they  do. 

The  Chairman.  Does  not  that  pretty  nearly  equalize  your  wage 
with  the  Hawaiian  wage? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  601 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Oh,  no ;  I  should  not  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  about  six  months'  employment,  and  they 
try  to  have  yearly  employment? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  We  do  not  employ  them  at  all ;  it  is  the  farmer  who 
employs  them. 

Mr.  Raio:r.  Do  3^ou  ever  have  to  hide  the  shoes  and  clothes  of  the 
laborers  at  night  to  keep  them  from  going  off  in  the  morning? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Not  to  my  knowledge,  but  I  think  it  might  have 
happened. 

The  Chairman.  Would  it  be  much  of  an  effort  for  you  to  ascertain 
how  many  Mexicans  you  have  employed  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.   No. 

The  Chairman.  As  against  those  Mexicans  properly  in  the  United 
States,  having  come  up  from  Texas,  where  they  have  been  resident, 
you  have  those  coming  in  under  this  peculiar  arrangement 

Mr.  OxNARD  (interposing).  With  the  Department  of  Labor;  I 
will  be  glad  to  do  that,  so  far  as  my  company  is  concerned. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  ask  you  one  more  question,  then  I  am 
through.  You  think  at  any  time  we  want  to  we  can  shoot  the  Japa- 
nese out  of  the  water,  if  that  occasion  should  arise  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  feel  that  way  about  it. 

The  Chairman.  I  do,  too. 

Would  we  use  our  military  preparations  that  we  have  on  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  for  that  purpose? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  made  an  outpost  out  there,  have  we  not? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  the  United  States  Government  was 
right,  or  that  Congress  was  right  when  it  recently  enacted  the  law 
prohibiting  orientals  from  working  on  the  Federal  work  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  would  not  want  to  go  on  record  in  regard  to  that. 
I  have  not  thought  of  those  things  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  Y"ou,  having  studied  the  gentleman's  agree- 
ment  

Mr.  OxNARD  (interposing).  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  agree  with  me  that  the  gentleman's 
agreement  is  so  worked  as  to  the  continental  United  States  and 
otherwise  that  any  time  the  governor  or  the  territorial  legislature, 
or  other  official  persons  will  proclaim  a  shortage  of  labor  in  that 
island,  Japan  could  open  up  and  send  in  all  the  Japanese  they  want 
to,  without  violating  the  gentleman's  agreement? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Of  course,  that  is  not  a  question  for  me  to  pass  upon. 

The  Chairman.  If  there  is  such  a  question  and  Japan  chooses  to 
take  advantage  of  it,  the  sugar  people  will  be  more  handicapped  than 
before  ? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  suppose  that  would  follow,  undoubtedly. 

The  Chairman.  At  this  point,  without  objection,  I  will  insert  in 
the  record  telegrams  received  from  Mr.  John  P.  Irish,  of  Oakland, 
Calif.,  in  which  he  makes  statements  in  opposition  to  statements  tele- 
graphed to  this  committee  by  Mr.  Y.  S.  McClatchy. 


602  X.ABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

(The  telegrams  referred  to  are  as  folloAvs:) 

Oakland,  Calif.,  July  23,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chair  man  1  mhiigratlon    Committee, 

House  of  BeliresentaHves,  WasJrinr/ton,  D.  C: 
Report  of  State  board  of  control  shows  Japanese  have  secured  here  74,769    I 
acres,  and  that  our  irrigated  area  is  3,893,500  acres.     McClatchy's  telegram    i 
says  that  the  Japanese  have  secured  one-eightth  of  the  irrigated  area,  v^hich 
would  make  our  irrigated  area  only  598,152  acres.     This  sort  of  misrepresenta- 
tion is  intended  to  deceive  Congress  and  poison  eastern  public  opinion.     The 
Japanese  by  hard  work  have  reclaimed  to  productive  fertility  more  barren  land 
than  they  have  secured.     I  long  ago  warned  McClatchy  and  his  conspirators 
against  international  peace  that  their  false  and  vituperative  attacks  on  the 
Japanese  would  lead  to  mob  violence.     This  result  has  come  in  the  incendiary 
burning  of  five  houses  of  Japanese  in  Fresno  and  the  kidnapping  of  Japanese 
and  threats  against  their  lives.    It  might  interest  the  committee  to  know  who  is 
interested  in  the  depression  of  stock  in  Hawaiian  sugar  plantations,  which  will  j 
be  the  effect  of  extending  the  California  conspiracy  to  that  Territory.     Publish  ^ 
this  letter  as  his  (McClatchy's)   was. 

John  P.  Irish. 

Oakland,  Calif.,  July  23,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Imnvigration  Committee,  Washingto7i,  D.  C: 
Like  Hawaii  is  California,  also  part  of  the  United  States.  To  persecute  the  i 
Japanese  four  laws  have  been  passed  here  which  nullify  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States.  They  are  being  enforced  by  mobs  as  at  Turlock. 
Nine  of  that  mob  under  arrest  say  they  were  promised  the  support  of  the 
American  Legion  and  anti-Japanese  committee  in  committing  a  State's  prison 
offense,  but  they  only  followed  the  example  of  the  governor  and  legislature. 

John  P.  Irish, 

Mr.  Wilson.  Mr.  Chairman,  Mr.  Rogers  is  here. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  be  glad  to  hear  Mr.  Rogers  now. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  JOHN  M.  ROGERS,  REPRESENTING  THE 
AMERICAN  CANE  GROWERS'  ASSOCIATION. 

Mr.  Rogers.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  represent  the  American  Cane 
Growers'  Association,  which  is  made  up  of  cane  growers,  I  think 
now  exclusively,  of  Louisiana. 

Unlike  Mr.  Oxnard,  I  do  not  want  to  apologize  for  having  been 
here  so  many  times,  this  being  the  first  time  I  was  ever  before  any 
congressional  committee. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Can  you  state,  or  place  in  the  record,  the  compara- 
tive cost  of  production  of  sugar  in  Louisiana,  Hawaii,  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico,  and  the  Philippines? 

Mr.  Rogers.  To  do  that  I  would  quote  Price  Bulletin  No.  13,  pre- 
pared by  the  War  Industries  Board,  issued  by  them,  entitled  "  Prices 
of  Sugar  and  Related  Products." 

Mr.  Wilson.  What  year  are  you  going  to  cover? 

Mr.  Rogers.  This  is  the  prewar  cost.  They  do  not  give  the  in- 
dividual years.    It  says : 

Prewar  cost  at  factory  of  Cuban  sugar  was  1.45  cents  per  pound,  while  for 
Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  and  Louisiana  sugar  the  average  was  2.23,  2.61,  and  3.98, 
respectively.  From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  Louisiana  sugar  at  a  normal 
period  cost  3.98,  Cuban  sugar  1.45,  making  a  difference  against  Louisiana  sugar 
of  2.53;  Louisiana  sugar  cost  3.98,  while  Hawaiian  sugar  cost  2.23,  making  a 
difference  against  Louisiana  sugar  of  1.75 ;  Louisiana  sugar  cost  3.98,  while 
Porto  Rico  sugar  cost  2.61,  making  a  difference  against  Louisiana  sugar  of 
1.37  cents. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  603 

Dr.  Philip  G.  Wright,  on  January  18,  1921,  testifying  before  the 
(  onimittee  on  Ways  and  Means  of  the  House  of  Eejn'esentatives,  at 
pages  1252  and  1253,  stated  that  the  Louisiana  cost  at  that  time,  from 
records  he  had,  was  4.101  cents,  Cuban  sugar  1.7  cents,  a  difference 
of  2.40  cents  against  Louisiana;  the  Louisiana  cost  being  4.101  and 
the  Hawaiian  cost  2.896,  there  was  a  difference  at  that  time  against 
Louisiana  sugar  of  1.203 ;  the  Porto  Rico  cost  being  2.828,  there  was 
a  difference  of  1.273  against  Louisiana;  and  for  the  years  1916-17, 
1917-18,  and  1918-19,  that  being  the  war  period,  the  average  cost 
was  for  Cuba,  4.104;  beet  sugar,  7.306 — and  right  there  let  me  say 
in  reference  to  that,  that  beet  sugar  being  all  refined,  he  has  reduced 
this  to  a  raw  basis,  so  that  the  figures  represent  beet  sugar  as  if  it 
were  raw  sugar — Hawaiian  sugar  5.196,  Louisiana  sugar  9.304,  and 
Porto  Rico  sugar  5.802. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Louisiana  sugar  is  produced  by  those  operating 
factories,  and  also  by  the  independent  growers? 

Mr.  Rogers.  It  is. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Small  farmers  or  hired  labor? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Can  you  give  us  the  proportion  of  cane  produced  in 
Louisiana,  beginning  with  those  who  operate  factories  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  The  latest  data  I  have  compiled — I  have  that  for 
1920  now  in  hand — but  using  the  year,  1919,  which  would  be  a  fairly 
typical  year,  the  data  show  that  the  factories  in  Louisiana  pro- 
duced 44.82  per  cent;  the  small  grower  or  tenant,  54.66  per  cent; 
ground  on  toll,  0.0052  per  cent.  That  makes  less  than  45  per  cent 
grown  by  the  factories  and  a  little  more  than  55  per  cent  grown  by 
the  landowner  or  tenant. 

The  CHAiRMi^N.  By  whom  was  the  small  fraction  of  a  per  cent  pro- 
duced ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  That  was  sugar  ground  on  toll.  This  amount  is  so 
small  it  is  immaterial. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Then  about  45  per  cent  of  the  cane  produced  in 
Louisiana  is  grown  by  the  people  who  have  factories  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  practically  all  the  other  is  grown  by  the  inde- 
pendent owners,  the  small  farmers,  or  tenants  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes.  May  I  say  there  that  there  are  178  of  those 
factories  in  Louisiana  and  there  are  more  than  4,000 — I  have  not 
the  exact  figures;  about  4,500 — of  the  independents,  who  employ 
more  than  10,000  people  in  the  production  of  that  sugar  on  the  small 
farms. 

The  Chairman.  What  kind  of  labor  do  you  have? 

Mr.  Rogers.  We  have  the  farmer  and  his  family  and  the  Negro. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  small  grower  is,  as  a  general  thing,  just  an  inde- 
pendent home  owner,  a  settler,  and  a  citizen  of  Louisiana  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  There  is  no  imported  labor,  no  imported  people,  in 
the  cane  industry  in  Louisiana  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No;  they  are  all  American  citizens. 

Mr.  White.  As  a  general  rule  does  the  small  independent  pro- 
ducer— the  farmer — employ  any  labor? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes;  in  many  instances  he  must  employ  labor  at 
times. 


604  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  White.  That  depends  upon  the  acreage  that  he  cultivates? 

Mr.  RoGEKS.  Yes,  sir.  In  Louisiana  it  takes  about  80  laborers  per 
thousand  acres.  Therefore,  an  ordinary  family  of  five,  you  can 
readily  understand,  could  only  cultivate  the  amount  limited  by  that 
number;  and  of  course  he  would  have  to  go  outside  for  more  than 
that. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  average  wage  to  labor  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  am  sorry  that  I  can  not  answer  that,  sir,  to-day. 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  get  those  figures  and  place  them  in  the 
record  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes.    I  will  send  to  New  Orleans  for  them. 

The  Chairman.  Do  that,  or  instruct  the  clerk  to  wire  for  them. 
Did  you  get  any  of  this  Mexican  labor  that  was  coming  in  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Not  under  the  contract. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  make  an  effort  to  get  any  of  them  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No  ;  I  didn't.  I  may  explain  to  you  that  I  personally 
went  to  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  and  the  Labor  Depart- 
ment late  in  1920  when  labor  was  very  short  and  succeeded  in  having 
Louisiana  added  to  those  border  States  having  that  permit.  They 
had  not  had  it  before. 

The  Chairman.  What  year  was  that  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  That  was  1920. 

The  Chairman.  About  a  year  ago,  or  a  little  over  a  year  ago? 

Mr.  Rogers.  About  a  year  ago  now.  They  were  so  desperate  that 
I  went  up  to  Ellis  Island  and  spent  a  week  there  with  our  people 
trying  to  see  if  I  could  get  some  labor. 

The  Chairman.  Does  your  European  white  labor  work  with  those 
people  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes.  Just  for  an  example,  I  will  give  you  a  case.  A 
number  of  those  small  farmers  are  Italians  that  came  in  a  number  of 
years  ago,  and  we  paid  a  little  penalty  for  that. 

The  ChairMx\n.  What  was  that  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Having  the  Mafia.  In  one  instance  some  Italians 
were  killed  in  New  Orleans,  not  as  a  result  of  bringing  them  to  the 
sugar  plantations.  Those  fellows  became  citizens.  I  know  one  that 
worked  on  a  farm.  He  worked  as  a  laborer,  was  brought  to  Louisiana 
for  that  purpose.  He  came  here  and  was  engaged  on  a  sugar  planta- 
tion. To-day  he  has  one  son  in  a  bank  and  two  daughters  teachers 
in  the  public  schools,  and  he  raises  this  cane  and  sells  it  in  that  way. 

The  Chairman.  You  say  that  you  paid  a  penalty  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  mean  in  that  way,  referring  to  the  Mafia. 

The  Chairman.  If  these  Mexican  laborers  brought  in  under  this 
sort  of  agreement  or  contract  are  killed  or  injured,  who  pays  the  bill? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  would  think  that  the  United  States  Government 
would. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Modify  that,  Mr.  Chairman.  You  mean  if  they  were 
killed  in  an  uprising  of  our  citizens?  You  do  not  mean  in  just  an 
ordinary  difficulty? 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  ask  Mr.  Oxnard  what  he  thinks  about 
that.  If  any  of  these  Mexican  laborers  brought  in  by  the  Secretary 
of  Labor,  and  who  are  working  on  a  sugar  plantation,  are  killed  in 
an  uprising  or  riot  or  trouble,  who  pays  the  bill  upon  complaint  of 
the  Mexican  Government? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN"   HAWAII.  605 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  suppose  the  public  would. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  if  these  little  outbreaks  that  occurred,  as 
at  Turloc'k  and  Fresno,  Calif.,  become  sufficient  to  cause  the  United 
States  to  have  to  pay  a  bill  the  United  States  would  have  to  pay 
that  bill. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  suppose  so. 

The  Chairman.  It  seems  that  there  are  two  bills  pending  in  Con- 
gress now,  having  been  reported  out  by  committees,  where  the  United 
States  Government  would  pay  to  Japan  certain  sums,  one  of  them 
being  for  the  case  of  Torahachi  Uratake,  a  Japanese  subject  killed 
at  Schofield.  Barracks,  Hawaii,  on  November  25,  1915.  This  man 
was  shot  and  killed  by  a  soldier  of  the  United  States.  The  other 
bill  is  for  the  death  of  Tatsuji  Saito,  a  Japanese  subject,  who  was 
shot  and  killed  by  a  soldier  of  the  United.  States  in  Mexico,  where 
this  Japanese  was  bootlegging.  That  is  what  happened,  and  we  have 
to  pay  the  bill.  It  is  reported  out  by  the  committee  and  indorsed 
by  the  Secretary  of  War.  These  are  bills  pending  in  the  present 
Congress.  This  latter  case  happened  outside  of  the  United  States; 
that  is  the  trouble. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Before  you  get  through  with  Mr.  Rogers  I  want  to 
ask  him  one  question. 

The  Chairman.  Go  ahead. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  are  familiar  with  the  resolution  relative  to  ad- 
mission of  labor  into  Hawaii — I  mean  Chinese  labor? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  have  read  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Mr.  Rogers,  what  effect  would  the  admission  of 
Chinese  coolie  labor  to  Hawaii,  as  contemplated  by  this  resolution, 
have  upon  the  sugar  industry  in  Louisiana  as  it  stands  at  the  present 
and  upon  the  independent  cane  producers  in  Louisiana? 

Mr.  Rogers.  If  I  may  preface  that  with  another  remark,  I  should 
like  to  do  so.  As  an  American  citizen  and  representing  the  Louisiana 
cane  producers  I  am  and  they  are  opposed  to  the  bringing  into  the 
United  States  of  those  men  who  can  not  become  or  who  will  not 
become  citizens  of  value  to  the  United  States.  That  is  a  broad 
American  principle  that  we  all  stand  on.  As  a  Louisiana  producer, 
from  a  purely  selfish  motive  and  for  the  immediate  present,  if 
Hawaii  or  any  other  section  has  labor  that  is  cheap,  or  potentially 
cheap,  then  naturally  I  want  them,  because  we  must  compete  with 
that  labor,  and  the  effect  of  bringing  in  labor  for  Hawaii  would 
inevitably  be  to  reduce  the  cost  of  the  sugar  which  comes  in  com- 
petition with  ours  and  against  which  we  have  no  tariff  or  protection. 

I  want  to  say  that  we  are  perfectly  willing  to  take  our  place  in 
competitive  market  on  an  equal  basis  with  any  country  now  under 
the  American  flag.  We  are  willing  to  take  our  place  under  equal 
legal  conditions. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  a  very  fine  sentiment,  and  I  want  to  ask 
you  now.  Do  want  the  Mexican  illiterate  labor? 

Mr.  Rogers.  We  have  not  got  them  now. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  asked  for  them? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes ;  we  have,  and  I  will  tell  you  why.  Our  cane  crop 
acreage  was  reduced  from  1909,  when  we  had  305,399  acres  to  213,136 
acres  in  1919.  That  is,  acres  used  for  the  production  of  this  cane 
which  was  cut  and  made  into  sugar. 


606  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  White.  That  is  in  the  State  of  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Rogers.  That  is  the  State  of  Louisiana,  22  parishes.  The 
lands  that  Avere  not  in  sugar,  the  difference  between  305,399  and 
213,136,  lay  idle—a  great  deal  of  it — solely  because  we  could  not  get 
labor.  Then  we  reached  the  point  during  the  war  when  our  Negroes 
w^ent  to  the  Army,  and  when  many  of  them  came  back  and  had  been 
trained  in  industries,  particularly  in  the  motor  industry,  driving 
automobiles,  the  young  Negro  wanted  to  go  to  the  city  and  get  a  job 
driving  an  automobile ;  and  our  labor  was  so  short  that  w^e  applied  to 
the  Government  during  the  Avar  and  got  them  to  permit  a  detail  of 
soldiers  from  Camp  Beauregard,  at  Alexandria,  La.,  to  go  in  there 
and  save  the  cane.  It  was  a  dire  necessity  after  it  was  made.  Later, 
in  1919  and  1920,  it  was  apparent  we  could  not  harvest  our  cane. 
We  use  50  per  cent  more  labor  about  harvest  time  than  w^e  do  during 
cultural  time,  and  it  was  apparent  that  we  could  not  get  it,  and  so  1 
went  to  Ellis  Island  to  look  over  that  bunch  brought  in  up  there,  and 
I  arrived  at  some  very  strong  convictions  of  Avhat  I  would  do  if  I 
were  a  Congressman  or  United  States  Senator — if  I  had  anything  to 
do  with  the  United  States  Government  about  the  labor  that  came  to 
America. 

Mr.  Eaker    What  is  that?     Tell  us  right  now. 

Mr.  Rogers.  In  a  word,  it  is  this  :  I  would  provide  that  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  and  the  Immigration  Bureau  have  sent  into  them 
requisitions  for  labor,  shoAving  the  need  of  it  in  A^arious  industries, 
the  amount  required,  the  Avage  paid  that  Avould  yield  a  fair  profit  vo 
them  on  their  business,  the  wages  they  could  afford  to  pay,  and  I 
w^ould  haA'e  that  data  transmitted  to  our  Consular  Service  abroad, 
and  every  man  Avho  came  in  Avould  come  not  under  contract  but  he 
would  come  to  do  that  kind  of  labor  that  was  needed  where  it  w^as 
needed,  and  he  Avould  haA^e  to  be  a  potential  American  citizen  before 
he  left  the  other  side. 

The  Chairman.  You  assume  that  he  would  stay  there  and  do  that 
work  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes,  sir.  Right  here  let  me  say,  in  parentheses,  that 
if  this  committee  could  present  a  bill  to  Congres  sand  have  it  passed 
preventing  the  carrying  of  Chinese  in  bond  through  the  United  States 
to  go  to  Cuba,  or  any  other  place,  it  would  be  a  splendid  service  ren- 
dered. It  has  just  been  put  into  the  record  that  about  8,000  Chinese 
entered  Cuba  last  year.  I  heard  it  unofficially  stated  that  there  is 
about  an  aA^erage  of  40,000  Chinese  employed  in  Cuba  at  all  times. 
A  large  part  of  these  Chinamen  land  in  San  Francisco  and  are  car- 
ried in  bond  by  the  Southern  Pacific  Raihvay  through  the  cane  fields 
of  Louisiana  to  NeAv  Orleans  and  there  placed  aboard  ship  for  their 
intermediate  destination,  Cuba.  I  say  intermediate  because  in  con- 
A^ersation  Avith  a  former  official  of  the  Department  of  Labor  it  was 
stated  to  me  that  in  his  opinion  the  major  portion  of  these  Chinamen 
reached  the  United  States  from  Cuba ;  that  this  Avas  the  carrying  out 
of  their  intention  when  they  left  China.  This  statement  is  giA-en 
additional  weight  by  press  reports  Avithin  the  past  few  days  that  a 
ship  Avrecked  near  the  American  coast  disclosed  the  fact  that  it  had 
on  board  contraband  Chinamen  from  Cuba  and  that  some  20  or  more 
of  them  were  found  on  American  soil  after  the  wreck. 

It  seems  unfair  that  our  Government  should  permit  the  use  of  its 
territory  for  the  transportation  of  this  labor  to  be  used  in  competi- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN    HAWAII.  607 

tion  with  the  products  of  our  American  hibor,  Avliik'  nt  the  same  time 
prohibitino-^  and  I  think  properly  so,  the  use  of  the  same  kind  of 
labor  on  American  soil.  Aside  from  this  issue,  it  is  at  least  worthy 
of  investigation  as  to  whether  or  not  Cuba  is  but  a  halfway  station 
for  these  undesirable  aliens.  It  seems  pertinent  that  if  it  is  a  fact 
that  Cuba  is  beinf]:  used  as  a  halfway  station,  then  why  erect  another 
halfway  station  in  Hawaii  and  make  it  still  easier  for  them  to  come 
to  continental  United  States? 

Mr.  White.  What  is  the  labor  situation  at  this  time,  in  1921,  as 
compared  to  a  year  ago  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.   V  ery  satisfactory. 

Mr.  White.  So  that  when  in  war  conditions  were  abnormal  you 
were  subjected  to  the  difficulties  of  which  you  speak,  but  in  ordinary 
times  you  would  not  think  there  was  any  necessity  for  that,  would 
you  ? 

Mr.  EoGERs.  Well,  I  say  there  is  always  a  demand  for  about  50 
per  cent  additional  labor  during  harvest  time,  and  we  handle  that 
in  this  way 

Mr.  White.  Let  me  interrupt  you.  You  could  not  bring  in  this 
imported  labor  for  that  season,  for  that  short  period  of  time? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Just  the  Mexican  labor,  but  this  is  not  our  normal 
procedure.  It  is  our  usual  custom  to  secure  farm  labor  from  the  cot- 
ton section. 

The  Chairman.  In  Hawaii  you  can  not  do  that.  Hawaii  is  a 
couple  of  thousand  miles  from  any  mainland,  either  European  or 
American. 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  said  from  a  purely  selfish  standpoint  we  would  be 
glad  to  have  the  Chinamen.  I  do  not  believe  it  would  pay  Europeans 
or  Hawaiians  or  any  other  place  to  bring  in  that  kind  of  labor  in  the 
long  run. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  new  constitution 
of  Louisiana  going  into  effect  July  1  has  a  provision  in  it  preventing 
any  person  incapable  of  American  citizenship  owning  or  leasing 
property  in  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Do  you  approve  of  that. 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  do. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Then,  as  a  general  proposition,  you  would  be  opposed 
to  bringing  them  to  Louisiana  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  First,  last,  and  always. 

The  Chairman.  Are  any  Japanese  coming  into  Louisiana? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Not  at  all. 

Mr.  Wilson.  This  Mexican  labor  has  not  been  coming  into  Louisi- 
ana. ' 

Mr.  Rogers.  It  has  not. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  there  any  effort  or  any  demand  for  it  to  be  brought 
in  there  now  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No  ;  not  now.  We  were  desperate  and  wanted  it,  and 
one  of  our  fellows  did  bring  in  some  Mexican  labor.  I  think  he  told 
me  the  Southern  Pacific  was  paid  by  him,  $1,100  freight  on  them.  He 
said  afterwards  the  Southern  Pacific  had  them,  he  did  not.  We  have 
to  compete  with  the  railway  labor  wage  and  the  sawmill  wage  and 
for  that  reason  our  labor  wage  is  not  so  low,  and  if  we  brought  in 
Chinamen  or  anybody  else  they  would  go  the  way  the  Mexicans  did. 


608  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Do  you  not  think,  Mr.  Rogers,  it  is  the  best  policy 
for  Louisiana  to  do  as  you  have  done  about  the  Italian  whom  you 
spoke  about,  bringing  him  in  and  selling  the  land  to  him  and  making 
a  citizen  of  him  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  If  we  could  sell  every  acre  of  our  Louisiana  property 
to  the  small  farmer  and  let  him  produce  the  cane  and  sell  it  to  the 
factory,  we  prefer  to  do  it  and  would  not  have  one  single  acre  of 
factory-grown  cane.  We  must  have  factory-grown  cane  to  be  certain 
that  cane  will  be  grown  that  we  know  we  will  get  a  reasonably  steady 
supply  for  normal  factory  operations. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  say  factory-grown  cane,  you  mean  when 
you  go  out  and  make  a  contract  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No;  I  mean  where  the  factory  has  a  plantation  and 
grows  it  themselves. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  interrupt  you  right  now  to  ask  a  ques- 
tion.   Did  you  attend  this  meeting  of  sugar  growers  in  New  York  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  did  on  the  14th  of  June. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  discuss  the  Hawaiian  proposition? 

Mr.  Rogers.  It  was  discussed  only,  so  far  as  I  know,  in  that  the 
gentlemen  of  Hawaii  read  their  memorial  that  was  to  be  presented 
to  Congress;  and  I  stated  just  what  I  stated  to  you,  as  an  American 
proposition  I  would  be  against  it,  and  if  Hawaii  had  it  then  it  must 
extend  to  all  America;  we  must  have  the  same  privileges.  That  is 
what  I  stated. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  was  present  at  that  meeting?     What  interests 
were  represented? 
■    Mr.  Rogers.  I  believe  the  beet  interests,  Porto  Rico 

Mr.  CiiBLE.  Who  represented  them  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Mr.  Oxnard  was  there  representing  the  beet  interests ; 
CoL  Edgar 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  Who  represented  Louisiana? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  represented  Louisiana.  I  may  say  I  was  not  the 
authorized  representative ;  I  was  detailed  to  represent  them.  The 
others  who  were  there  I  do  not  know — Mr.  Dillingham  and  Mr. 
Coombs  I  am  sure — the  representative  of  the  Philippine  Islands  was 
there. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  represented  the  Michigan  people? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Col.  Edgar  was  there.  He  represented  Michigan,  did 
he  not? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Yes, 

Mr.  Raider.  Who  represented  the  Utah  sugar  people? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  do  not  remember  any  beet  people  except  Mr.  Oxnard 
and  Col.  Edgar. 

The  Chairman.  Were  the  Spreckles  inferests  represented? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Not  directly. 

Mr.  Cable.  Were  they  represented  indirectly? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  suppose  the}^  were  represented  indirectly. 

Mr.  Raker.  Where  was  this  meeting  held? 

Mr.  Rogers.  At  82  Wall  Street. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  represented  or  who  presented  this  petition  of 
American  sugar  interests,  consisting  of  the  United  States  and  Porto 
Rico — who  represented  the  Hawaiian  side? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Mr.  Dillingham  and  Mr.  Coombs. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  609 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  is  not  this  Mr.  Dillingham  who  is  present  to-day? 

Mr.  lioGERs.  No. 

The  Chairman.  And  Mr.  Coombs? 

Mr.  OxNARD.  Mr.  Coombs. 

Mr.  Eaker.  What  did  they  do  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  They  wanted  us  to  approve  the  memorial  they  read. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  the  substance  of  it? 

Mr.  Rogers.  You  have  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  didn't  know  that  was  it.  That  is  new  to  me.  That 
is  not  this  Mr.  Dillingham  who  is  here  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  remember  fully  about  that.  There  is  no  connection 
between  the  meeting  up  in  New  York  and  this  commission  here — 
this  Mr.  Dillingham. 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  understood  this  memorial  they  read  was  to  be  pre- 
sented to  Congress. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  the  result  of  the  conference  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  The  result  of  it  was  that  I  stated  if  Hawaii  was  to 
have  that  privilege  it  was  to  extend  where  the  American  flag  floated. 
I  think  Mr.  Oxnard  stated  about  the  same  thing.  I  do  not  know 
that  anybody  else  stated  anything.  It  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  the  Producers'  Association  for  action. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Where  is  Mr.  Dillingham  from  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  know  where  he  is  from. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  Mr.  Dillingham  is  from  Porto  Rico,  and  is  a  lawyer. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Where  is  Mr.  Coombs  from  ? 

Mr.  Oxnard.  He  is  a  New  York  sugar  man,  and  he  is  president  of 
two  or  three  large  plantations  in  Porto  Rico. 

Mr.  Cable.  Who  has  offices  at  82  Wall  Street? 

Mr.  Rogers.  A  publication  known  as  "  Facts  about  Sugar."  W^e 
had  an  office  in  their  room. 

Mr.  Cable.  A  publication  or  newspaper? 

Mr.  Rogers.  It  used  to  be  a  newspaper. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  subscribe  to  it  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  they  send  out  a  price  list  every  week  on  sugar  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  believe  they  publish  it,  just  as  they  do  in  newspapers. 
They  publish  a  quotation. 

The  Chairman.  How  do  they  get  away  from  the  inquiry  of  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission? 

Mr.  Rogers.  They  just  publish  the  prices  as  the  trade  journals  do, 
the  price  at  which  sugar  was  sold  the  previous  day  or  week. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  had  the  memorial  of  the  Hawaiian  Legislature 
before  you  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  do  not  know  where  it  was  from. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  from  Hawaii  presented  it  to  you  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  do  not  know  who — I  do  not  know  those  gentlemen. 

Mr.  Raker.  Was  there  anybody  there  representing  the  Hawaiian 
sugar  people  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  My  thought  was  that  they  were  representing  the 
FJawaiian  sugar  people  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Dillingham  and  Coombs  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes ;  because,  as  I  say,  my  attendance  was  delegated — 
I  was  not  a  regular  representative. 
56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 5 


610  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

\ 

The  Chairman.  Was  this  an  open  meeting  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  have  a  secretary  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Who  was  he  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Mr.  E.  W.  Mayo. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  his  address. 

Mr.  Rogers.  Eighty-two  Wall  Street. 

The  Chairman.  How  many  delegates  were  there  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  could  not  answer  you.  About  10,  were  there  not, 
Mr.  Oxnard. 

Mr.  Oxnard.  I  should  say  12  or  15. 

Mr.  Rogers.  About  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  the  object  of  your  meeting  relative  to  the 
Hawaiian  labor  question  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Had  no  purpose  whatever,  because,  so  far  as  I  know, 
nobody  knew  that  question  was  coming  up  until  it  was  presented  at 
that  meeting. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  you  do  not  know  who  presented  it  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No ;  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  have  regular  meetings? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Not  so  far  as  I  know ;  no.  There  are  no  fixed  dates 
for  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  was  stated  as  the  reason  for  the  call  for  this 
meeting? 

Mr.  Rogers.  There  was  never  any  that  I  know  of.  I  have  never 
seen^  one.  Ail  I  know  is  that  it  stated  the  sugar  producers  will  meet 
such  and  such  a  date. 

Mr.  Rx\KER.  The  memorial  was  then  referred  to  the  Louisiana 
producers  to  see  if  they  woud  be  opposed  to  this? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No  ;  it  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  immigration 
so  far  as  I  know. 

The  Chairman.  Have  they  ever  made  any  report  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No;  I  have  never  heard  of  them  making  smj  report. 
Judge  R.  Milling,  of  Louisiana,  is  our  member. 

The  Chairman.  They  Avill  make  a  report,  will  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  judge  so. 

The  Chairman.  Was  the  question  of  illiteracy  discussed  at  that 
meeting  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  At  the  last  meeting? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No,  sir;  I  never  have  heard  it  discussed  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  heard  the  real  history  as  to  Hawaii — the 
question  of  labor,  the  attitude  of  Hawaii  with  reference  to  bringing 
in  Japanese  as  contract  laborers — with  reference  to  bringing  in  the 
Chinese  as  contract  laborers,  and  then  their  quitting  them  and  going 
to  other  labor  fields?  There  was  an  illuminating  article  on  the  his- 
tory of  contract  labor  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  have  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Your  committee  never  went  into  that? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No,  sir;  may  I  say  that  committee  up  there  never 
transacts  any  direct  business.  It  was  simply  as  if  we  were  all  to 
meet,  not  to  pass  any  direct  resolution  or  an\i:hiiig  that  I  know  of. 
We  just  meet  and  discuss  thino-Q 


LABOil   PKOBLI'^.Mrt    IN    I  i  AWAIT.  Gil 

The  Chairman.  Come  to  a  "  gentlemtin's  "  agreement  ? 

Mr.  KoGEKs.  No;  they  never  come  to  any  agreements  that  I  know 
of;  it  is  just  a  conference. 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  think  of  anything  more  I  wish  to  ask 
Mr.  Rogers. 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  want  to  give  you  some  figures  as  to  labor  conditions 
in  Hawaii.  These  are  taken  from  the  statistical  abstract  for  1920, 
but  the  point  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  this,  the  report  of 
the  acreage  and  yields  of  Hawaii  for  a  period  of  years.  In  191(5 
they  produced  592,763  short  tons  of  sugar;  for  1917  they  produced 
644,663  short  tons,  in  round  figures;  in  1918  they  produced  576,700 
tons;  for  1919  they  produced  600,312  short  tons;  in  1920  they  pro- 
duced 556,727  short  tons. 

Now,  the  point  I  wish  to  make  is  that  in  1920  they  produced  555,727 
short  tons.  In  1916  they  produced  592,763,  and  in  1919  they  produced 
600,312.  Now,  then,  if  it  be  true  that  they  are  suffering  from  labor, 
then  that  labor  that  they  have  has  grown  lots  more  efficient.  In  com- 
parison, Porto  Rico  produced  in  1916,  849,763,491  pounds;  in  1917.5 
977,377,996  pounds;  1918,  672,937,334  pounds;  1919,  703,286,024 
pounds;  and  in  1920,  837,735,200  pounds;  wdiich  shows  that  they  ran 
along  just  about  holding  their  own,  just  as  Hawaii.  There  is  no  ma- 
terial difference  in  production.  They  had  in  1916,  115,400  acres  in 
cultivation;  in  1917  they  had  123,900 'acres ;  in  1918,  119,800  acres;  in 
1919,  119,700  acres  in  cultivation ;  and  we  in  Louisiana  had  to  reduce 
our  acreage,  so  we  are  worse  off  than  before  the  war.  They  have  en- 
joyed some  advantages  relative  to  labor  that  we  have  not  had.  We 
are  perfectly  willing  to  take  our  chances  with  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  Leaving  all  that  aside,  you  would  not  be  in  favor  of 
having  conditions  of  slavery  or  peonage  in  the  labor  situation  as  they 
existed  in  Hawaii  before  the  Avar?  You  would  not  be  in  favor  of 
going  back  to  that  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Judg^e  Raker,  my  father  was  a  slaveholder,  and  if  we 
had  to  go  back  to  that  I  would  rather  go  out  of  business. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  read  this  resolution  over  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No  ;  I  have  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  there  anything  you  know  of  that  has  any  more  in- 
iquity in  it  than  the  old  Chinese  slave  labor? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  have  not  even  read  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  Because  in  this  it  does  not  even  permit  the  Govern- 
ment to  pay  the  expenses.  It  requires  the  expenses  to  be  paid  by  the 
producer,  which  in  substance  goes  right  back  as  is  fully  delineated  in 
this  bill,  as  they  used  to  do  in  Hawaii — that  was,  bring  them  over 
and  keep  them  until  they  paid  their  passage  back,  which  was  so  ab- 
horrent that  they  themselves  prohibited  the  entrance  of  Chinese  and 
Japanese  into  the  islands. 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  agree  with  you  that  it  is  abhorrent. 

If  I  might  philosophize  just  a  little  bit,  I  object  to  this  because,  I 
might  term  it,  the  law  of  diminishing  returns.  Just  as  certain  as  we 
pay  labor  too  much  in  the  cane  fields — and  Hawaii  is  suffering  from 
it  to-day — just  as  certainly  will  that  labor  decrease  to  a  point  where 
it  becomes  a  burden  either  in  competition  or  in  inefficiency.  Just  as 
certain  as  we  pay  too  low  prices  for  labor  and  furnish  the  inadequate 
support  of  that  labor,  just  that  certain  do  we  as  American  citizens 


612  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

pay  the  penalty.  We  know  in  Louisiana  to-day  that  we  have  got  to 
furnish  the  Negro  a  fair  house,  a  garden,  a  cow — in  many  instances 
we  have  a  dairy  that  they  may  have  milk  to  drink — and  we  do  not  do 
that  because  we  love  him  so  well  but  because  we  know  that  that  is  the 
best  way  to  get  a  day's  work.  And  I  want  to  say  that  in  terms  of 
cane  produced  per  acre  the  labor  value  in  Louisiana  compares  with 
Hawaii  as  15  is  to  39.  Louisiana  produces  an  average  of  15  tons  per 
acre,  while  Hawaii  averages  39  tons.  In  terms  of  sugar  per  ton  of 
cane,  labor  value  in  Louisiana  compares  to  Llawaii  as  136  is  to  248, 
the  Louisiana  average  production  of  sugar  being  136  pounds  per  ton 
of  cane;  Hawaii,  248  pounds.  (Authority:  Statistical  Abstract  1920 
for  Hawaii;  Department  of  Agriculture  Crop  Reports  for  Lou- 
isiana. ) 

Mr.  Eaker.  Repeat  that  again. 

Mr.  Rogers.  Labor  in  Louisiana  in  terms  of  sugar  is  as  136  to  248 
compared  with  Hawaii,  because  out  of  a  ton  of  cane  in  Louisiana 
we  make  an  average  of  136  pounds  of  sugar;  in  Hawaii  they  make 
248,  and  they  can  grow  an  acre  of  cane  at  probably  less  expense  than 
we  can  grow  it  in  Louisiana. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  use  the  same  methods  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  No. 

Mr.  Irwin.  How  long  does  it  take  you  to  grow  a  crop  of  cane  down 
there  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  About  nine  months. 

Mr.  Irwin.  How  long  does  it  take  to  produce  a  crop  in  Hawaii? 
Assume  it  takes  9  months  in  Louisiana  and  18  months  in  Hawaii, 
does  that  not  reduce  your  proportion  to  that  extent  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  Since  you  raised  that  question,  I  would  like  to  give 
this  official  figure,  but  I  am  not  familiar  with  Hawaii;  I  have  to 
depend  solely  on  these  figures.  Take  the  time  of  actual  operation 
in  Hawaii,  l80  and  190  days,  in  one  island  going  up  to  220  days, 
and  the  average  is  275  days  actual  operation. 

The  Chairman.  How  many  people  are  employed  in  the  cane  in- 
dustry in  Louisiana? 

Mr.  Rogers.  The  report  of  the  census  for  1914  for  the  manufac- 
tures gives  something  like  4,000  to  12,000  persons  engaged  in  the 
industry;  4,544  in  1914,  and  1919  it  was  5,000,  and  it  runs  from  that 
up  to  12,000,  and  I  want  you  to  understand  that  this  is  the  census 
of  manufactures  and  it  takes  into  account  only  the  178  large  planta- 
tions. The  small  farmers,  of  whom  there  are  more  than  4,000 — I 
think  that  is  an  error;  the  Agricultural  Department  says,  in  their 
opinion,  it  is  an  error,  it  should  be  more — employ  more  than  10,000. 
In  fact,  I  think  they  would  come  nearer  20,000;  but  that  would 
include  the  supporting  crops,  feedstuff  and  all.  In  other  words, 
lake  the  300,000  acres  in  effect— 299,000— 80  laborers  to  1,000  acres 
would  give  you  something  like  24,000  right  there  in  culture.  That 
is  what  it  takes  in  Louisiana — about  80  mules  and  about  80  hands 
per  1,000  acres. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  been  very  much  interested  in  your  testi- 
mony, and  I  appreciate  your  sentiments,  and  I  want  to  ask  you  if 
you  have  given  any  study  to  the  situation  in  which  Hawaii — Caucasian 
people  in  Hawaii,  principally  American  citizens,  find  themselves 
with  regard  to  the  other  population? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  613 

Mr.  EoGERS.  Some.  It  is  limited.  The  result  of  my  study  is-and 
it  is  my  own  conclusion— that  Hawaii  is  a  part  of  the  United  States  to- 
day chiefly  because  American  citizens  invested  their  money  in  Hawaii 
tor  the  production  of  sugar.  Those  American  citizens,*  to  pr()(hice 
sugar  cheaply  and  to  their  best  advantage  and  with  as  mucli  advan- 
tage over  other  American  territories  as  possible,  used  every  method 
permissible  and  brought  Japanese  labor  in  there  to  produce  that  cane 
and  they  are  paying  the  penalty  to-day  for  that.  Now,  their  idea 
is  to  go  off  on  another  tack  and  bring  in  another  undesirable  element, 
and  for  which  they  will  eventually  pay  a  penalty.  Therefore  I  con- 
clude that  Hawaii  has  simply  made  a' bad  guess  and  has  not  looked 
at  it,  as  I  see  it,  from  a  long,  final  result,  taking  into  consideration 
that  inevitable  law  of  diminishing  returns;  and  they  are  paying  a 
penalty,  and  I  do  not  see  how  it  will  help  them  in  the  end  or  help 
us  to  pull  them  out  of  the  hole  temporarily. 

I  want  to  say  that  I  just  read  a  statement  from  a  Filipino  that 
has  been  over  to  Hawaii,  and  he  says  he  has  fixed  up  the  trouble, 
and  he  thinks  he  can  get  Filipinos — tiiey  are  American  citizens— that 
might  give  them  some  help. 

The  Chairman.  The  hearings  have  disclosed  there  are  some  con- 
siderable numbers  of  Filipino  laborers. 

Mr.  EoctErs.  From  statements  published  in  the  Louisiana  Planter, 
without  referring  to  this  question,  the  sentiment  is  decidedly  that 
there  has  been  a  very  wide  difference  of  opinion  between  Filipinos 
and  Hawaiians  as  to  the  Filipinos'  treatment  in  Hawaii.  I  have 
that  copy  of  that  article  and  that  is  all  I  am  basing  it  on.  It  is  only 
an  inference  from  that. 

It  is  an  unbiased  statement ;  has  no  reference  to  this  question.  This 
is  an  extract  from  the  Louisiana  Planter  and  Sugar  Manufacturer 
entitled  "  Hawaiian  letter."  It  is  dated  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  July  5, 
1921,  and  I  will  read  it  to  you : 

[Extract  from  the  Louisiana  Planter  and  Sugar  Manufacturer.] 

HAWAIIAN    LETTER. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  July  5,  1921. 

An  era  of  better  understanding'  has  been  reached  in  the  industrial  relations 
between  the  Philippine  Islands  and  the  employers  of  labor  in  Hawaii  and  on 
the  mainland,  in  the  opinion  of  Senor  Francisco  Yarona,  Philippines  labor  com- 
missioner, who  departed  recently  for  Manila  after  devoting  several  months  to 
an  investigation  of  conditions  in  Hawaii  and  the  Pacific  Coast  States.  Senor 
Varona  asserted  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  that  he  is  returning  home  with  the 
conviction  that  his  visit  has  paved  the  way  for  the  elimination  of  all  misunder- 
standings which  in  the  past  have  led  to  industrial  strife. 

mutual    understanding    BETV/EEN    FILIPINO    AND    HIS    EMPLOYER    RESULT    OF 

VAEONA's    VISIT. 

"  We  understand  you  better  and  you  understand  us  better,"  said  Senor 
Varona.  *'  In  a  phrase,  that  is  the  secret  of  the  present  situation.  In  the  past 
only  a  mutual  failure  to  reach  this  happy  condition  has  prevented  complete 
cooperation  and  accord.  The  Filipino  has  it  in  him  to  be  a  moral  and  an 
industrial  asset  to  any  community  in  which  he  happens  to  be  living.  Hawaii  is 
no  exception  to  this  rule.  There  has  been  a  tendency  in  the  past  to  foTget  that 
the  present  generation  of  Filipinos  who  have  left  their  own  country  to  seek  a 
foothold  elsewhere  are  barely  getting  a  start.  Better  results  can  be  accom- 
plished by  trying  to  help  them  up  instead  of  keeping  them  down,  I  am  glad 
to  say  that  as  a  result  of  the  missionary  work  along  this  line  that  has  been 
done  on  the  mainland  and  in  Hawaii  this  fact  is  coming  to  be  generally  recog- 
nized. 


614  LABOR  PROBLEMS   11^   HAWAII. 

"  We  feel  that  we  can  depend  absolutely  upon  the  sugar  planters  and  other 
employers  of  Hawaii  to  take  a  broad  and  generous  view  of  the  Filipino  labor 
problem  from  now  on." 

UNDEE    EXISTING    HARMONIOUS    CONDITIONS    INFLUX    OF    FILIPINO    LABOE    EXPECTED. 

Sefior  Varona  believes  that  one  result  of  his  labors  in  Hawaii  will  be  an 
influx  of  Filipino  labor  into  the  Territory.  When  the  results  of  his  mission  are 
published  in  the  Phillipines,  he  says,  the  misgivings  of  the  Filipinos  as  to  the 
treatment  which  they  can  expect  here  will  be  dissipated  and  they  will  flock  to 
Hawaii  in  increasing  numbers.  In  conclusion,  Senor  Varona  declared  that  the 
Filipinos  desired  freedom,  and  that  the  progress  the  islands  have  made  since 
the  American  occupation  justly  entitles  the  Filipinos  to  their  independence. 

Reading  between  tlie  lines,  that  indicates  that  there  has  been  some 
trouble  heretofore.  That  indicates  that  some  sugar  planters,  some  of 
the  larger  ones,  have  not  been  in  favor  of  Filipinos  coming  in  at  other 
than  the  low-price  labor. 

Mr.  Raker,  Have  you  looked  into  the  situation,  going  back  40 
years  and  running  up  to  the  present  time,  of  how  the  Peloponiiesian, 
Portuguese,  Japanese,  Chinese,  that  the  moment  they  quit  working  on 
sugar  plantations  and  Avent  into  other  industries  and  tried  to  buy 
and  own  land  they  then  came  into  disagreement  with  them;  that 
that  has  been  one  of  the  main  troubles  from  the  very  beginning  ? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  think  that  is  indicated  in  that  letter.  It  has  been  of 
recent  date,  that  same  issue.  Incidentally  I  would  say  the  Portu- 
guese we  have  had  in  Louisiana  have  been  very  excellent. 

The  Chairman.  That  same  inference  Judge  Raker  makes  would 
lead  to.  the  purchase  of  these  lands  in  Plawaii  by  Japanese — would 
that  not  follow? 

Mr.  Rogers.  I  don't  think  so. 

The  CiiAiR3^rAN.  To  carry  it  out  logically,  it  would  put  Japanese 
in  control  of  the  sugar  situation  there,  in  furtherance  of  these  mis- 
takes you  describe? 

Mr/ Rogers.  Yes;  I  think  there  is  something  in  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  objected  to  the  Peloponnesians  getting  the  land, 
they  objected  to  the  Japanese  getting  the  land,  and  they  objected  to 
the  Chinese  getting  the  land. 

The  Chairman.  They  objected  for  the  same  reason  the  people  of 
California  object  to  them  getting  the  land  there  or  even  leasing  it. 

Mr.  Rogers.  That  carries  me  back  to  my  first  statement.  I  am 
opposed  to  any  man  coming  into  ximerica  unless  he  is  capable  of 
becoming  an  American  citizen,  and  I  mean  that  man  that  has  got 
the  uniform  traits  essential  to  full-fledged  American  citizenship. 
I  believe  in  a  citizen  that  can  amalgamate,  and  no  other,  and  I  do 
not  object  for  a  minute  to  them  eliminating  the  people  that  will 
not  amalgamate.  We  might  not  object  to  the  Chinese  and  the  Negro 
down  there.    I  do  not  know  what  result  that  would  lead  to. 

Mr.  OxNARD.  I  desire  to  submit  this  table  as  a  part  of  the  hearings. 

The  Chairman.  Let  it  go  in. 

THE  CANE-SUGAR  INDUSTRY. 
[Department  of  Commerce.     Miscellaneous  Series,  No.  53,.  1917.] 

Page  63 — Over  81  per  cent  of  the  field  hands  engaged  in  the  production  of 
sugar  cane  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  of  the  Japanese,  Chinese,  Korean,  and 
Filipino  races.    Native  Hawaiians  furnish  2  per  cent. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   LN    lIAWyVII.  615 

Page  63— The  daily  average  rate  of  wages  of  field  han<ls  was  97  (-(Mits. 
Page  218— Tlie  number  of  Filipinos  employed  increased  from  1, 190  in  1910  to 
8,695  in  1915,  an  increase  of  19.4  per  cent. 

Page  229— Average  daily  earnings  of  adult  male  field  employees  on  Ilavvniian 
plantations : 

1902,  $0.99  (covering  9,286  workers  only). 
1905,  $0.83  (covering  3,437  workers  only). 
1910,  $0.91  (covering  6,867  workers  only). 
1915,  $1.23  (covering  6,885  w^orkers  only). 
Note.— Reproduced  from  report  of  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics. 
Page  48— Total  cost  of  production  f.  o.  b.  factory,  including  depreciation : 

Per  ton. 

Hawaii . $44.  59 

Porto  Rico 52.29 

Louisiana . 79.  50 

United  States  beet  sugar j. 70.08 

Cuba    (Federal  Trade  Commission  report  on  the  beet-sugar  in- 
dustry, May  24,  1917) 28.70 

Page  81 — The  average  net  factory  cost  per  100  pounds  of  sugar  in  the  entire 
United  States  during  the  five  years  ending  with  the  campaign  of  1913-14,  not 
including  depreciation,  was  $3.5041  per  100  pounds,  or  $70,082  per  ton. 

Page  68 — After  investigation  the  commission  based  cost  of  depreciation  at  5 
per  cent  on  machinery  and  buildings. 

Denver,  Colo.,  July  25,  1921. 

Daily  wages,  Mexico  and  Philippines,  basis  9  hours,  $2.25  Chino  and  south 
of  Los  Angeles,  and  $2.70  Oxnard  district. 

Some  cases  higher  in  both  districts,  but  this  is  general  wage. 

Beet  topping  on  tonnage  basis  will  run  about  $2.80  and  $3.15  per  day,  re- 
spectively. 

E.  C.  Howe,  General  Manager. 

Average  icages  of  male  farm  labor  in  the  United  States,  1910,  1916,  1917. 

Per  mon  tli : 

With  board — 

1917 $40.  67 

1916 33.  27 

1910 29.  28 

Without  board — 

1917 - 57.  28 

1916 46.  65 

1910 -     4L  42 

Per  day  at  harvest : 

With  board — 

1917 2.  73 

1916 2.  23 

1910  1 -r 1-  ^8 

Without  board — 

1917 3.  34 

1916 2.  72 

1910 2.  45 

Per  day  other  than  harvest : 

With  board — 

1917 2. 14 

1916 1-  ^2 

1910 -       1-  "^^ 

"^"slthout  board — 


1917 
1916 


2.77 


2.  22 

1910  ___:::::"iiiiiiiiiii"iii~---------- i.  94 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  an  intimation  that  some  matters 
are  coming  up  on  the  floor  of  the  House  in  which  I  am  interested, 
and  I  have  previously  obtained  permission  to  insert  some  historical 
data  in  the  record.     It  winds  up  by  referring  to  a  treaty  between 


616  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

the  United   States   and  Hawaii  providing  that   Chinese  shall   not 
hereafter  be  admitted  except  under  certain  regulations. 
(The  article  is  as  follows:) 

As  bearing  more  or  less  directly  upon  several  questions  which  havp  arisen 
during  these  hearings,  I  quote  below  passages  from  Alexander's  History  of 
the  Hawaiian  People  showing: 

1.  That  Hawaii's  industrial  and  commercial  development  has  in  large 
measure  resulted  from  profitable  trade  and  favorable  commercial  treaties  with 
the  United  States  and  from  Hawa  i's  annexation,  so  that  the  agricultural 
and  commercial  interests  of  the  islands  are  beneficiaries  rather  than  victims 
of  their  relations  with  us. 

"Material  progress  in  the  forties:  The  progress  of  the  country  during 
these  years  in  wealth  and  resources  was  steady  but  slow,  from  the  want  of 
convenient  markets  "  (pp.  258-259). 

"The  discovery  of  gold  in  California:  The  discovery  of  gold  in  California 
in  1848  formed  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  islands.  *  *  *  j^  opened  a 
new  marlvet  for  the  productions  of  the  islands,  which  has  been  increasing  in 
importance  ever  since"  (p.  260). 

"  The  new  treaty  with  the  United  States  was  finally  concluded  in  Washing- 
ton, December  26,  1849"  (p.  270). 

"A  similar  just  and  equitable  treaty  was  concluded  with  Great  Britain 
July  10,  1851"  (p.  270). 

"  Material  progress :  The  rapid  settlement  of  California  opened  a  new  mar- 
ket for  the  productions  of  the  islands  and  gave  a  great  stimulus  to  agricul- 
ture. For  a  short  time  sugar  brought  from  18  to  20  cents  a  pound  in  San 
Francisco,  and  large  profits  were  made  by  raising  potatoes  in  Kula,  Maui> 
and  elsewhere  for  the  California  market.  Tlie  culture  of  wheat  also  increased, 
and  in  .June,  1854,  a  steam  flouring  mill  was  started  in  Honolulu.  The  next 
year  463  barrels  of  Hawaiian  flour  were  exported.  A  foundry  was  started  at 
Honolulu  at  the  same  time"  (p.  273). 

"Agriculture  and  trade:  The  production  of  sugar  was  greatly  increased 
during  this  reign,  owing  to  the  importation  of  laborers  from  abroad  and  the 
hope  of  reciprocity  with  the  United  States,  which,  however,  was  not  realized. 
The  whaling  fleet  steadily  fell  off  to  only  47  ships  in  1871,  and  continued  to 
decrease  after  that  date"  (p.  297). 

But  the  hope  was  not  long  deferred,  as  the  following  discloses : 

"  The  reciprocity  treaty :  Negotiations  were  immediately  reopened  for  a 
treaty  of  commercial  reciprocity  V\^ith  the  United  States,  which  was  ratified 
in  June,  1875,  and  in  spite  of  strenuous  opposition  in  both  countries  the  laws 
necessary  to  carry  it  into  operation  were  enacted  in  September,  1876.  This 
treaty  was  to  remain  in  force  for  seven  years  and  further,  until  12  months- 
after  either  Government  should  give  notice  to  the  other  of  its  desire  to  termi- 
nate the  same.  The  conclusion  of  this  treaty  was  the  great  event  of  thi» 
reign,  and  perhaps  the  most  important  event  in  Hawaiian  history  since  1843. 
It  ushered  in  an  era  of  unexamiJled  prosperity  and  set  in  motion  a  series  of 
changes  of  which  no  man  could  foresee  the  end  "  (p.  303). 

"  Progress  of  the  country  to  1890 :  The  development  of  the  resources  of  the 
islands  under  the  stimulus  of  reciprocity  with  the  United  States  surpassed  all 
expectation.  The  production  of  the  principal  staples  of  the  country — sugar  and 
rice— increased  to  eight  times  wdiat  it  was  before  the  treaty.  The  total  value 
of  the  domestic  exports  of  the  country  rose  to  more  than  six  times  and  the 
total  revenues  of  the  Government  to  more  than  three  times  what  they  were 
before  the  treaty"   (pp.  311-312). 

"  Proposed  treaty  of  annexation :  On  the  19th  of  January  the  steamer 
Claudine  was  dispatched  to  San  Francisco  with  five  commissioners,  fully  em- 
powered to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  union  with  the  United  States.  They  arrived 
in  Washington  February  3  and  were  favorably  received  by  President  Harrison. 
A  treaty  of  annexation  was  then  drawn  up  by  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
Hawaiian  commissioners,  which  was  signed  on  the  14th.  It  was  laid  before 
the  Senate  for  its  concurrence  on  the  17th,  but  was  not  acted  upon  before  the 
end  of  the  session.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  President  Cleveland  after  his 
inauguration  was  to  withdraw  the  treaty  from  the  consideration  of  the  United 
States  Senate  on  the  9th  of  March"   (p.  317). 

"  The  establishment  of  the  Republic :  As  all  hope  of  early  annexation  was 
now  abandoned  by  the  provisional  government  steps  were  immediately  taken 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  617 

to  establish  a  republican  form  of  govermnont.  A  constitution;!  1  r'onv(Mition 
was  called  to  meet  May  30,  1894,  for  the  purpose  of  framing  a  constitution  for 
the  Republic  of  Hawaii.  The  convention  linished  its  labors  on  the  3d  of  July 
and  on  the  following  day  the  Republic  of  Hawaii  was  proclaimed,  with  Sanford 
B.  Cole  as  its  first  President. 

"The  new  constitution  was  in  the  main  modeled  after  that  of  the  United 
States"   (pp.  318-319). 

"Annexation  to  the  United  States:  On  the  accession  of  Presklent  McKinlcy 
in  March,  1897,  negotiations  for  annexation  to  the  United  States  were  renewed, 
and  on  the  16th  of  June,  1897,  a  new  treaty  providing  for  annexation  was 
signed  at  Washington.  It  was  ratified  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Hawaiian 
senate  on  the  8th  of  the  following  September,  but  was  not  pressed  to  a  vote  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  as  the  support  of  two-thirds  of  the  Members,  re- 
quired by  the  United  States  Constitution,  could  not  be  counted  upon.  At  last 
a  joint  resolution  to  the  same  effect,  having  passed  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives by  a  vote  of  209  to  91,  and  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  42  to  21,  v/as  signed 
by  President  McKinley  July  7,  1898.  The  news  was  received  with  great  en- 
thusiasm in  Honolulu  on  the  13th  of  July,  and  on  the  12th  of  August.  1898,  the 
formal  transfer  of  sovereignty  was  made,  and  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was 
raised  over  the  executive  building  with  appropriate  and  impressive  cere- 
monies" (p.  322). 

What  Alexander  says  about  Hawaii's  development  and  the  causes  of  it  is 
supported  by  other  authorities. 

"The  acreage  of  sugar  cane  in  1909  v,^as  186,230  and  the  number  of  farms 
growing  sugar  cane  was  1,028,  compared  with  184  in  1899.  The  production  of 
cane  in  1909  was  4,240,000  tons,  compared  with  2.239,000  in  1899.  The  value  of 
the  sugar  crop  was  $26,306,000,  compared  with  $18,763,000  in  1899.  The  pro- 
duction and  value  of  sugar  since  1909  has  been  then  as  follows:  1910,  518,127 
short  tons;  1911,  566,821  short  tons;  1912,  595,258  short  tons;  1913,  543,220 
short  tons,  and  this  was  valued  at  about  $37,000,000.  The  yield  of  cane' 
sugar  per  acre  is  the  greatest  in  the  world.  About  half  the  acreage  planted 
to  cane  is  irrigated.  The  development  of  the  sugar  industry  on  a  large  scale 
dates  from  1875,  when  the  reciprocity  treaty,  passed  in  that  year,  established 
praactically  free  trade  between  the  islands  and  the  United  States."  (Int.  Ency., 
vol.  11,  p.  2.) 

"  Exclusive  of  sugar,  the  value  of  the  manufactures  increased  from  $4,099,000 
in  1899  to  $11,454,000  in  1909,  or  179.4  per  cent.  Nearly  all  the  sugar  manu- 
factured is  exported  to  the  United  States."     (Int.  Ency.,  vol.  11,  p.  4.) 

2.  That  the  group  of  foreign  residents  and  investors  who  have,  in  the  main, 
controlled  affairs  in  the  islands  since  many  years  before  their  annexation, 
consisting  largely  of  people  strongly  attached  to  the  United  States,  have  for 
many  decades  made  strenuous  efforts  to  introduce  numbers  of  Japanese,  Chinese, 
and  other  Asiatics  and  aliens  into  the  islands  as  laborers. 

"Immigration:  A  bureau  of  immigration  was  formed,  and  in  April,  1865, 
Dr.  Hildebrand  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  China,  India,  and  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago to  make  arrangements  for  the  importation  of  laborers,  to  procure  valu- 
able plants  and  birds,  and  to  collect  information,  especially  in  regard  to  leprosy. 
In  July  he  sent  500  laborers  from  China  under  contracts  with  the  Government, 
who  were  followed  by  many  others"  (p.  290). 

"  In  1884  the  consent  of  the  Japanese  Government  was  obtained  for  the  emi- 
gration of  its  subjects  to  these  islands  under  certain  conditions.  The  first 
company  of  956  Japanese,  sent  under  this  agreement,  arrived  in  the  city  of 
Tokio,  February  9,  1885.  In  six  years  over  10.000  immigrated  to  these  islands, 
of  whom  1,260  returned  to  Japan.  During  1878  and  the  next  six  years  about 
2,000  Polynesians,  mainly  ft-om  the  Gilbert  Islands,  w^ere  introduced  into  this 
country,  'These  laborers,  as  a  general  rule,  did  not  give  satisfaction,  and  nearly 
all  of  them  have  since  been  returned  to  their  homes"  (p.  304). 

"Aftei-  1876  the  Chinese  came  in  great  numbers  until  their  immigration  was 
checked  in  1886"    (p.  304). 

"The  third  smallpox  epidemic:  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1881  five  so- 
called  tramp  steamers  arrned  from  China  in  quick  succession,  bringing  nearly 
700  passen2:ers  apiece.  Every  one  of  these  steamers  was  infected  with  small- 
pox, but  the  officers  of  one!  the  Quinta,  succeeded  in  concealing  the  fact" 
(p.  305). 

By  the  terms  of  the  act  of  union,  the  United  States  guarded  against  the 
demand  for  the  importation  of  the  Chinese.    Mr.  Alexander  so  states  (p.  323). 


618  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IIST   HAWAII. 

QUOTx\TIONS    FEOM    OTHER   AUTHORITIES. 

Tlie  following  is  from  the  resolution  of  annexation : 

"There  shall  be  no  further  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the  Hawaiian  Is- 
lands, except  upon  such  conditions  as  are  now  or  may  hereafter  be  allowed 
by  the  laws  of  the  United  States ;  and  no  Chinese,  by  reason  of  anything  herein 
contained,  shall  be  allowed  to  enter  the  United  States  from  the  Hawaiian  Is- 
lands." 

"  .Marriages  between  natives  and  Chinese  are  quite  common,  but  the  Japanese 
have  shown  an  aversion  to  mixed  marriages.     *     *     * 

"  The  increase  of  the  Japanese  in  the  decade  1900-1910  was  18,564,  or  SOttt 
per  cent."     (Int  Ency.,  vol.  11,  p.  6.) 

"  Of  4,320  farms  in  1910,  2,138  v/ere  operated  by  Japanese,  753  by  whites,  876 
by  Chinese,  463  by  Hawaiians,  and  the  remaining  90  by  other  Asiatics  and 
Negroes."     (Int.  Ency.,  vol.  11,  p.  2.) 

3.  That  the  Hawaiian  people  have  perished  rapidly  in  the  presence  of  incom- 
ing races  from  America  and  elsewhere. 

"  Tlie  first  census  of  the  kingdom  was  taken  in  1832  and  gave  130,313  as  the 
total  population  of  the  islands  at  that  time. 

"Another  census  was  taken  in  1836,  which  gave  only  108,579  as  the  total. 
By  all  accounts  the  decrease  of  the  native  population  at  that  period  was  alarm- 
ing."    (Alexander's  History  of  the  Hawaiian  People,  p.  214.) 

"  Decrease  in  population :  No  census  of  the  kingdom  was  taken  between  1836 
and  1850,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  decrease  in  population  was  rapid.  *  *  * 
During  the  year  1848  the  measles  was  introduced  from  California  and  spread 
through  the  group  for  the  first  time.    The  mortality  was  dreadful."     (P.  260.) 

"  Census  of  1896 :  On  tlie  24th  of  September,  1896,  an  official  census  of  the 
islands  was  taken  under  the  superintendency  of  A.  T.  Atkinson,  Esq.  The 
result  showed  a  total  population  of  109,020,  of  whom  39,504  were  Hawaiians 
and  Part  Hawaiians  by  descent,  and  13,733  were  Hawaiian-born  '  foreigners ' 
(including  4,312  Asiatics,  6,959  Portuguese,  and  2,240  other  whites  "  (p.  321). 

OTHER  AUTHORITIES. 

The  Uiiited  States  census  of  1910  showed  the  Hawaiian  population  to  be 
then  26,041.    The  1920  census  shows  it  to  be  23,723. 

"  The  native  population  has  decreased  rapidly  from  the  time  of  the  first 
acquaintance  of  Europeans  with  the  islands.  While  the  cause  of  this  decline 
has  never  been  fully  understood,  prominent  among  the  reasons  is  the  intro- 
duction of  foreign  diseases  to  w^hich  natives  are  peculiarly  susceptible.  The 
birth  rate  of  the  islands  is  also  small.  These  conditions  indicate  that  the 
practical  extinction  of  the  race  is  only  a  matter  of  time.  While  the  Hawaii- 
ans have  been  disposed  to  intermingle  freely  with  other  races,  there  is  a  small 
number  of  'Part  Hawaiians.'  "     (Int.  Ency.,  vol.  11,  p.  6.) 

(Thereupon,  the  committee  adjourrxed  until  Friday  morning,  July 
29,  at  10.30  a.  m.) 

Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Friday,  July  29,  1921. 
The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  There  are  some  matters  that  might  be  placed  in 
the  record  before  hearing  any  witnesses.  The  chairman  has  re- 
ceived a  telegram  from  Mr.  V.  S.  McClatchy,  representing  the  Japa- 
nese Exclusion  League  of  California,  in  which  he  combats  state- 
ments made  by  Col.  Irish  in  certain  telegrams  that  were  presented 
to  the  committee  recently.  Without  objection  the  telegram  will 
be  placed  in  the  record. 


»  LABOR   PROBLEMS  IN"   HAWATL  619 

(The  telegram  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

San  Fkancisco,  Calif.,  July  28,  lOy.l. 
Hon,  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  House  Iviniuj ration  Committee, 

House  Office  Duilding,  Washinf/ton,  I).  C: 

Col.  John  P.  Irish,  in  telegraphed  statement  your  eomniittee,  declares  untrue 
my  statement  that  Japanese  control  one-eighth  of  irrigated  lands  of  Cali- 
fornia. Refer  you  to  report  State  board  of  Control,  June  19,  1920  pages  48 
50,  and  51.  Irrigated  lands  in  State  total  3,890,000  acres.  Land' controlled 
by  Japanese  irrigated  and  nonirrigated  total  458,000  acres.  Japanese  crops 
demand  almost  exclusively  irrigated  lands  and  board  says  the  458,000  acres 
may  be  considered  for  practical  purposes  all  irrigated.  Amount  named  is  in 
effect  one-eighth  total  irrigated  lands  in  State. 

Col.  Irish  also  claims  Turlock  deportation  of  Japanese  by  workers  due  to 
agitation  by  Japanese  Exclusion  League  of  California  and  others.  On  con- 
trary, the  league  and  other  influences  have  served  to  prevent  overt  acts  on  the 
part  of  a  justly  exasperated  community  at  the  results  of  Japanese  peaceful 
penetration  and  evasion  of  State  law.  The  Turlock  incident  arose  as  result 
of  systematic  efforts  of  organized  Japanese  to  drive  out  white  labor  by  cut- 
ting the  established  wage  scale  and  the  resentment  of  whites  at  being  driven 
out  of  work  in  their  own  country  by  alien  race  with  lower  standards  of  living, 
against  which  whites  can  not  and  will  not  compete.  As  pointed  out  by  me 
to  your  committee  in  July  last,  racial  conflict  is  certain  to  ensue  if  conditions 
of  this  kind  are  permitted  to  continue  and  grow  worse.  Your  committee  saw 
a  large  body  of  white  labor,  including  ex-service  men,  displaced  at  Turlock 
last  year  by  1,000  Japanese,  who  offered  to  handle  the  crop  at  26  cents  per 
crate,  while  the  whites  were  receiving  35.  This  year  the  whites  commenced  to 
harvest  at  26  cents  and  1.500  Japanese  came  in  and  offered  to  take  the  work 
at  16  cents.  Last  year  the  whites  quietly  submitted.  This  year  they  tried 
to  deport  the  Japanese,  though  not  one  was  injured,  and  the  authorities  promptly 
restored  order,  provided  for  return  of  Japanese,  and  arrested  leaders  of  the 
deportation  movement. 

V.  S.  McClatchy, 
Representing  the  Japanese  Exclusion  League  of  California. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  two  telegrams  here  from  Leonard  Withing- 
ton,  national  executive  committeeman  from  Hawaii,  for  the  Ameri- 
can Legion,  in  one  of  which  he  says: 

Department  of  Hawaii  American  Legion  urges  your  committee  to  report  and 
Congress  to  pass  legislation  which  shall  bring  about  an  immediate  di- 
versification of  alien  population  of  the  Territory  with  view  to  military,  social, 
and  economic  safety.  We  stJiiKl  as  a  unit  behind  resolution  of  national  con- 
vention of  the  American  Legion  on  tliis  subject,  which  I  understand  has  already 
l}een  read  into  the  records  of  yonr  committee  in  its  hearings  on  the  resolution 
to  permit  entrance  of  certain  aliens  as  a  measure  to  prevent  Japanese  control 
of  Hawaii  and  to  relieve  the  serious  situation  there  regarding  agricultural 
labor.  I  have  just  received  ui'gent  cable  from  department  headquarters  of 
legion  in  Honolulu  stating  that  legion  has  taken  action  reiterating  its  position 
as  favoring  immediate  steps  for  the  diversification  of  alien  labor  and  instruct- 
ing me  to  do  all  possible  to  secure  legislation  that  will  bring  about  this  result. 
Hawaii  is  American  outpost  in  the  Pacific.  Present  overwhelming  Japanese 
population  is  menace  to  American  institutions  there  and  on  the  mainland. 

As  the  agricultural  production  of  Territory  can  not  be  maintained  without 
alien  labor  the  only  solution  we  can  see  is  carefully  restricted  admission  for 
definite  periods  of  aliens  whose  loyalty  and  lavs'-abiding  character  has  been 
proved  and  would  stand  with  Amei'ica  if  a  Japanese  crisis  should  arise.  Legion 
in  Hawaii  stands  squarely  behind  proposed  legislation  which  will  give  Terri- 
tory diversified  alien  population  and  by  curbing  threatened  Japanese  control 
tend  to  encourage  increase  in  distinctively  American  population.  We  believe 
measure  is  in  interest  of  .Americanism  an.d  American  conti-ol  of  Llawaii. 

The  Chairman.  That  telegram  is  signed  "J^eonard  Withington, 
national  executive  committeeman  from  Hawaii." 

Mr.  Eaker.  This  telegram  comes  from  Fort  Worth,  Tex. 


620  LABOE  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

I  have  another  telegram  signed  by  Leonard  Withington.  national 
executive  committeeman  from  Hawaii,  date  July  29,  1921,  as  follows : 

Supplementing-  my  wire  yesterday  just  received  from  adjutant  department 
Hawa.i  American  Legion,  Maui  Post  No.  8  protests  against  declarations  made 
by  president  American  Federation  of  Labor  regarding  importation  of  Chinese 
labor  for  Hawaii.  Request  you  introduce  this  in  evidence ;  also  my  wire  yester- 
day carrying  official  attitude  Hawaii  department.  Believe  if  labor  representa- 
tives knew  Hawaiian  situation  and  characteristics  various  oriental  races  as 
well  as  those  who  defended  Hawaii  and  Nation  and  upon  whom  brunt  of  future- 
war  Pacific  would  fall  they  would  realize  that  step  we  urge  is  only  practicable 
one  to  safeguard  Americanism  Hawaii  immediately  and  is  in  interest  safety 
them  and  their  families  and  in  no  regard  inimical  to  interest  American  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  telegram  is  also  from  Fort  Worth,  Tex. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  w^ould  like  to  say  a  word  or  two 
with  reference  to  Mr.  Withington,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Mr.  Raker 
has  seen  fit  to  refer  to  his  present  address  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
it  apparent  that  he  doubts  the  authenticity  of  the  telegrams  you  have 
just  read. 

Mr.  Leonard  Withington,  to  my  certain  and  personal  knowledge, 
is  at  present  and  has  for  some  time  been  the  national  executive  com- 
mitteeman representing  the  Department  of  Hawaii  in  the  councils  of 
the  American  Legion.  Mr.  Withington  left  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
some  time  before  this  commission  did  for  the  purpose  of  attending 
to  some  personal  business  here  on  the  mainland  and  is  now  a  resident 
of  Fort  Worth,  Tex.,  where  he  has  acquired  an  interest  in  the  Fort 
Worth  Record,  a  newspaper  published  in  that  city,  and  of  which,  I 
believe,  Mr.  Withington  is  now  the  editor. 

Mr.  Withington  was  here  in  Washington,  also  on  personal  business, 
on  July  23,  on  which  date  he  conferred  with  me  with  reference  to  ^ 
the  attitude  of  the  American  Legion  at  large  and  in  Hawaii,  with 
reference  to  the  resolution  before  this  committee.  On  the  date  in 
question  Mr.  Withington  furnished  me  with  a  copy  of  the  following- 
week-end  letter  cablegram  sent  by  him  to  the  commander  of  the  De- 
partment of  Hawaii  of  the  American  Legion : 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  23,  1921. 

BUTLEE, 

Commander  American  Legion,  Honolulu: 
National  organization  of  Legion  backing  Hawaii  immigration  program  on 
basis  Americanism,  resolution  No.  3,  on  pages  53  and  54,  summary  of  proceedings 
Cleveland  convention.  So  far  I  have  received  no  word  from  Hawaiian  depart- 
ment. Why  not  get  busy,  as  move  is  understood  here  to  be  one  against  Japa- 
nese domination  islands  and  in  direction  diversification  alien  population,  as  re- 
ferred to  in  resoluton,  page  54.  Silence  Hawaiian  Legion  costly  in  view 
National  Legion  indorsement,  which  I  understood  was  highly  desired  last  fall. 

Withington, 
Hotel  Willard. 

Mr.  Withington  left  Washington  that  same  day,  July  23,  after 
requesting  me  to  repeat  to  him  by  wire,  at  his  permanent  address  in 
Fort  Worth,  Tex.,  any  cablegrams  that  might  thereafter  be  received 
for  him  with  reference  to  this  matter.  On  July  26,  I  received  the 
following  night-letter  cablegram  addressed  to  Mr.  Withington : 

Honolulu,  July  25. 
Withington. 

Hotel  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Expect  you  to  support  report  of  Americanism  committee  as  adopted  by  second 
national  convention  w^hich  covered  this  department's  instructions  to  its  dele-   j 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  ITST   ITAWATT.  621 

gates,  especially  that  part  Maiich  calls  for  a  diversification  of  alien  population 
with  a  view  to  military,  social,  and  economic  safety.  l*resent  tliis  to  National 
Legion  officials  and  urge  theii-  support  to  legislation  now  proposed  to  give 
Hawaii  this  diversilied  nlien  population  in  the  interest  of  Americfinisni  and 
American  control  here.  Above  is  department  executive  committee  action 
to-day. 

O' Sullivan. 

I  repeated  this  cablegram  to  Mr.  Withington  by  telegraph  on  the 
date  of  its  receipt  by  me,  July  26. 

On  July  28,  I  received  the  following  additional  night-letter  cable- 
gram addressed  to  Mr.  Withington : 

Honolulu,  July  21. 
Withington, 

Willard  Hotel  Wasliiugton,  D.  C: 

Maui  Post,  No.  S,  protests  against  declarations  made  by  president  American 
Federation  of  Labor  regarding  importation  of  Chinese  labor  for  Hawaii. 

O' Sullivan. 

This  cablegram  I  also  repeated  to  Mr.  Withington  by  telegraph 
on  the  date  of  its  receipt  by  me,  July  28. 

I  know  both  Mr.  Withington  and  Mr.  O'Sullivan  personally.  As 
I  have  already  stated,  Mr.  Withington  is  the  national  executive  com- 
mitteeman representing  the  department  of  Hawaii  of  the  American 
Legion.  To  my  equally  certain  personal  knowledge,  Mr.  O'Sullivan 
is  the* department  adjutant  of  the  American  Legion  in  Hawaii.  The 
fact  that  Mr.  Withington  happens  for  personal  reasons  to  be  in  Fort 
Worth,  Tex.,  no  more  affects  his  representation  of  American  Legion 
organizations  in  Hawaii  than  does  my  being  here  in  Washington 
affect  the  fact  that  I  do  represent  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  here  an  interview  dated  July  11,  given  out 
by  President  Samuel  Gompers,  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
in  which  he  says  that  every  contention  made  in  support  of  the  pro- 
posed bill  is  insupportable,  etc.    Then  he  says : 

Time  after  time  the  true  situation  in  Hawaii,  a  situation  where  peonage, 
poverty,  and  profiteering  have  been  pictured  in  terms  all  but  unbelievable,  has 
been  presented  in  Government  reports  and  these  reports  have  been  suppressed. 

I  have  been  able  to  obtain  some  of  these  suppressed  reports  made  by  honest 
men  who  had  the  interests  of  their  country  at  heart  and  who  would  not  depart 
from  the  truth.  Men  high  in  our  Government  have  participated  in  these  sup- 
pressions. The  reports  were  made  under  Government  orders  with  the  intention 
that  the  facts  should  be  made  public.  There  undoubtedly  is  a  reason  for  sup- 
pression, but  some  one  elese  may  discover  what  that  reason  was.  It  is  my  pur- 
pose only  to  make  known  the  truth. 

As  far  back  as  April  3,  1913,  Richard  L.  Halsey,  inspector  in  charge  of  Hono- 
lulu, reporting  to  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration,  doubtless  knowing 
by  experience  the  fate  that  awaited  his  report,  closed  the  document  with  the 
following  despairing  paragraph : 

"  I  feel  a  certain  loneliness  in  setting  these  facts  and  considerations  before  you, 
and  I  know  that  I  will  be  without  local  countenance;  and  any  person  in  this 
community  who  criticizes  the  sugar  interests  will  meet  with  strong  opposition 
if  he  tells  the  truth ;  nevertheless,  there  is  no  reason  why  I  should  suppress  it, 
and  I  trust  that  you  will  receive  these  remarks  as  set  forth  with  deliberation 
and  with  the  spirit  of  impartiality." 

Without  objection,  this  interview  will  be  placed  in  the  record. 
(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

Interview  by  President  Gompkes  to  the  Peess  July  11,  1921. 

Every  contention  made  in  support  of  the  proposed  law  is  unsupportable ;  the 
charge  that  only  Chinese  labor  can  be  used  and  that  white  labor  can  not  be 
obtained,  and  the  charge  that  the  industry  will  not  support  decent  wages,  are 


622  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

untrue,  and  tliose  most  active  in  trying  to  secure  passage  of  tlie  bill  know  they 
are  untrue. 

Time  after  time  the  true  situation  in  Hawaii,  a  siiuation  where  peonage, 
poverty,  and  proiiteering  have  been  pictured  in  terms  all  but  unbelievable. 
has  been  presented  in  Government  reports,  and  these  reports  have  been 
suppressed. 

I  have  been  able  to  obtain  some  of  these  suppressed  reports  made  by  honest 
men  who  had  the  interests  of  their  country  at  heart  and  who  would  not  depart 
from  the  truth.  Men  high  in  our  Government  have  participated  in  these  sup- 
pressions. The  reports  were  made  under  Government  orders  with  the  inten- 
tion that  the  facts  should  be  made  public.  There  undoubtedly  is  a  reason  for 
suppression,  but  some  one  else  may  discover  what  that  reason  was.  It  is  my 
purpose  only  to  make  known  the  truth. 

As  far  back  as  April  3,  1913,  Richard  L.  Halsey,  inspector  in  charge  of 
Honolulu,  reporting  to  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration,  doubtless 
knowing  by  experience  the  fate  that  awaited  his  report,  closed  the  document 
with  the  following  despairing  paragraph : 

"  I  feel  a  certain  loneliness  in  setting  these  facts  and  considerations  before  you. 
and  I  know  that  I  will  be  Vvuthout  local  countenance,  and  any  person  in  this 
community  who  criticises  the  sugar  interests  will  meet  with  strong  opposition 
if  he  tells  the  truth ;  nevertheless,  there  is  no  reason  w^hy  I  should  suppress 
it,  and  I  trust  that  you  will  receive  these  remarks  as  set  forth  with  deliberation 
and  with  the  spirit  of  impartiality." 

In  this  report  which  he  felt  so  sure  would  be  suppressed,  and  which  I  regret  to 
say  was  essentially  suppressed,  Inspector  Halsey  described  the  manner  in 
which  the  most  helpless  and  impoverished  classes  of  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and 
Filipinos  were  brought  to  Hawaii  by  the  sugar  planters  and  then  said:  "It  is 
certainly  a  fact  that  without  them  the  plantations  that  have  paid  froiji  50  to 
90  per  cent  on  their  original  investment  will  not  be  able  to  continue  to  do  so. 
Most  of  those  which  do  not  pay  large  dividends  were  overcapitalized  at  the 
start  or  else  owing  to  the  prospects  of  large  prolits  went  so  deeply  in  debt, 
endeavoring  to  raise  sugar  in  places  Vv^liere  an  apology  is  due  to  Providence  for 
having  made  the  attempt,  that  they  have  been  unable  to  pay  dividends." 

In  a  report  dated  April  18,  1913,  Daniel  J.  Keefe,  then  Commissioner  General 
of  Immigration,  complained  of  the  undesirable  character  of  Filipinos  then  being 
imported  and  their  unfitness  to  perform  the  manual  labor  required  on  the  plan- 
tations and  in  the  mills,  and  continuing,  he  said :  "As  stated  in  my  memorandum 
of  the  5th  instant,  I  withdrew  the  portion  of  my  report  dealing  with  this  class 
of  people  upon  the  assurance  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  that, 
after  a  conference  with  President  Taft  and  Secretary  of  War  Dickinson,  he 
was  in  position  to  say  that  few,  if  any,  Filipinos  would  thereafter  be  permitted 
to  leave 'the  Philippines  for  Havv^aii,  and  that  snch  as  would  be  permitted  to  do 
so  would  be  of  the  highest  type."  Mr.  Keefe  continued  that  "  Notwithstanding 
the  above-mentioned  assurance,  nearly  5,000  Filipinos  during  the  last  15  months 
had  been  imported,"  and  also  declared  that  they  were  "  generally  undesirable." 

Mr.  Keefe  complained  to  the  Secretary  that  had  his  report  not  been  suppressed 
"  conditions  would  have  been  remedied  or  at  least  abated  to  a  considerable 
extent  long  before  this  time." 

In  the  same  document  and  in  comnjent  on  the  report  of  Inspector  Halsey. 
Commissioner  Keefe  had  this  to  say :  "  It  is  common  knowledge  that  many  of 
the  plantations  pay  very  large  dividends  on  their  stock.  The  contention  that 
they  can  not  afford  to  pay  ])etter  wages  and  improve  working  conditions  so  as 
to  attract  and  hold  a  desirable  and  permanent  laboring  popultion  I  firmly  be- 
lieve is  without  foundation  in  fact." 

Commissioner  Keefe  cited  a  description  by  Spanish  Consul  Arana  as  show- 
ing why  the  sugar  planters  experienced  so  much  difficulty  in  dealing  with 
plantation  v/orkers.  It  was  shown  by  the  consul  that  the  workers  were  dealt 
with  unfairly  in  the  stores,  which  were  owned  by  the  companies,  and  that  their 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  foremen  and  overseers  was  brutal  and  intolerable. 
The  same  situation  exists  to-day.  The  planters  do  not  want  freedom.  They 
do  not  want  workers  who  will  resent  cheating  and  brutality ;  they  want  coolies, 
who  are  chained  on  the  job,  and  that  is  why  they  want  the  present  joint  resolu- 
tion jammed  through  Congress. 

At  the  same  time  Inspector  Halsey  reported  to  his  superiors  in  Washington 
that  the  planters  were  "  making  desperate  efforts  to  keep  down  the  wage  rate 
of  all  employees."  It  always  has  been  the  policy  of  the  sugar  planters  to  seek 
those  workers  who  could  be  most  easily  exploited.     To-day  they  find  that  the 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  ]N   HAWAII.  (^^2'] 

Cliinese   coolie   is   most   easily   exnloiHvl    innaf   v«c.«,^4-^,.i      r         ... 
brutality,  and  most  easily  kept  in  S^^^^^^  "'""""^   ''^  exploilation    m.uI 

Present  reports  nmde  to  the  departmVnt  and  to  Congress  are  mo'inimrlf^<,« 
Investigators  have  thoroughly   learned   the  lesson   tangEt  by   experi  3 
they   include  m  their  reports  only  a   few  mo'inino-ioc.<r  fnUiL  ^^^'' ^-' '^  "<^^   that 
living  and  on  wages.    They  make  no^l^:;^  Z^^^'coJ^,  Zall  'n^    f. 
the  great  and  important  questions  that  affect  employ  men    in  m,;;^H       "^ 

i he  methods  ot  suppression  are  varied.  Some  reports  have  I  ee  suppressed 
entirely.  Others  have  been  so  edited  as  to  be  harmless.  In  Xrcnsefi^^^ 
ports  have  been  edited  out  of  their  original  meaning  and  therpubUshed  in 
such  Imn  ed  quantities  as  to  be  deprived  of  circulation.  The  quotat  ons  th^^ 
have  used  are  from  reports  that  were  partially  destroyed  by  ed  tfn  -  .nrlfbnf 
were  then  published  in  strictly  limited  quantities  so  t\at  onlf  h^  ^^rea  \  ood 
fortune  could  a  copy  be  secured.  I  venture  to  say  that  not  a  ifalf  d^zen  co^nTes 
have  ever  escaped  from  the  original  files.  copies 

Let   me   cite    one   more   statement   contained   in   this   supnressed    r^nnvf     o 
statement  that  shows  clearly  the  meaning  of  the  whole  struggle^^^^^^^^ 
'?Ji^'''hJ''^^^'^  ^^  ^^'^  ^"S"^^"  planters  in  their  inordinate  |reed     Tt  is  this  • 

The  difference  between  what  is  required  to  content  the  American  or  European 
and  the  Oriental,  Porto  Rican,  or  Filipino  workman  has  of  itself  a  st?on2 
tendency  to  set  so  low  a  standard  of  wages  and  living  as  to  Sumglthl 
Americanization  of  the  islands,  so  far  as  the  introduction  of  white  labtr  is 
an  element  of  such  Americanization.  I  do  not  see  how  it  will  be  possible  to 
4rrnTd1sSXS?ar ^  ''^^'^'^''^  encouragement  is  offered^o  Ameri- 
J\}}  ^,?^^  ^r^^  ,*^.  i»e  that  if  the  planters  would  give  their  earnest  cooperation 
to  the  ierritorial  immigration  board  in  the  effort  it  is  putting  forth  to  stimu- 
late Luropean  immigration.  It  would  no  doubt  go  a  long  way  toward  solving 
the  labor  problem  m  the  islands  and  at  the  same  time  gradually  would  brin.-  the 
standard  of  wages  and  living  more  nearly  into  equality  with  that  existing  on 
the  mainland.  One  of  the  chief  elements  of  this  cooperafon  should  consist 
ot  an  increase  m  wages  both  on  the  plantations  and  in  the  mills  " 

Analys  s  of  the  parliamentary  procedure  in  reference  to  the  joint  resolution 
can  hardly  inspire  one  with  sympathy  for  the  measure,  but  rather  with  -i 
feeling  that  some  unusual  methods  are  being  employed  to  force  it  through 
For  instance,  on  June  20,  1921,  Mr.  Kalanianaole  introduced  House  joint  resolu- 
tion lo8,  which  was  first  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories  and  then 
to  the  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization.  This  bill  was  based  on 
an  alleged  shortage  of  "  agricultural  labor."  Last  Thursday  it  was  defeated 
111  committee  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  a  similar  bill,,  House 
resolution  171,  covering  "  shortage  of  labor,  either  general  or  by  any  particular 
<'lass  or  classes,"  was  prepared  and  introduced  in  the  House,  a  hurried  meeting 
of  the  committee  was  called  for  its  immediate  consideration,  and  on  Friday 
morn- ng— the  next  day — it  was  favorably  reported. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  resent  the  manner  in  which  it  was  sought  to  jam 
through  this  joint  resolution,  the  results  of  which  would  be  to  break  down  a 
principle  maintained  by  our  Government  for  40  years. 

The  people  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  nearly  5,000  miles  from  our  Capital. 
Surely  it  is  the  duty  of  some  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  here  on  the 
ground  to  arouse  the  attention  of  our  citizenship  that  a  great  wrong  may  not  be 
inflicted  upon  the  people  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  that  a  great  principle 
may  not  be  broken  down.  To  bring  Chinese  coolies  to  Hawaii  is  but  the  fore- 
runner to  bringing  Chinese  coolies  in  hordes  to  the  United  States. 

The  Chairman.  That  interview  led  me  to  write  to  the  present  Ses- 
retary  of  Labor,  Hon.  James  J.  Davis,  making  inquiry  with  regard 
to  the  alleged  suppressed  reports  and  asking  for  full  copies  of  them. 
I  was  very  much  surprised  to  find  a  charge  of  that  kind  made  in  an 
interview  by  the  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
and  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Davis  as  follows : 

The  charge  is  made  that  certain  reports  of  governmental  officials  concerning 
labor  conditions  in  Hawaii  in  years  past  have  not  been  made  public  and  that 
these  reports  were  made  to  the  Department  of  Labor  and  are  available. 

Therefore,  for  the  House  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization,  I 
beg  to  request  that  you  supply  me  v/ith  copies  of  the  originals  of  the  report 


624  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IlsT   HAWAII. 

of  Richard  L.  Halsey,  inspector  in  charge  at  Honolulu,  under  date  of  April 
3,  1913 ; 

Also  the  report  of  Daniel  J.  Keefe,  dated  April  18,  1913,  concerning  the  char- 
acter of  Filipinos  being  imported  into  Hawaii ; 

Also  copy  of  the  memorandum  of  Mr.  Keefe  withdrawing  a  portion  of  that 
report  after  conference  with  the  then  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor ;  and 

Also  any  other  reports  in  connection  with  the  labor  situation  in  Hawaii. 

Secretary  Davis  wrote  me  as  follows : 

In  conformity  with  your  letter  of  the  28th  instant,  there  is  inclosed  herewith 
a  copy  of  the  so-called  Keefe  report  on  industrial  conditions  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands. 

The  letter  of  Richard  L.  Halsey,  inspector  in  charge  of  the  Immigration  Service 
at  Honolulu,  dated  April  3,  1913,  a  copy  of  which  you  request,  will  be  found 
beginning  at  page  42  of  the  inclosed  report.  I  have  had  this  printed  copy 
compared  with  the  original  in  the  files  of  this  department  and  find  it  in  every 
respect  complete  and  correct.  The  letter  of  Daniel  J.  Keefe,  Commissioner 
General,  under  date  of  April  18,  1913,  will  be  found  on  pages  40  and  41  of  the 
report.  Here  again  I  have  had  the  published  letter  compared  with  the  original 
in  the  files  and  find  it  complete  and  correct. 

There  is  no  memorandum  in  this  department,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  with- 
drawing any  portion  of  Mr.  Keefe's  report  after  a  conference  with  the  then 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  I  do  find,  however,  in  the  letter  of  trans- 
mittal by  ex-Commissioner  Keefe  to  Hon.  John  E.  Raker,  House  of  Representa- 
tives, which  is  printed  on  the  inside  cover  of  the  report,  this  statement : 

"  I  am  therefore  inclosing  a  complete  copy  of  the  report,  including  th"at  por- 
tion of  it  which  was  omitted  at  the  request  of  the  former  Secretary  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  with  the  understanding  that  if  this  was  done  the  report  would  be 
published." 

It  seems,  therefore,  that,  whatever  grounds  there  may  be  for  the  statement 
that  "  certain  reports  on  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii  in  years  past  have  not 
been  made  public,"  this  has  been  remedied  by  the  approval  of  the  Secretary  of 
Labor  of  the  publication  of  the  entire  Keefe  report,  which  was  done  in  May, 
1913,  Keefe's  original  report  having  been  submitted  apparently  in  1911. 

The  letter  to  Judge  Raker  is  on  the  inside  page  of  this  document, 
No.  53,  Sixty-third  Congress,  first  session.  I  assume  that  the  matter 
which  the  then  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  desired  to  omit 
from  the  report  is  a  statement  in  regard  to  the  class  of  Filipinos  that 
were  then  coming  into  the  islands.  (P.  5,  par.  3,  H.  Doc.  53,  63d 
Cong.,  1st  S8SS.)  It  is  a  rather  fierce  assault  on  the  Filipinos  when 
3^ou  consider  that  it  is  only  one  man's  opinion.  However,  he  did  have 
the  right  to  make  that  report.  It  was  not  taken  out  of  the  report, 
and  it  is  printed  in  this  document.  I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary  to 
put  the  whole  document  into  the  record,  but  it  is  available  and  before 
the  committee  for  all  who  desire  to  see  it.    It  was  not  suppressed. 

I  might  say  in  this  connection  for  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Gompers  and 
others,  who  call  a  matter  of  that  kind  the  suppression  of  a  report, 
that  to  my  certain  knowledge  during  the  entire  time  when  Mr.  Wil- 
son was  Secretary  of  Labor  Commissioner  Caminetti  and  others  who 
had  reports  to  make  to  the-  Secretary  for  submission  to  Congress 
invariably  had  to  write  their  reports  to  fit  the  views  of  the  Secretary, 
Mr.  Wilson,  and  the  Assistant  Secretary,  Mr.  Post.  There  was  no 
such  thing  as  the  exchange  of  memoranda  as  to  what  should  be  in* 
the  reports,  but  the  reports  were  sent  back  to  be  written  to  suit  the 
views  of  superior  officers.  I  regret  that  any  such  condition  of 
affairs  ever  existed  in  any  department.  I  regret  also  that  the  law 
has  not  been  complied  with  which  would  produce  the  report  required 
by  law  every  five  years  on  labor  conditions  in  Hawaii,  one  of  which 
should  have  been  forthcoming  this  year. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAir.  625 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  that  in  justice  to  all  the  nienil)(>i\s  of  the  de- 
partment I  should  say  that  for  about  two  years  I  tried  to  sec^ure 
this  report  and  other  evidence  in  relation  to  it,  but  was  unable  to 
do  so.  Finally,  after  takino-  it  up  personally  with  the  then  Secnv 
tary  of  Labor  and  the  commissioner  the  matter  Avas  submitted  as 
here  presented.  It  was  then  thought  that  it  m\<rht  create  some  inter- 
national trouble,  just  as  it  has  been  all  tlie  time.  There  is  always 
some  fear  that  we  will  do  sometlring  tliat  will  show  the  facts,  when, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  if  they  AA^ould  come  out  in  the  open  and  present 
the  facts  and  present  the  truth,  the  thing  could  be  adjusted.  If  that 
had  been  done,  the  matter  would  have  been  adjusted  10  years  ago. 

The  Chairman.  The  point  I  make  is  that  here  is  an  interview 
given  out  by  Mr.  Gompers  stating  that  these  matters  have  been  sup- 
pressed. They  were  not  suppressed.  I  am  sure  that  the  chairman 
of  this  committee,  Judge  Raker,  and  other  members  of  the  committee 
have  made  efforts  to  get  authentic  documents,  and  we  will  continue 
to  do  so.  If  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  wants  our  assistance 
in  that  regard,  we  will  endeavor  to  render  it. 

STATEMENT  OF  ME.  SAMUEL  GOMPSES,  PEESIBENT  AMEEICA2I 

FEBEEATION  OF  LABOE. 

Mr.  Gompers.  May  I  have  an  opportunity  to  speak  for  a  moment 
to  submit  some  facts  ?     I  Avill  not  occupy  more  than  a  moment. 

The  Chairman.  Certainly. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  would  not  ask  permission  to  say  anything  at  this 
time  except  that  as  I  entered  the  room  you  took  cognizance  of  it, 
and  said  that  what  you  were  about  to  say  was  for  my  benefit,  and 
the  further  fact  that  you  made  some  reference  to  the  suppression  of 
documents.  I  do  not  know^  upon  what  you  base  your  statement,  and 
consequently,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  do  not  know,  and  have  no 
rejoinder  or  explanation  to  make. 

The  Chairman.  My  statement  was  based  on  an  interview  purport- 
ing to  have  been  given  out  by  you  in  a  statement  following  your 
appearance  "  before  Chairman  Johnson,"  as  stated  in  the  interview, 
in  which  you  call  attention  to  the  Keefe  and  Halsey  reports,  stating 
that  they  were  suppressed. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  have  to  observe  this,  when  you  make^  reference  to 
reports  being  suppressed,  that  the  reports  of  Mr.  Daniel  J.  Keefe, 
Commissioner  of  Immigration  of  the  United  States  Government,  or 
his  reports  made  to  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  labor  upon  the 
subject  of  Chinese  coolies,  was  suppressed,  and  if  you  doubt  that, 
Mr.  Daniel  J.  Keefe  is  in  the  city— he  happens  to  be  in  the  city 
now — and  you  can  call  him  and  inquire  Avhether  that  is  the  fact  or 
otherwise. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  that  would  be  a  good  plan. 

The  Chairman.  I  will  do  that.  I  have  received  a  letter  from  the 
department  in  response  to  my  written  request,  all  of  which  is  set 
out  here,  showing  that  the  documents  were  not  surpressed.  Fur- 
ther, let  me  say  that  the  Department  of  Labor  for  eight  years  past 
and  at  present 'is  filled  with  spies  of  various  kinds  so  that  documents 
€an  not  be  safely  intrusted  to  be  carried  from  one  place  to  another. 
Further,   Commissioner   Caminetti's   reports,  including  reports  on 

56754— 21— SKit  7,  pt  2 6 


626  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

deportations  and  matters  of  that  kind,  could  not  be  written  honestly ^ 
but  had  to  be  written  to  conform  to  the  views  of  his  chiefs.  Condi- 
tions doAvn  there  were  foreign  to  securing  information  that  Con- 
gresss  should  know  from  that  department.  If  any  word  that  I  could 
say  would  help  to  straighten  it  out,  I  would  be  glad  to  assist.  I 
object  to  this  interview  being  given  out  with  regard  to  suppressed 
reports. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  Suppressed  reports?  They  were  suppressed.  T 
assert  that  they  were  suppressed. 

The  Chairman.  Why  did  you  not  come  before  this  committee  and 
make  that  assertion? 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  You  did  not  give  me  a  chance. 

The  Cpiairman.  You  were  asked  to  come  before  this  committee  the 
the  other  day.  You  did  not  come.  You  could  have  come  any  day  if 
you  desired,  but  you  did  not  come  until  this  morning. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  chairman  inquired  one  morning  whether  you 
would  be  here,  so  he  expected  you. 

The  Chairman.  Before  proceeding  to  hear  the  witnesses  called 
for  this  morning  I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  Represen- 
tatives Cable,  Raker,  and  others  have  suggested  that  the  constitu- 
tionality of  some  of  the  phrases  of  House  joint  resolution  ITl 
might  be  questioned,  and  therefore  I  think  that  the  committee  at  an 
early  date  should  go  fully  into  that  phase  of  the  matter. 

To  facilitate  such  an  inquiry  I  have  prepared  a  statement  for 
the  record.  I  shall  appreciate  any  effort  on  the  part  of  members 
to  make  further  inquiry  along  the  lines  of  the  constitutionality  of 
the  whole  resolution. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  will  cooperate  with  Judge  Raker  in  writing  a  brief 
on  the  points  on  which  there  is  some  question. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  covered  the  enabling  act  of  the  Territory, 
the  thirteenth  amendment,  the  peonage  statutes  and  references 
thereto,  etc.,  and  will  ask  the  committee  to  note  that  the  resolution 
provides — 

That  such  aliens  shall  be  admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of  time,  for  the 
purpose   of  engaging  only   in   the  class  or   classes  of  labor   as   to  which   the 
emergency  has  been  found  to  exist     *     *     *     and  that  the  regulations  shall  j 
provide  for  and  secure  the  return  of  such  laborers  to  their  respective  countries 
upon  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited  without  cost  to  the  United  States. 

The  question  now  arising  in  my  mind  is  whether  or  not  the  en- 
gagements which  the  alien  immigrants  would  probably  be  called 
upon  to  enter  into,  in  pursuance  of  the  terms  of  the  resolution  and 
the  regulations  to  be  promulgated  under  its  authority,  would  amount 
to  such  contracts  of  labor  or  service  as  are  forbidden  by  the  thir- 
teenth amendment  and  the  peonage  statutes. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  pending  resolution  contemplates  cer- 
tain restrictions  upon  the  liberty  of  action  of  the  alien  immigrants 
after  they  shall  have  been  admitted  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 
That  is  to  say,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to  engage  only  "  in  the  class 
or  classes  of  labor  as  to  which  the  emergency  has  been  found  to 
exist,"  and  they  "  shall  be  admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of 
time,"  upon  the  expiration  of  which  "  the  regulations  shall  provide 
for  and  secure  "  their  return  to  their  respective  countries. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  AIL  02  T 

Would  it  be  essential  or  would  it  be  found  to  bo  practicabl(i  in 
pursuance  of  these  provisions  of  the  law,  if  enacted,  to  hold  the 
alien  immigrant  to  a  contract,  express  or  implied,  which  woidd 
amount  to  "  involuntary  servitude  "  ? 

Would  an  alien,  presenting  himself  for  admission  to  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii  under  the  terms  of  this  resolution,  thereby  become  a 
party  to  an  implied  contract  obliging  himself  to  engage  only  "  in 
the  class  or  classes  of  labor  as  to  which  the  emergency  has  been 
found  to  exist "  ?  Would  he  likewise  impliedly  contract  to  return 
to  his  native  soil  after  remaining  in  the  Territory  for  a  "  limited 
period  "  ?  Or  would  he  require  an  express  contractual  assurance  re- 
garding the  terms  of  his  employment  in  Hawaii  before  presenting 
himself  for  admission?  In  either  case  would  he  thereby  place  him- 
self in  a  state  of  personal  servitude  which  would  amount  to  "  in- 
voluntary servitude  "  ? 

If  an  express  contract  be  entered  into  under  the  terms  of  the 
pending  resolution,  what  means  would  be  found  for  enforcing  it  ? 

By  the  organic  act  (1900)  providing  a  government  for  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii  it  was  stipulated  that — 

No  suit  or  proceedings  shall  be  maintained  for  tlie  specific  performance  of 
any  contract  heretofore  or  hereafter  entered  into  for  personal  labor  or  service, 
nor  shall  any  remedy  exist  or  be  enforced  for  breach  of  any  such  contract 
except  in  a  civil  suit  or  proceeding  instituted  solely  to  recover  damages  for 
such  breach :  Provided  fnrtJier,  That  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  not 
modify  or  change  the  iavrs  of  the  United  States  applicable  to  merchant  seamen. 
Contracts  made  since  August  12,  1898,  by  which  persons  are  held  for  service  for  a 
definite  term,  are  hereby  declared  null  and  void  and  terminated,  and  no  law 
shall  be  passed  to  enforce  said  contracts  in  any  way ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  the  United  States  marshal  to  at  once  notify  such  persons  so  held  of  the 
termination  of  their  contracts. 

The  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  provides : 

Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime^ 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted  shall  exist  in  the  United 
States  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

Watson,  on  the  Constitution,  says : 

The  amendment  was  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  abolishing  slavery  in  every 
form  in  the  United  States,  and  in  every  place  under  their  control;  it  did  not 
purport  to  do  more  than  this,  and  this  was  accomplished,  not  only  in  the  United 
States  proper,  but  among  the  Indians  of  Alaska  and  among  those  under  the 
direct  supervision  of  the  Government.  Cases  cited :  In  re  Sah  Quah,  31  Federal 
Reporter.  327.  330:  United  States  v.  Choctaw  Nation  et  al.,  38  Court  Claims, 
558,  566. 

Story,  on  the  Constitution,  says,  with  respect  to  the  thirteenth 

amendment : 

Nothing  by  v,'ay  of  comment  can  make  its  provisions  plainer ;  the  boast  of 
English  lawyers  and  philanthropists  after  Sommersett's  case  that  "a  slave 
can  not  breathe  in  Britain,  but  the  moment  he  sets  foot  upon  her  soil  he  becomes 
free,"  is  equally  or  even  more  strictly  true  of  America.  It  forbids  not  merely 
the  slavery  heretofore  known  to  our  laws,  but  all  kinds  of  involuntary  servitude 
not  imposed  in  punishment  for  public  offenses. 

Watson,  on  the  Constitution,  quotes  Attorney  General  Moody  as 

stating  the  rule  to  be — 

Any  person  held  to  labor  or  service  against  his  v>'ill,  although  he  may  have 
voluntarily  contracted  to  submit  himself  to  such  control,  is  in  a  condition  of 
involuntary  servitude,  within  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution. 


628  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IIS^    HAWAII. 

MEANING  OF  INVOLUNTARY   SERVITUDE. 

In  the  Slaughterhouse  Cases  (16  Wallace,  36,  69,  72),  Mr.  Justice 
Miller,  speaking  for  a  majority  of  the  court,  said  on  this  subject: 

That  a  personal  servitude  wavs  meant  is  proved  by  the  use  of  the  word  "  in- 
voluntary "  which  can  only  apply  to  human  beings.  The  exception  of  servitude 
as  a  punishment  for  crime  gives  an  idea  of  the  class  of  servitude  that  is  meant. 
The  word  servitude  is  of  larger  meaning  than  slavery,  as  the  latter  is  popularly 
understood  in  this  country,  and  the  obvious  purpose  was  to  forbid  all  shades 
and  conditions  of  African  slavery.  (It  was  very  well  understood  that  in  the 
form  of  apprenticeship  for  long  terms,  as  it  had  been  practiced  in  the  West 
India  Islands,  on  the  abolition  of  slavery  by  the  English  Government,  or  by 
reducing  the  slaves  to  the  condition  of  serfs  attached  to  the  plantation,  the 
purpose  of  the  article  might  have  been  evaded,  if  only  the  word  slavery  had 
been  used.    *     *     * 

We  do  not  say  that  no  one  else  but  the  Negro  can  share  in  this  protection. 
Both  the  language  and  spirit  of  these  articles  are  to  have  their  fair  and  just 
weight  in  any  question  of  construction.  LTndoubtedly  while  Negro  slavery  alone 
was  in  the  mind  of  the  Congress  which  proposed  the  thirteenth  article,  it  for- 
"bids  any  other  kind  of  slavery,  now  or  hereafter.  If  Mexican  peonage  or  the 
■Chinese  coolie  labor  system  shall  develop  slavery  of  the  Mexican  or  Chinese 
race  within  our  territory,  this  amendment  may  safely  be  trusted  to  make  it 
Toid.  And  so  if  other  rights  are  assailed  by  the  States  which  properly  and 
necessarily  fall  within  the  protection  of  these  articles,  that  protection  will  apply, 
though  the  party  interes'ted  may  not  be  of  African  descent. 

PEONAGE. 

Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States: 

Sec.  1990.  The  holding  of  any  person  to  service  or  labor  under  the  system 
known  as  peonage  is  abolished  and  forever  prohibited  in  the  Territory  of  New 
Mexico  or  in  any  other  Territory  oi'  State  of  the  United  States,  and  all  acts, 
laws,  resolutions,  orders,  regulations,  or  usages  of  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico, 
or  in  any  other  Territory  or  State,  which  have  heretofore  established,  main- 
tained, or  enforced,  or  by  vrtue  of  which  any  attempt  shall  hereafter  be  made 
to  establish,  maintain,  or  enforce,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  voluntary  or  invol- 
untary service  or  labor  of  any  persons,  as  peons,  in  liquidation  of  any  debt  or 
obligation,  or  otherwise,  are  declared  null  and  void. 

Sec.  5526.  Every  person  who  holds,  arrests,  returns,  or  causes  to  be  held, 
arrested,  or  returned,  or  in  any  manner  aids  in  the  arrest  or  return  of  any 
person  to  a  condition  of  peonage,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than 
$1,000  nor  more  than  $5,000  or  by  imprisonment  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more 
than  five  years,  or  both. 

In  the  Peonage  cases  (123  Fed.  Rep.,  673)  Jones,  district  judge, 

says : 

What  is  meant  by  the  phrase  holding  or  returning  a  person  to  "  a  condition 
of  peonage,"  as  used  in  the  Revised  Statutes?  At  the  tiiue  of  the  passage  of  the 
act  of  Congress  (Rev.  Stats.,  1990  and  5526)  a  system  of  service,  popularly 
called  "  peonage,"  existed  in  New  Mexico,  though  not  so  termed  in  the  laws  of 
the  Territory,  which  spoke  of  the  relation  as  that  of  master  and  servant.  It 
derived  the  institution  from  Mexico,  which  in  turn  inherited  it  from  Spain. 
Peonage  was  not  slavery  as  it  formerly  existed  in  this  countrj^  The  peon  was 
not  a  slave.  He  was  a  freeman,  with  political  as  well  as  civil  rights.  He 
entered  into  the  relation  from  choice  for  a  definite  period  as  the  result  of 
mutual  contract.  The  relation  w^as  not  confined  to  any  race.  The  child  of  a 
peon  did  not  become  a  peon,  and  the  father  could  not  contract  away  the  services 
of  his  minor  child,  except  in  rare  cases.  The  peon,  male  or  female,  agreed  with 
the  master  upon  the  nature  of  the  service,  the  length  of  its  duration,  and  com- 
pensation. *  *  *  r^YiQ  courts  of  the  Territory  (New  Mexico),  after  the  pas- 
sage of  the  thirteenth  amendment,  holding  that  it  destroyed  the  right  formerly 
existing  under  the  Territorial  laws  to  hold  to  service,  released  peons  from  com- 
pulsory service  on  writs  of  habeas  corpus  wherever  applied  to,  *  *  *  rpj^g 
right,  privilege,  or  immunity  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  to  be  free  from 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    J  LA  WAN.  629 

slavery,  or  involuntary  servitude  of  any  icind,  except  upon  due  convietion  of 
crime,  being  given  or  secured  by  the  Constitution  of  t!ie  United  States  to  every 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  Congress,  under  the  aulhority  vested  in  it  by  tlie 
thirteenth  amendment,  had  power  not  only  to  strike  down  and  annul  laws  which 
supported  the  system  of  peonage  in  New  Mexico,  but  by  direct  and  primary 
legislation  of  its  own  to  punish  criminally  individuals  who  in  any  part  of  the 
United  States  violate  the  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  this  regard 
by  lawlessly  subjecting  them  to  the  results  and  evils,  "  the  conditions,"  of  the 
forbidden  system. 

In  Clyatt  v.  United  States  (197  U.  S.,  207,  218),  in  reviewing  the 
peonage  statutes,  Justice  Brewer  said : 

It  is  not  open  to  doubt  that  Congress  may  enforce  the  thirteenth  amend- 
ment by  direct  legislation,  punishing  the  holding  of  a  person  in  slavery  or  in 
involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime.     In  the  exercise  of 
that    power    Congress    has    enacted    these    sections    denouncing   peonage,    and 
punishing  one  who  holds  another  in  that  condition  of  involuntary  servitude. 
This  legislation  is  not  limited  to  the  Territories  or  other  parts  of  the  strictly 
national  domain,  but  is  operative  in  the  States  and  wherever  the  sovereignty- 
of  the  United  States  extends.     We  entertain  no  doubt  of  the  validity  of  this-, 
legislation,  or  of  its  applicability  to  the  case  of  any  person  holding  another 
in  a  state  of  peonage,  and  this  whether  there  be  municipal  ordinance  or  State 
law  sanctioning   such   holding.     It  operates   directly   on  every   citizen  of  the- 
Republic,  wherever  his  residence  may  be. 

A  statute  which  punishes  one  who  having  made  a  written  contract  to  work 
for  another  for  a  fixed  time  afterwards  and  without  the  consent  of  the  other 
party  to  the  contract,  and  without  sufficient  excuse  abandons  it  and  makes  a 
similar  contract  with  another  person  without  telling  him  of  the  first  con- 
tract, is  contrary  to  the  thirteenth  amendment  because  it  establishes  a  system 
of  peonage  and  involuntary  servitude.  (Quoted  from  Peonage  Cases,  123  Fed- 
eral Reporter,  691.) 

Mr.  Raker.  The  Library  of  Congress  has  been  w^orking  on  this 
subject  for  me  for  about  three  weeks.  I  had  a  letter  from  them 
yesterday,  and  they  have  not  yet  been  able  to  get  all  of  the  data  I 
want,  particularly  the  treaty,  or,  rather,  the  attitude  of  the  Chinese 
Government  relative  to  the  exporting  of  their  w^orkers  to  Cuba  and 
of  those  that  were  sent*here,  as  well  as  those  that  have  been  sent 
to  the  Hawaiian  Islands ;  but  I  was  advised  that  the  Chinese  Embassy 
down  here  was  very  busy,  and  that  they  will  turn  over  the  entire 
original  matter  to  expert  Chinese,  whom  the  Library  has  employed 
for  this  purpose,  to  translate  it.  That  relates  to  the  time  when  Cuba 
was  under  Spain. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  applies  to  this  country,  too. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Yes;  because  the  original  treaty  between  China  and 
the  Government  of  Spain,  when  Cuba  was  under  Spain,  shows  that 
they  abandoned  all  peonage.  In  other  words,  they  gave  free  circu- 
lation, or  those  are  the  words  used  in  the  treaty,  but  it  was  pro- 
vided in  that  treaty  that  the  Chinese  who  were  then  in  Cuba  should 
remain  in  a  state  of  peonage,  which  would  have  held  until  we  took 
it  from  Spain  and  rescued  it  from  its  horrible  condition. 

The  Chairman.  Further  clearing  up  matters  on  the  desk  here,  I 
have  a  letter  from  Rev.  U.  G.  Murphy,  of  Seattle,  dated  July  22, 
1921.  Mr.  Murphy  has  appeared  before  the  committee  a  number  of 
times.    He  says  in  his  letter : 

A  note  from  Hawaii  states  that  the  rehabilitation  bill  has  passed  and  that 
under  its  terms  only  citizens  may  be  emploj^ed  on  Government  work,  resulting 
in  the  discharge  of  5,000  Japanese  or  other  alien  workmen,  much  to  the  joy  of 
the  plantation  men  who  are  having  a  hard  time  to  secure  the  necessary  num- 
ber of  laborers.  I  did  not  know  that  this  bill  had  passed  the  Senate.  I  found 
in  Hawaii  that  there  was  much  opposition  to  it  by  men  not  connected  with  the 
plantations. 


630  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

That  is  the  first  information  I  have  had  as  to  the  number. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  that  connection,  I  wish  to  state  that  the  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Territories  advised  me  about  three  days  ago 
that  as  soon  as  that  bill  has  been  passed  it  will  relieve  at  least  10,000 
from  the  Government  employ. 

Mr.  Mead.  What  is  the  source  of  his  information  ? 

Mr.  Eaker.  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman,  I  have  here  the  report  of  the  legislative  committee 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  signed  by  W.  C.  Roberts,  E.  F. 
McGrady,  and  Edgar  Wallace,  from  which  I  read  as  follows : 

On  Thursday,  June  20,  Mr.  Kalanianaole,  Delegate  from  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii,  introduced  House  joint  resolution  158,  which  would  admit  to  the 
Territory  "  such  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible  "  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  to 
meet  the  "  emergency  existing  in  the  shortage  of  agricultural  labor."  This 
bill  was  defeated  July  7  in  the  Committee  on  Immigration  of  the  House.  Late 
the  same  day  the  Hawaiian  Delegate  presented  House  joint  resolution  171. 
Representative  Albert  Johnson,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Immigration, 
hurriedly  called  a  meeting  of  his  committee,  approved  the  bill,  and  it  was 
ordered  reported  to  the  House  the  following  day  with  the  recommendation  that 
it  should  pass. 

But  the  new  bill  went  much  further  than  the  defeated  joint  resolution.  It 
did  not  confine  the  occupation  of  Chinese  coolies  it  is  proposed  to  bring  into 
Hawaii  to  agriculture,  but  to  add  to  the  great  wrong  the  new  bill  provides 
that  for  a  period  of  five  years  from  its  passage  whenever  an  "  emergency " 
exists  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  by  reason  of  a  serious  shortage  of  labor 
"  either  general  or  by  any  particular  class  or  classes,"  Chinese  coolies  can  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  Territory. 

The  joint  resolution  as  printed  provides: 

"  That  such  admission  of  aliens  shall  operate  to  increase  the  number  of 
persons  of  any  one  alien  nationality  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  so  that  their 
total  numbers  at  any  one  time  shall  exceed  20  per  centum  of  the  total  popula- 
tion of  the  Territory  as  determined  by  the  last  census." 

To  be  just  in  our  report,  we  are  informed  that  there  was  an  omission  of 
the  word  "  not  "  between  "  shall  "  and  *'  exceed,"  and  that  it  was  a  typographical 
error  which  it  was  proposed  to  correct.  But  the  joint  resolution  does  provide 
for  20  per  cent.  The  census  of  1920  gives  the  popi^lation  of  Hawaii  as  255,912. 
Twenty  per  cent  of  this  would  be  51,182. 

Then,  they  say  that  House  joint  resolution  158  was  defeated  in  the 
Immigration  Committee  through  the  insistence  of  the  representatives 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  I  would  like  to  state  for  the 
record,  in  correction  of  that  statement,  that,  if  I  remember  correctly — 
and  our  records  will  show  the  facts — House  joint  resolution  158  was 
not  defeated,  but  House  joint  resolution  171  was  substituted  for  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  should  be  stated  in  that  connection,  and  we  will  try 
to  make  that  clear  in  the  brief  we  will  present,,  that  the  real  objections 
to  that  resolution  have  never  as  yet  been  presented  to  the  committee. 

The  Chairman.  We  want  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  One  of  the  objections  is  the  fact  that  we  would  make 
'of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  a  place  for  criminals.  In  other  words,  it 
■would  be  letting  down  the  bars  to  every  undesirable  criminal  class 
of  the  world  to  come  to  Hawaii  and  remain.  I  v/ant  to  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  committee  to  this  fact,  that  having  once  entered  the  islands 
they  are  then  on  American  soil,  and  without  passports  they  could 
come  directly  to  the  United  States. 

The  Chairman.  A  number  of  amendments  are  ready  to  be  offered, 
and  when  we  get  through  with  the  open  hearings  those  amendments 
will  be  presented  and  considered ;  but  until  we  have  come  to  a  con- 
clusion, which  will  take  some  time  probably  upon  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  matter,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  expend  that  labor. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  631 

Mr.  G.  W.  Wright  and  Mr.  W.  R.  Chilton  are  in  Washington,  hav- 
ing arrived  prior  to  July  27,  and  reported  to  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor.  To-day  they  are  before  us  to  make  a  report  on  the 
Hawaiian  situation.  Mr.  George  W.  Wright  is  the  president  of  the 
Honolulu  Central  Labor  Union,  or  was  on  June  26,  and  will  be  re- 
membered as  the  man  who  sent  the  cablegram  of  that  date  to  Mr. 
Edgar  C.  Wallace,  at  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  Building. 
The  cablegram  he  sent  is'  in  the  record  on  page  381,  part  of  the 
printed  record  of  these  hearings  (Serial  7 — Labor  Problems  in 
Hawaii.) 

STATEMENT  OF  ME.  GEOKGE  W.  WEIGHT,  HONOLULTJ,  PEESIBENT 
OF  THE  CENTEAL  LABOE  UNION  OF  HONOLULU. 

I   The  Chairman.  What  is  your  occupation? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  a  machinist  employed  at  the  Pearl  Harbor  Navy 
Yard. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  employed  with  the  Government? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  have  you  been  over  there? 

Mr.  Wright.  For  about  three  years. 

The  Chairman.  Where  did  you  go  from  over  there,  or  from  what 
part  of  continental  United  States? 

Mr.  Wright.  From  California. 

The  Chairman.  San  Francisco? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  I  have  been  in  Hawaii  about  four  years. 

Mr.  Raker.  Get  him  to  qualify,  Mr.  Chairman.  How  long  did 
you  live  in  California  before  you  went  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  For  about  four  years  in  California. 

Mr.  Raker.  From  where  did  you  go  to  California? 
P    Mr.  Wright.  I  lived  for  about  four  years  in  California  before  I 
went  to  Hawaii,  and  previous  to  my  residence  in  California  I  lived 
in  Nevada  for  about  three  years. 

Mr.  Raker.  Where? 

Mr.  Wright.  In  Tonopah,  Goldfield,  and  Reno. 

Mr.  Raker.  Before  going  to  Nevada,  where  were  you? 

Mr.  Wright.  Before  going  to  Nevada  I  ^as  in  California  for 
about  two  years.  Prior  to  that  my  life  was  spent  in  the  east.  I 
was  born  in  Ohio. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  part  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  Wright.  Chagrin  Falls. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  what  county  is  that?     That  is  my  State. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  it  is  in  Cuyahoga  County,  but  I  am  not  sure. 
We  removed  from  that  State  when  I  was  a  very  little  child  to 
Meadeville,  Pa.,  where  I  spent  most  of  my  youthful  days.  I  went 
to  school  and  college  there. 

Mr.  Cable.  To  what  college. 

Mr.  Wright.  Allegheny  College. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  organizations  do  you  represent  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Central  Labor  Union  of  Honolulu,  and  I  am 
also  the  president  of  the  Machinists'  Union,  Lodge  1245,  of  Honolulu. 

The  Chairman.  You  work  on  the  Pearl  Harbor  works? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 


632  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Where  is  Pearl  Harbor. 

Mr.  Wright.  Pearl  Harbor  is  located  about  fiA^e  or  six  miles  from 
Honolulu. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  membership  of  the  machinists'  union 
out  there? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  membership  of  the  machinists'  union  at  the 
i^resent  time  is  about  250  or  260. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  all  American  citizens? 

Mr.  Wright.  All  American  citizens,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  goes. 
They  are  not  all  white.  There  are  Chinese  or  part  Chinese  and 
]3art  Hawaiian  and  Portuguese.     We  have  no  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  Japanese  applications  for  mem- 
bership ? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  have  not  had  any  since  I  have  been  in  the  chair. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Are  there  any  Calif ornians  .in  the  union  ? 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  take  up  Calif  ornians  separately  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  As  a  separate  and  distinct  race? 

Mr.  Raker.  There  has  been  a  telegram  here 

The  Chairman  (interposing).  Wait  a  minute  before  going  into 
that.     You  are  president  of  the  Central  Labor  Union  of  Honolulu? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  That  comprises  20  or  30  locals,  I  believe? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  there  are  at  present  14  organizations  affili- 
ated with  it. 

The  Chairman.  Representing  a  membership  of  about  what? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know^  I  am  not  at  present  in  a  position  to 
know  the  exact  membership  of  the  different  organizations. 

The  Chairman.  Can  you  make  a  guess  as  to  the  total  represented 
membership  in  the  Central  Labor  Union  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  would  make  a  guess  that  it  was  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  1,200. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  all  American  citizens  in  those  unions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  So  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  they  are. 

The  Chairman.  There  are  no  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  of  any  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  What  I  am  trying  to  get  at  is  this :  Does  any 
union  there  take  in  nonassimilable  races  in  its  mem^bership  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  1  think  some  of  the  different  organizations  would 
if  they  had  occasion  to. 

The  Chairman.  Which  ones? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  anything  in  the  charters 
of  some  of  the  international  organizations  that  absolutely  forbids 
the  taking  in  of  aliens. 

The  Chairisean.  But  the  machinists'  union  does  not  do  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  We  have  no  Japanese  in  our  union. 

Mr.  Ali^as.  May  I  interject  an  explanation  there  respecting  the 
machinists? 

The  Chairman.  Certainly. 

Mr.  Alifas.  The  machinists'  union  is  supposed  not  to  take  in  any- 
one but  white,  sober,  industrious  machinists.  Those  are  the  quali- 
fications, and  the  yellow  race  is  supposed  to  be  of  a  different  color, 
and  therefore  they  would  not  be  eligible  under  our  constitution,  but 
under  our  obligation 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IJST    HAWAII.  633 

Mr.  Free.  What  is  the  fact?  They  must  have  known  them  at  the 
time  they  took  them  in. 

Mr.  xVi.iFAs.  The  facts  are  that,  according  to  our  constitution,  we 
have  the  right  to  take  in  anyone  who  is  working  at  the  machinists' 
trade,  but  the  obligation  that  our  members  take  prevents  them  from 
proposing  for  membership  any  other  than  a  white,  sober,  and  indus- 
trious machinist. 

Mr.  Raker.  First,  the  man  must  be  white  ? 

Mr.  Alifas.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And,  second,  he  must  be  sober  ? 

Mr.  Alifas.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  one  of  the  qualifications? 

Mr.  Alifas.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  third  is  that  he  must  be  industrious  ? 

Mr.  Alifas.  Yes,  sir;  and  those  are  three  good  qualifications,  I 
think. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Wright,  are  you  familiar  with  the  Japanese 
Labor  Federation  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  know  there  is  such  a  federation ;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Has  that  federation  made  application  to  be  taken 
into  the  membership  of  the  Central  Labor  Union  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  since  I  have  been  in  the  chair  as  president  of 
the  Central  Labor  Union.  I  believe  that  at  the  time  of  the  strike 
there  was  some  application;  but  I  do  not  know  how  far  it  went. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  had  you  been  in  the  chair? 

Mr.  Wright.  Since  about  the  1st  of  April  of  this  year. 

The  Chairman.  You  were  a  member  of  the  Central  Labor  Union 
prior  to  that? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  chosen  a  delegate  from  the  Machinists'  Union 
about  the  midde  of  1920,  or  about  August,  I  think,  of  1920. 

The  Chairman.  Since  your  membership  as  a  delegate  to  the  Cen- 
tral Labor  Union,  has  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  of  Hawaii, 
or  of  Honolulu,  or  of  any  particular  island,  applied  for  membership 
or  affiliation  in  the  Central  Labor  Union  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  has  not. 

The  Chairman.  Has  the  Filipino  Federation  of  Labor  made  any 
application  for  membership  in  the  Central  Labor  Union? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Filipino  labor  organization  has,  I  believe,  made 
application. 

The  Chairman.  Has  it  been  acted  on? 

Mr.  Wright,  Not  definitelj^ ;  that  is  to  say,  it  has  been  acted  upon 
locally,  and  the  application  has  been  approved. 

The  Chairman.  The  application  has  been  approved  by  whom? 

Mr.  Wright.  By  the  Central  Labor  Union  of  Honolulu. 

The  Chairman.  Of  which  you  are  the  president? 

Mr.  Wright.  Of  which  I  am  the  president. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  next  step  after  that  approval? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  next  step  is  to  refer  the  matter  to  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  It  has  been  so  referred,  and  is  in  their  hands 
at  the  present  time.  ^ 

The  Chairman.  With  your  indorsement  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  With  our  indorsement. 

The  Chairman.  And  your  personal  indorsement  as  well  ? 


■634  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IjST    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  my  personal  indorsement ;  no,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  What  are  your  views  on  the  matter? 

Mr.  Wright.  What  do  you  mean  by  "  personal  indorsement "  ? 
Do  you  mean  my  personal  opinion? 

The  Chairman.  You  are  the  president  of  the  Central  Labor  Union. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  the  president  of  the  Central  Labor  Union,  but 
I  was  not  president  at  the  time  this  application  was  made.  That  was 
just  before  I  came  into  office.*  Mr.  Tyson  was  then  the  president. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  personal  opinion? 

Mr.  Wright.  So  far  as  my  personal  opinion  is  concerned,  I  believe 
that  the  Filipino  labor  organization  should  be  affiliated. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  think  about  the  Japanese  federa- 
tion ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  another  question  entirely.  You  must  under- 
stand that  the  Filipinos  are  a  different  class  of  people.  The  Fili- 
pinos, while  they  are  not  full  citizens,  are  what  you  might  call  semi- 
citizens.  That  is  to  say,  they  are  inhabitants  of  a  possession  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  that  sense  they  are,  I  believe,  to  that  extent 
under  the  American  Flag. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  you  sent  this  telegram  dated  June  26  to  Mr. 
Edgar  C.  Wallace,  American  Federation  Building,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  reading  as  follows : 

Hawaii's  emergency  commission  misrepresenting  conditions.  Statistics  our 
possession  indicate  no  actual  labor  shortage  in  Territor5\  Unemployed  and 
casuals  in  excess  of  plantation  requirements.  Men  driven  from  plantations  by 
intolerable  conditions ;  mostly  still  available  if  paid  living  wage.  Varone, 
Philippine  Commissioner,  assured  planters  of  influx  of  Philipinos.  Cost  of 
living  here  still  near  peak.  No  labor  organization  has  indorsed  plan ;  central 
labor  and  affiliated  unions  all  vigorously  protest  scheme  direct  blow  American- 
ism program.  Condition  sugar  industry  due  previous  overproduction,  low  price, 
excessive  capitalization,  plantation  strike  and  gross  mismanagement.  Labor 
charges  planters  intentionally  limiting  production,  planning  artificial  unem- 
ployment in  campaign  lower  wages.  Employers  exerting  economic  pressure  on 
men  to  force  indorsement  planters  program.  Charge  of  Japanese  conspiracy 
control  industry  ridiculous  falsehood.  Japanese  here  striving  for  American 
ideals  and  standards.  Strike  purely  economic.  No  nationalistic  issues  in- 
volved. Additional  information  by  mail.  Furnish,  copies  this  message  Curry, 
Nolan,  Davis,  Baker,  and  all  internationals.  If  desired,  organized  labor  send 
committee  assist  in  fight.     Wire  instructions. 

Did  you  send  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  did. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  still  stand  by  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  With  the  exception  of  certain  points  that  I  have 
mentioned  in  a  message  to  Mr.  Wallace,  I  do. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  that  subsequent  telegram,  Mr.  Wallace? 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  haven't  it  with  me. 

The  Chairman.  Are  3^011  now  ready  to  present  it  to  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Wallace.  He  did  send  a  subsequent  telegram  which,  in  effect, 
does  modify  it  to  a  certain  degree. 

The  Chairman.  But  Mr.  Wallace  said  to  me  the  telegram  was 
falsely  sent ;  that  if  it  was  not  falsely  sent,  that  Mr.  Wright  had  been 
coerced  into  changing  his  view  and  sending  it,  and  he  thought  it 
better  not  to  send  it  to  the  committee.  We  are  now  without  the 
second  telegram,  so  we  are  depending  on  you  to  make  your  statement 
correcting  it. 


LABOR   rilOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  635 

Ml'.  Eaker.  I  would  sug<2:est,  Mr.  Wallace,  that  the  best  thing  for 
von  to  do  would  be  to  get  the  telegram  and  make  the  presentation. 

Mr.  Gompi:rs.  Would  it  not  be  well  to  permit  Mr.  Wright  to  tell 
his  story? 

Mr.  Raker.  He  is  going  to  do  that.  That  is  w^hat  the  chairman 
is  figuring  on. 

The  Chairman.  We  are  developing  this  question.  Here  is  a  tele- 
gram that  is  short,  with  straight,  clear-cut  sentences.  You  are  a 
newspaper  man,  are  you  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir.  I  have  done  a  little  bit  of  newspaper  work 
since  the  1st  of  April,  but  I  am  not  a  newspaper  man  by  profession. 

The  Chairman.  If  you  will,  just  go  ahead  and  give  us  your  views. 
The  committee  has  taken  that  and  placed  it  in  the  hearings  and  has 
held  extensive  hearings  on  that,  but  were  unable  to  obtain  from  Mr. 
Wallace  a  cop}^,  although  they  asked  for  it  prior  to  the  last  hearing. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Chairman,  in  order  to  be  perfectly  straight,  I 
v^ould  suggest  that  Mr.  Wallace  send  down  and  get  that  telegram. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  a  co|)y  of  it  here. 

The  Chairman.  It  would  simplify  things  very  much,  if  he  has  a 
copy,  to  let  us  have  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  the  second  telegram  go  in  and  then  he  can  ex- 
plain it. 

Mr,  Wright.  I  will  read  the  message  that  was  sent  on  July  4,  as  I 
have  confirmed  it  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wallace. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  now,  that  is  the  one  following  the  one  the  chair- 
man just  read,  is  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

'Mr.  Raker.  And  that  is  the  one  the  chairman  refers  to? 

Mr.  Wright.  No  ;  this  is  the  second  one  following. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  second  telegram  the  chairman  refers  to  as 
having  been  sent  to  Mr.  Wallace  from  Hawaii  to  Washington? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes.     It  is  as  follows: 

Letter  held  up  pending  conference  between  planters  and  union  committee. 
Temporary  labor  shortage  ex'sts  on  plantations.  Charge  of  intolerable  condi- 
tions and  deliberate  curtailment  of  present  producfon  not  sustained  by  subse- 
quent investigation.  Former  message  conveyed  sentiment  of  Central  Labor 
Union  and  stands  as  corrected. 

The  Chairman.  Has  it  got  your  signature? 

Mr.  Wright.  Signature  "  Wright." 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Wallace,  is  that  the  one  you  thought  was 
fraudulently  sent,  or  if  it  was  not  fraudulently  sent  that  Mr.  Wright 
had  been  coerced  and  intimidated? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Chairman,  when  I  received  that  message  and 
further  received  the  information  that  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
not  only  had  knowledge  of  the  message  being  sent  but  was  actually 
aware  of  the  contents 

The  Chairman.  Which  I  was  not. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  formed  the  opinion  that  either  the  message  was 
sent  without  Mr.  Wright's  knowledge  or  that  Mr.  Wright  had  been 
coerced. 

Mr.  Wright.  Which  I  state  was  a  very  natural  inference,  in  my 
opinion. 

The  Chairman.  You  sent  the  telegram? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  sent  the  telegram. 


636  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  You  made  the  modifications? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  made  the  modifications. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  result  of  your  observations? 

Mr.  Wright.  As  a  result  of  my  observation ;  yes. 

The  Chairman.  Were  you  coerced? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  not  coerced. 

The  Chairman.  Were  you  misinformed  in  the  first  place  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Let  me  clarify  the  situation  in  regard  to  this  original 
telegram.  You  people  probabl}^  think  that  telegram  is  an  expression 
of  my  individual  opinion.  Please  understand  that  it  was  a  telegram 
instructed  to  be  sent  by  the  central  labor  union  and  comprises  the 
sentiment  of  the  delegates  as  expressed  in  the  meeting  of  the  labor 
conference. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  arrive  at  those  sentiments  by  way  of 
resolutions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  arrived  at  those  sentiments  by  a  discussion 
and  followed  that  by  a  resolution. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  undertook  to  sense  in  this  telegram  both 
the  resolution  and  the  discussion.    Did  you  follow  the  resolution? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  followed  the  resolution. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  the  resolution? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Was  this  telegram  read  to  the  council  before  you 
sent  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  not  read  before  it  was  sent. 

Mr.  Cable.  Which  one  do  you  mean,  Judge? 

Mr.  Raker.  The  first  one. 

Mr.  Free,  Was  the  second  telegram  authorized  b}^  the  labor  con- 
ference ? 

Mr.  Wright,  The  second  telegram  was  my  telegram  to  Mr.  Wal- 
lace. I  believe  I  could  outline  the  developments  that  led  up  to  the 
sending  of  this  first  telegram  and  the  sending  of  the  second  cor- 
rective telegram. 

Mr.  Raker.  Refer  to  them  as  "  first "  and  "  second,"  and  then  we 
will  not  get  them  confused. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  presume  you  gentlemen  are  aware  of  the  develop- 
ments that  led  up  to  the  situation  as  you  have  been  informed  at  this 
end.  But  I  would  like  to  present  the  events  as  they  occurred  in 
Honolulu,  because  I  believe  that  certain  points  will  be  developed 
which  are  not  matters  of  knowdedge  to  you. 

The  Chairman.  Before  you  go  any  further  I  want  to  say  to  you 
that  we  are  going  to  take  a  lot  of  time,  with  what  you  are 'about  to 
present  and  we  wdll,  somewhere  along  further  in  the  hearings,  want 
the  best  views  3^ou  have  as  to  the  labor  situation  over  there,  the 
racial  situation — the  relations  of  the  plantations,  and  the  future  con- 
ditions of  the  islands  unless  some  changes  are  had.  I  other  words, 
you  are  fresh  from  the  ground,  and  we  have  all  the  time  necessary, 
so  take  j^our  time. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  have  plenty  of  time,  and 
I  do  not  like  to  feel  that  I  am  imposing  upon  you. 

The  Chairman.  The  weather  is  very  hot  and  the  legislative 
program  is  such  that  there  is  no  need  for  hurry,  and  the  members  of 
this  committee  are  of  a  class  that  do  not  want  to  run  home. 


LABOR   PT101UJ<:MS   TN    HAWAir.  G37 

Mr.  Wright.  About  tbe  middle  of  April  of  this  ,yeai.'  Mr.  E.  Faxon 
Bishop,  president  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 
approached  Mr.  McCarty,  Governor  of  the  Territory,  and  explained 
to  him  the  desire  of  the  sugar  planters  to  secure  Chinese  coolie  labor 
to  work  on  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Cabke.  I  do  not  w^ant  to  interrupt  you,  but  what  I  do  want 
you  to  state  is  to  indicate  clearl}^  what  parts  of  your  statement  are 
matters  of  personal  knowledge  and  what  are  not,  and  to  state  how 
you  obtained  the  information  which  is  not  a  part  of  your  personal 
knowledge. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  state  this  statement  was  made  by  Mr.  Bishop 
himself  to  a  commission  of  which  I  was  a  member  as  an  explanation 
of  how  this  originated. 

Mr.  Cable.  Will  3^011  follow  out  that  statement  as  to  what  you 
know  personally,  and  what  you  do  not  know  personally,  state  how 
you  got  your  information. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir ;  I  will  attempt  to  do  that. 

Mr.  Bishop  said  that  he  realized  the  difficulties  that  would  arise 
if  this  request  were  made  direct  by  the  planters  themselves,  as  he 
admitted  to  us,  so  he  made  use  of  the  executive  of  the  Territorial 
government  in  an  attempt  to  secure  legislation  that  would  make  the 
importation  of  Chinese  coolies  into  Hawaii  possible.  I  would  say 
probably  as  a  result  of  Mr.  Bishop's  representations  Gov.  McCarthy 
sent  a  special  message 

Mr.  Free  (interposing).  Pardon  me.  I  do  not  know  who  Mr. 
Bishop  is. 

Mr.  Wright.  Mr.  Bishop  is  president  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar 
Planters'  Association.  Gov.  McCarthy  sent  a  special  message  to  the 
Territorial  legislature  then  in  session  urging  the  passage  of  a  joint 
resolution  petitioning  Congress  to  enact  legislation  allowing  the  im-' 
portation  of  aliens,  including  orientals,  for  agricultural  and  domes- 
tic work. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  it  your  intent  to  convey  to  this  committee  that  the 
president  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Association  went  to  the  governor 
to  fi^et  this  matter  started? 

Mr.  Wright.  Absolutely.  That  is  the  explanation  that  Mr.  Bishop 
himself  gave  us  in  a  conference  at  which  I  was  present. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  instead  of  taking  it  up  themselves  per- 
sonally, they  started  through  the  governor  to  make  it  an  official  act  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  To  make  it  official,  because,  as  Mr.  Bishop  said,  he 
realized  that  it  would  be  objectionable,  there  would  be  objections  to 
it  if  it  w^as  started  by  the  sugar  planters  themselves  on  their  own 
initiative. 

A  bill  was  at  once  proposed,  by  a  man  of  the  name  of  Lyman,  I 
believe,  which  definitely  specified  either  25,000  or  30,000  Chinese. 
The  bill  was  at  once  withdrawn  when  it  was  found  that  the  papers 
had  featured  the  fact  that  a  definite  number  of  coolies  were  desired, 
placing  the  number  at  25,000  or  30,000,  for  it  was  realized  that  such 
a  bald  proposal  would  arouse  a  storm  of  opposition. 

Now,  I  will  state  in  explanation  of  that,  that  that  is  the  explana- 
tion that  Mr.  Bishop  and  Mr.  Butler,  of  the  Sugar  Planters'  Asso- 
ciation, gave  to  us  as  to  the  origin  of  this  popular  opinion  regarding 
the  number  of  Chinese  that  was  required. 


638  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Free.  This  bill  was  introduced  in  the  legislature  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes.  Whether  it  was  acted  upon  or  not  I  am  not  in 
position  to  say,  but  it  was  proposed  and  it  was  placed  on  the  press 
table  and  the  daily  papers  in  Honolulu  came  out  featuring  the  fact. 

Mr.  Free.  Was  that  a  request  to  the  United  States  Congress  to 
do  this,  or  what  was  the  nature  of  the  bill  that  was  introduced  into 
the  legislature? 

Mr.  Wright.  My  recollection  is  that  it  was  something  in  the  nature 
of  the  bill  that  was  finally  passed. 

Mr.  Free.  Passed  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes ;  passed  in  Hawaii  by  the  legislature.  It  also,  if 
I  remember,  made  use  of  the  humanitarian  sentiments  in  regard  to 
the  starving  Chinese  coolies ;  introducing  that  element  as  bearing 
on  the  situation;  you  understand? 

Mr.  Free.  Have  you  a  copy  of  the  bill  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  no  copy  of  it ;  no.  I  was  unable  to  iret  a  copv 
of  it. 

Mr.  Irwix.  I  understood  you  to  say  that  bill  was  introduced  by 
the  gentleman  subsequent  to  a  conference  with  the  governor? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  suppose  that  it  was  subsequent. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  that  bill  by  Mr.  L^'man  was  pend- 
ing m  conference  some  two  or  three  weeks  before  the  question  of 
labor  shortage  came  up? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  point  you  raise  I  do  not  know,  because  I  do  not 
know  the  date  of  the  conference  of  Mr.  Bishop  with  Mr.  McCarthy. 

Mr.  Irwin.  You  are  referring  to  the  conference  Mr.  Bishop  had 
NVith  the  President  of  the  Senate,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, and  the  governor? 

Mr.  Wright.  He  gave  us  no  dates  as  to  when  that  occurred.  If 
anyone  here  is  in  possession  of  that  data,  I  would  like  to  know. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  will  say  for  your  information  that  that  consultation 
was  held  the  day  before  the  special  message  was  sent.  It  wasn't  a 
consultation  between  Mr.  Bishop  and  the  governor.  It  was  a  consul- 
tation between  Mr.  Bishop  and  the  leading  business  men  and  the 
heads  of  the  Government  departments  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Was  this  resolution  Mr.  Wright  speaks  about, 
introduced  by  Mr.  Lvman  tv.  admit  30,000  Chinese  into  Hawaii, 
pending  before  this  conference  was  had? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes ;  some  week  or  10  days. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  was  a  resolution  to  ask  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  to  permit  the  entrance  of  30,000  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  there  was  a  conference  between  the  governor  and 
the  president  of  the  senate,  and  a  resolution  was  presented  to  the 
legislature  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  'No.    It  went  down  with  the  governor's  message. 

Mr,  Taylor.  What  was  the  explanation  of  the  resolution? 

Mr.  Irw^in.  It  was  entirely  an  act  of  Mr.  Lyman,  so  far  as  I  know. 

Mr.  Cable.  Can  you  teU  us  who  this  Mr.  Lyman  is  ?  What  is  his 
business  ?    Is  he  interested  in  sugar  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Mr.  Lyman  is  a  lawyer.  He  is  a  member  of  the  legis- 
ture.    He  is  from  Hilo. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  639 

Mr.  Cable.  Does  this  Mr.  Lyman  represent  Mr.  Bishop  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know.  I  do  not  say  that  any  one  repre- 
sented Mr.  Bishop.  They  are  supposed  to  represent  the  people  of  the 
Territory. 

]Mr.  Cable.  I  mean  outside  of  the  legislature.  Do  you  know 
whether  he  is  the  attorney  of  record,  or  anything  like  that?  Are 
they  in  the  same  city  or  the  same  island  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  are  not  in  the  same  city  and  not  on  the  same 
island.  The  island  of  Haw^aii  is  separated  from  Oahu  where 
Honolulu  is  situated. 

Mr.  Raker.  As  I  understand  you,  Mr.  Hindle  introduced  a  resolu- 
tion to  permit  30,000  Chinese  to  come  to  Hawaii,  and  this  Mr. 
Lyman's  resolution  was  carrying  out  that  same  idea. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  the  change  of  the  resolution  Avas  one 
asked  directly  for  Chinese,  and  the  other  one  after  this  consultation 
with  the  governor  resolved  into  a  message  by  the  governor  and  a 
resolution  by  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  that  has  been  presented  to 
this  committee  asking  that  the  immigration  laws  be  changed  so  that 
Hawaii  might  receive  labor. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  has  been  the  result. 

The  Chair]man.  I  might  say  the  redrafting  of  the  Hindle  resolu- 
tion was  done  in  conformity  with  a  letter  by  W.  B.  Wilson,  then  Sec- 
retjiry  of  Labor,  dated  February  26,  1918  (?),  follow^ing  one  of  the 
Hindle  bills  or  resolutions  introduced  by  request  of  the  Delegate, 
which  called  for  30,000  Chinese. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  one  of  the  resolutions  introduced  in  the 
Congress  at  Washington  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes.  That  is  the  last  one,  I  believe,  we  fussed 
with. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes.;  and  it  may  be  said  that  the  committee  was 
unanimously  adverse  to  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  resolution  which  3^011  are  all  familiar  with  was 
introduced  and  it  was  pushed  through  hurriedly  without  a  hearing. 
I  will  state  in  explanation  of  that,  it  has  been  customary  always  in 
our  legislature  to  give  public  hearings  on  all  matters  that  are  con- 
sidered of  general  importance.  We  had  just  come  through  a  rather 
serious  fight,  as  we  considered  it,  against  a  press  control  bill,  which 
we  believed  was  a  menace  to  our  interests,  and  we  had  public  hear- 
ings giving  us  every  consideration 

Mr.  Cable  (interposing).  That  was  before  a  committee? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  was  just  before  this  coolie  resolution  came  up, 
but  the  coolie  resolution  was  handled  differently.  It  was  pushed  by, 
and,  as  I  say,  it  was  pushed  through  without  opportunity  for  public 
hearings.  The  legislative  committee  of  the  central  labor  bodies, 
of  which  I  was  chairman  at  the  time — I  was  also  president  of  the 
council 

Mr.  Cable  (interposing).  Mr.  Wright,  how  long  was  it  between 
the  time  the  resolution  was  introduced  until  it  was  reported  out  by 
the  committee? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  (Mr.  Irwin  can  correct  me  if  I  am  Avrong)  it 
was  less  than  a  week. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  long  between  the  time  it  was  introduced  before 
it  was  passed  by  both  houses  and  signed  by  the  governor  ? 


640  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  all  within  a  week,  I  think. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  think  that  is  true.  It  was  all  near  the  end  of  the 
session,  I  think,  and  the  bill  was  introduced  the  last  week  of  the 
session,  and  had  to  go  through  then  or  not  at  all. 

The  legislative  committee  of  the  central  labor  body,  of  which  I 
was  chairman,  prepared  a  memorial  protesting  against  the  passage 
of  the  resolution,  but  the  member  of  the  house  who  was  to  have 
presented  it  was  denied  the  floor  on  a  parliamentary  point  of  order — 
a  motion  for  the  previous  question,  I  believe — and  we  were  unable  to 
get  our  protest  into  the  record.  This  protest  I  would  like  to  submit 
for  a  matter  of  record  to  the  committee. 

Mr.  Kaker.  Read  it.  That  is  the  one  the  labor  council  presented 
to  the  legislative  committee,  and  they  could  not  even  get  it  in  the 
record  or  get  a  hearing  on  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  read  it : 

Exhibit  A. 

To  THE  House  of  Representatives  : 

Referring  to  the  concurrent  resolution  authorizing  tlie  appointment  of  a  so- 
called  labor  commission  to  go  to  Washington  to  urge  the  necessity  of  importing 
Chinese  coolie  labor  into  the  Territory,  we  beg  to  present  the  protest  of  or- 
ganized labor  in  opposition  to  any  such  scheme. 

Our  opposition  is  based  upon  tlie  following  considerations : 

We  maintain  that  there  is  not  at  present  any  serious  shortage  in  the  avail- 
able supply  of  labor  in  the  Territory,  and  that  the  representations  of  the  sugar 
planters  to  that  eifect  are  false  and  misleading,  being  based  upon-  data  that 
does  not  cover  the  ground,  and  that  the  efforts  put  forth  in  behalf  of  this 
scheme  are  for  the  sinister  purpose  of  creating  an  oversupply  of  labor  with 
the  end  in  view  of  introducing  a  cheaper  substitute  for  the  present  labor  ele- 
ment and  thus  inevitably  lowering  the  present  standards  of  living  not  only 
among  the  Japanese  and  Filipinos  but  among  those  of  the  white  race  and  of 
American  nationality. 

The  whole  wage  system  of  any  community  is  based  upon  the  lowest  wages 
paid  to  unskilled  labor,  and  a  material  reduction  of  the  standards  of  those 
at  the  lowest  subsistence  level  must  affect  the.  entire  structure  of  our  social 
and  economic  life.  We  can  not  endure  to  have  a  virtual  system  of  peonage 
with  all  its  attendant  evils  introduced  into  an  already  complicated  situation. 

The  present  shortage  in  the  sugar  crop  is  not  due  to  the  lacl^:  of  labor,  but 
is  a  direct  result  of  the  strike  of  last  year,  which  affected  the  growing  crop 
and  reduced  the  production  for  the  present  year. 

We  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  under  the  organic  act  it  is  required 
that  an  industrial  survey  of  the  Territory  be  held  every  five  years,  and  we 
are  advised  that  1921  is  the  year  in  which  this  survey  falls  due.  Any  such 
action  as  the  legislature  contemplates  in  this  matter  should  be  deferred  until 
after  the  report  of  a  competent  and  impart 'al  commission,  such  as  would  be 
appointed  under  the  Federal  Department  of  Labor,  If  such  report  shows  the 
actual  shortage  of  labor  which  is  now  claimed,  then  it  will  be  time  to  think 
of  devising  some  adequate  and  satisfactory  remedy. 

To  send  this  commission  of  labor,  so-called,  to  Washington  at  this  time  as 
the  last  act  of  the  present  session  of  the  legislature  would  smell  too  strongly 
of  '*  undue  influence  "  and  would  bring  into  the  present  rather  strained  situa- 
tion another  element  of  suspicion  and  distrust.  W^e  state  frankly  that  or- 
ganized labor  will  resist  to  the  last  any  such  effort  aimed  at  creating  arti- 
ficial unemployment  in  the  Territory  by  flooding  the  plantations  with  a  horde 
of  coolies,  and  the  matter  will  be  taken  up  through  all  our  national  and  inter- 
national affiliated  organizations  and  an  effort  made  to  prevent  the  consumma- 
tion of  this  evil  design. 

Legislative  Committee  of  the  Central  Labor  Council, 
By  Geo.  W.  Wright,  Chairman. 

Mr.  Cable.  Were  you  there  at  this  meeting  ? 
Mr.  Wright.  At  what  meeting? 


I 


LABOE  PROBLEMS   IJN^   HAWAII.  641 


Mr.  Cable.  At  the  meeting  that  passed  this  resohition. 

Mr.  Wkight.  Understand  this  was  a  resolution  prepared  by  the 
legislative  committee  which  has  the  watching  of  the  laws,  just  as 
legislative  committees  of  organizations  here  at  Washington  keep 
watch  of  laws  passed  by  Congress,  and  I  happened  to  be  chairman  of 
that  committee. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  many  were  on  the  committee,  Mr.  Wright  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  were  three  on  the  committee. 

Mr.  Cable.  Two  besides  yourself? 

Mr.  Wright.  Two  besides  myself. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  you  drew  that  up  and  wanted  to  get  it  in  the 
record  and  were  not  able  to  do  so  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  handed  it  to  Representative  Uluihi. 

Mr.  Cable.  Had  you  prior  to  that  time  had  any  meeting  of  the 
Council  to  authorize  you 

Mr.  Wright.  We  had  no  time.  This  matter  was  being  pushed 
through,  so  that  when  it  came  to  our  attention  there  was  no  time 
to  call  a  special  meeting  for  the  special  purpose  of  considering  it. 
I  will  state  that  it  had  been  discussed  in  the  meeting  of  my  own 
organization,  the  machinists,  which  happened  to  have  met  just  about 
this  time,  but  the  meetings  of  the  labor  council  of  the  Central  Labor 
Unions  are  two  weeks  apart,  and  during  the  period  between  meetings 
various  committees  are  empowered  and  authorized  to  handle  such 
emergency  work  as  comes  up. 

Mr.  Cable.  Who  were  the  other  two  men  and  whom  did  they  repre- 
sent ?     Can  you  put  that  into  the  record,  too  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  C.  L.  Wilson,  of  the  Painters'  Union,  and  Estelle 
Baker,  of  the  Teachers'  Union. 

Mr.  Free.  Are  the  school-teachers  organized  into  a  union  in 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes ;  the  school-teachers  have  a  little  organization. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  all  of  the  teachers  belong,  or  just  some  of  them? 

Mr.  Wright.  No  ;  not  all  the  teachers. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Very  few  of  the  teachers,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  belong  to 
that  union — that  is,  of  the  public-school  teachers.  I  do  not  know 
the  number  at  all. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  this  man  a  teacher  himself? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  a  woman. 

Mr.  Cable.  Oh,  pardon  me.     Is  she  a  teacher? 

Mr.  Wright.  She  is  a  teacher,  but  she  is  a  teacher  mostly  in  kin- 
dergarten and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  private  tutelages. 

Mr.  Irwin.  She  is  not  employed  in  the  public  schools  at  the  present 
time? 

Mr.  Wright.  She  is  not  employed  in  the  public  schools  at  the 
present  time. 

Mr.  Irwin.  How  long  before  the  legislature  adjourned  was  this 
resolution  attempted  to  be  presented  to  the  legislature — I  mean  ap- 
proximately ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  it  was  about  five  or  six  days  before  the  legis- 
lature adjourned. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  intend  to  convey  to  the  committee  that  this 
resolution  which  followed  the  conference  of  the  governor  and  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  that 
56754^21— SEE  7,  pt  2—7 


642  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

3^011  people  were  not  driven  an  opportunity  to  present  any  of  these 
facts  to  the  committee  at  all  'i 

Mr.  "W RIGHT.  We  were  not. 

Ml".  Kaker.  You  were  not  entitled  to  be  hearer? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  figured  we  were  entitled  to  be  heard. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  mean  you  were  not  heard. 

Mr.  Wright.  We  w^ere  not  heard. 

Mr.  Eaker.  You  were  not  given  an  opportunity  and  they  Avould 
not  even  let  you  put  it  in  the  record  ?    Is  that  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  explain  :  The  thing  was  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
committee  practical)}^  before  we  had  this  prepared  and  an  attempt 
was  made  to  introduce  it  on  the  floor  but  Mr.  Uluihi,  who  was  to 
present  it,  was  unable  to  get  the  floor — Avas  denied  the  floor,  as  he 
states  to  me,  on  motion  of  a  previous  question,  and  the  report  of  the 
committee  was  adopted  without  him  having  an  opportunity  to  file 
that  protest. 

Mr.  Eaker.  State  whether  or  not  it  was  clearly  ])resented  to  that 
legislature  that  this  method  would  be  virtual  system  of  peonage  if 
it  was  carried  out? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  not.  It  was  not  presented  to  my  knowledge. 
If  any  one  here  has  a  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the  House  and. 
Senate — if  that  is  on  file  in  Washington,  that  point  could  be  looked! 
up.  I  was  unable  to  get  a  copy  of  those  before  I  came  away  because 
they  had  not  been  completed.  : 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Wright,  was  this  resolution  published  in  the  newsn 
papers  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  This  resolution  was  published  in  our  own  paper. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  do  you  mean  b}^  your  own  paper? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  a  little  weekly  paper  that  the  labor  organiza- 
tions get  out. 

Mr.  Cable.  Was  that  published  before  they  voted  on  the  question  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  would  not  be  positive  as  to  that ;  no. 

Mr.  Cable.  Did  you  serve  a  copy  on  every  member  in  the  legis- 
lature ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No.    The  thing  was  finished  right  there. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Mr.  Wright,  the  legislation  went  through  both  housei 
of  the  legislature  in  regular  order — had  to  go  through  in  regulai 
order,  did  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Irw^in.  It  was  referred  to  a  committee  in  the  senate  and  in  th^ 
house  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  This  was  introduced  in  the  senate. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  say,  it  had  to  go  through  the  senate  and  had  to  gc 
through  the  house,  and  had  to  go  before  a  committee  of  each  body 
and  you  had  an  opportunity  to  appear  before  each  one  of  those  com- 
mittees, did  3^ou  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Why  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  had  no  opportunit}^,  because  we  had  no  notice.  ,, 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  matter  was  published  in  the  daily  papers  there 
was  it  not,  right  along? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  believe  it  was  two  days  after  it  was  pub- 
lished in  the  paper  before  that  matter  was 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  643 

Mr.  ImviN  (interposing).  Don't  you  know  tluit  that  is  impossible 
under  the  law?  Do  you  not  know  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  bill  to  go 
through  both  houses  in  less  than  five  days? 

My.  Wkight.  1  do  not  say  less  than  five  days  that  it  Avent  througli. 
I  say  after  it  came  to  our  attention. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Do  .you  not  know  that  the  conference  that  was  held  in 
the  governor's  office  was  given  publicit}^  that  ver}^  day  ? 

jMr.  Wright.  That  conference  and  the  governor's  message  were 
given  publicity :  3^es. 

Mr.  Iravin.  On  the  very  day  the  conference  Avas  held  and  the  daily 
neAvspapers  published  every  step  of  that  proceeding  day  after  day, 
did  they  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Iravin.  So  that  if  you  Avere  reading  the  neAvspapers,  a^ou  and 
everybody  else  kneAV  Avhat  Avas  going  on,  and  you  had  your  oppor- 
tunity to  appear  before  those  committees  if  you  had  Avanted  to  do  so, 
did  you  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  it  ma}^  be  possible  that  Ave  Avere  in  a  sense  in 
error  in  not  taking  the  matter  up  Avith  those  committees  at  once,  but 
I  Avill  state  that  Ave  neA^er  anticipated  that  the  matter  would  be 
rushed  through  so  quick,  and  Avhen  the  thing  finally  came  to  a  shoAV- 
doAvn  Ave  had  our  protest  ready,  and  then  we  Avere  unable  to  get  it 
on  the  floor. 

Mr.  Iravin.  Do  you  knoAv  Avhether  the  man  Avho  Avas  to  ]>resent  the 
protest  A^oted  against  the  bill  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes ;  he  voted  against  it. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Are  3^ou  sure  of  that?  You  say  that  advisedly  that  he 
A'Oted  against  it? 

Mr.  AYright.  I  haA^e  not  seen  the  official  records  as  printed  in  the 
Plouse  Journal,  but  I  knoAv  the  man,  and  I  am  personally  positiA^e 
that  he  voted  against  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Wright,  Mr.  Weeber  has  giA^en  me  tliese  facts.  I 
Avant  to  ask  you  if  3^011  think  they  are  correct  according  to  your 
record :  That  the  governor  sent  the  message  to  the  legislature  on 
the  20th  of  April,  1921,  and  this  bill  accompanied  the  message — that 
Avas  on  the  13th — and  they  went  to  the  Senate  first,  and  it  Avas  passed 
by  the  Senate  and  then  went  to  the  House  and  was  passed  by  the 
House  on  the  26th  of  April,  and  Avas  signed  by  the  goA^ernor  on  the 
29th  of  April? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  a  matter  of  record? 

Mr.  Cable.  No  ;  that  is  Avhat  Mr.  Weeber  here  has  just  given  me — • 
these  dates,  and  I  want  to  know  if  you  can  confirm  them  or  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  can  not  confirm  them  from  any  records,  but  if  he 
has  the  records,  they  are  probablj^  correct.  But  I  do  not  dispute 
that. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  statement ;  that  the  goA^ernor  sent  a 
message  to  the  legislature  accompanied  b}^  the  form  of  bills  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  What  date? 

Mr.  Cable.  Twentieth  of  April  of  this  year. 

Mr.  Wright,  when  did  3^011  and  your  committee  begin  to  take 
action  against  this  proposed  legislation?  Can  you  giA^e  us  the  date 
of  that? 


644  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IX    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  can  not  give  you  the  date ;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  woras,  I  want  to  find  out  whether  it  had 
passed  the  Senate  before  you  asked  for  a  hearing,  or  if  it  had  passed 
the  House,  or  after  it  had  gone  before  you  asked  to  be  heard  on  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  Xo  ;  I  can  not  answer  that  definitely ;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  Can  you  give  us  an  idea?  In  other  words,  did  you 
apply  to  the  Senate  coininittee  to  be  heard  on  the  bill  before  it  was 
passed  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  !N'o  ;  we  did  not. 

Mr.  Cable.  Did  you  apply  to  the  House  committee  to  be  heard  on 
the  bill  before  it  was  out  of  the  committee? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  did  not  apply  personally.  We  turned  the  mat- 
ter over  to  this  representative.  iJluihi,  of  whom  I  speak. 

Mr.  Cable.  Where  did  you  begin  on  your  personal  actions?  Was 
it  out  of  the  committee  or  in  the  Housel 

Mr.  Wright.  My  own  personal  actions  were  taken  just  about  the 
time  that  it  came  out  of  the  House  committee. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  know  this  committee  wants  to  find  out  whether 
these  two  committees  refused  you  the  right  to  be  heard  on  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  No ;  I  do  not  want  to  carry  that  impression  at  all. 
We  were  not  refused  a  hearing.  As  I  stated  at  first,  we  were  so 
busily  engaged  on  this  press  bill  matter  that  we  perhaps  were  cul- 
pable, as  I  stated  a  moment  ago,  in  not  taking  more  active  and  vigor- 
ous measures  to  get  our  position  before  the  committee,  but  we  had  no 
idea  so  important  legislation  would  go  through  so  quickly. 

Mr.  Cable.  Can  you  tell  me  the  elate  that  the  legislature  ad- 
journed? 

Mr.  Wright.  You  can  get  it  from  those  figures  there. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Weeber  says  that  it  adjourned  on  the  28th  of 
April. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  the  governor  sign  it  after  it  adjourned? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Eaker.  While  you  were  out,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  witness  read 
this  for  the  record,  and  may  it  be  presented  to  the  record?  It  is 
a  statement  of  resohitions  addressed  to  the  Hawaiian  Legislature. 

The  Chairmax.  Let  it  remain  in. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  from  the  very  first 
we  insisted  upon  the  need  of  a  Federal  survey  to  determine  actual 
conditions.  We  took  the  matter  up  with  the  Department  of  Labor 
and  were  informed  by  Mr.  Davis  that  there  was  no  appropriation 
available  for  carrying  out  the  intention  of  the  organic  act. 

The  Hawaiian  Legislature,  above  referred  to,  created  what  was 
known  as  an  emergency  labor  commission,  consisting  of  three  mem- 
bers appointed  by  the  governor,  and  these  men  were  appointed  to 
come  to  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  urging  upon  Congress  the 
necessity  of  importing  Chinese  coolies  into  the  Territory  for  work 
on  the  plantations.    I  will  state  that  was  the  way  it  was  presented. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  asked  that  question  of  one  witness  here,  if  this  reso- 
lution was  not  intended  to  import  Chinese  it  was  covered  up  in  a 
maze  of  words  and  was  criticized  very  severely  by  the  committee 
for  intimating  such  a  thing.  Now,  why  do  you  say  all  the  time  this 
was  a  resolution  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  over  Chinese? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  say  it  because  we  had  been  warned  last  fall  that  the 
attempt  was  to  be  made. 


p 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HA  WAIL  '  645 


Mr.  Rakek.  How  were  you  warned?     Who  warned  you? 

]Mr.  Weight.  That  is  something  I  do  not  know,  but  Mr.  Tyson, 
our  business  representative  had  some  kind  of  "tip  "  to  that  effect,  and 
I  believe  communicated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
Has  there  been  a  letter  on  file  from  Mr.  Tyson  ? 

The  Chairman.  If  I  remember  correctly  in  the  hearings  that  have 
been  held  to  date,  Tyson's  letter  is  used  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  the 
labor  paper. 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  I  know  Mr.  Tyson  never  wrote  an}^  communication 
to  the  labor  paper  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Do  you  refer  to  the  communication  to  the  American 
Federationist?  There  also  appeared  one  article  in  the  American 
Advertiser,  and  I  think  it  failed  to  find  publication. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  resolution  does  not  say  a  word  about  the  Chinese. 
, .Where  do  you  get  the  Chinese  part  of  it  ? 

f  Mr.  Free.  In  justice  to  the  Avitness,  I  suggest  he  Avould  do  better 
to  get  in  his  statement  in  chronological  order.  He  is  getting  in 
about  2  Avords  of  his  statement  and  40  lines  of  cross-examination.. 

The  Chairman.  Without  objection,  he  will  proceed. 

Mr.  Wright.  Now,  these  men  who  were  appointed  had  very  little 
personal  knowledge  of  the  situation,  Avith  the  exception  of  Mr. 
Horner,  Avho  was  a  sugar  expert.  I  will  state  that  that  is  the  state- 
ment they  made  to  us  before  their  departure  for  Washington,  that 
personally  they  realized  their  responsibility  and  depended  for  their 
information  on  outside  sources  Avhich  Avould  be  supplied  to  them. 

Just  prior  to  their  departure  for  Washington  they  requested  a  con- 
ference with  representatives  of  labor.  This  meeting  was  arranged 
for  Saturday  evening,  April  30,  1921,  and  a  general  summary  of 
what  took  place  was  presented  in  the  Labor  Re^dew  of  May  10,  and 
Avhich  I  can  submit  as  a  matter  of  record  if  you  Avish  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Read  it.    That  is  Avhat  Ave  want. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  an  outline  of  the  discussion  that  took  place  be- 
tween delegates  of  the  central  labor  council,  who  Avere  asked  to 
meet  Avith  the  emergency  commissioners  before  their  departure  for 
Washington.  I  Avill  state  that  this  Avas  not  printed  until  May  10. 
It  Avas  withheld  from  publication  because  we  felt  that  the  commis- 
sioners Avould  consider  it  confidential,  and  we  did  not  Avant  to  be  the 
first  ones  to  make  a  public  statement,  but  garbled  accounts  were 
printed  in  the  Honolulu  Advertiser  immediately  after  the  gentle- 
men's departure  for  Washington — I  belicA^e  it  was  on  Monday  morn- 
ing— and  as  a  result  of  that  Ave  printed  what  we  considered  an  abso- 
lutely impartial  and  correct  statement  of  what  took  place  at  that 
conference. 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  you  printed  the  Honolulu  Cen- 
tral Labor  Union's  vicAvpoint  of  the  conference — their  opinion? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  printed  the  actual  facts  as 

The  Chairman.  The  actual  facts,  if  they  Avere  in  dispute.  You 
presented  your  side,  and  Ave  haA'e  no  objection  at  all  to  it  being  placed 
in  the  record ;  it  is  understood  it  is  your  presentation. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  Avould  be  your  natural  inference  that  it  was 
our  point  of  Adew. 

The  Chair]\[an.  Mr.  Wright,  who  Avrote  this  report  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  Avas  Avritten  mostly  bv  me. 


646  ,  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HxVWAIL 

The  Chaii{:max.  Certainly.  (lO  aliead  and  read  it.  The  other  side 
Avill  have  an  opportunity  to  present  their  views.  The  other  side 
fomes  here  as  a  commission^  and  although  their  personal  integrity 
has  been  assailed,  and  their  present  relations,  I  think  we  might  all 
concede  right  now  that  the  main  industry  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  is 
sugar.  It  is  the  basic  industry*  and  we  w^ill  assume  a  commission 
sent  here  b}^  the  legislature  will  undertake  to  present  the  facts  as 
near  as  it  can.  Now,  here  comes  a  delegation  from  a  labor  council, 
and  the}^  have  their  viev/s,  which  they  think  is  as  near  the  actual 
facts  as  can  be  stated. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  ought  to  l)e  said  in  justification  of  the  labor  council 
and  labor  men  that  they  were  not  given  an  opportunity  to  be  heard 
on  this  resolution  that  y/as  passed  through  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii 
in  the  interests  of  the  sugar  people. 

The  Chaieman.  I  do  not  think  that  the  record  taken  here  this 
morning  assails  that. 

Mr.  RakePv.  It  intimates  it. 

Mr.  WpvTght.  I  will  read  the  article : 

Exhibit  B. 

Inside  Stoey  of  Labor  Conference. 

delegates  from  central  labor  council  asked  to  meet  with  emergency  com- 
missioners before  departure  for  washington. 

Owing  to  the  misleading-  impression  given  by  the  articles  and  editorials 
appearing  in  certain  of  the  daily  papers  regarding  the  attitude  of  organized 
labor  toward  the  scheme  proposed  by  the  governor  and  legislature  for  importing 
orientals  into  the  Territory  to  relieve  a  supposed  "labor  shortage,"  it  has  been 
decided  to  make  public  through  the  medium  of  the  Labor  Review  the  actual 
facts  in  connection  with  the  conference  between  the  emergency  labor  commis- 
sion and  the  committee  of  seven  from  the  Central  Labor  Council  held  at  the 
Conunercial  Club  on  Saturday  evening,  April  30,  1921. 

DTLLTNGITA:.!    seeks   INTERVIEW. 

On  Saturday  afternoon  between  12  and  1  o'clock  Mr.  Dillingham  called  up 
the  president  of  the  Centi-al  Labor  Council  and  requested  a  personal  interview. 
It  was  suggested  that  if  the  intention  was  to  discuss  the  proposed  action  of 
the  commissioners  more  satisfactory  results  could  be  secured  by  meeting  with 
a  representative  committee  from  the  comicil.  This  was  agreed  to  and  arrange- 
ments made  for  a  conference  at  7.30  p.  m.  at  the  rooms  of  the  Commercial  Club, 
on   Bethel   Street. 

During  the  afternoon  an  emergency  committee  was  called  together  by  the 
president  of  the  council,  consisting  i)f  INIessrs.  Wright,  Pascoe,  Atkins.  Muller, 
McVeigh,  Figuerelo,  and  Mrs.  Estelle  Baker.  This  committee  met  with  the 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  governor,  jNIessrs.  Dillingham,  Chillingworth, 
and  Horner,  and  entered  into  a  discussion  of  the  labor  situation. 

HARMONY    PREVAILS. 

The  general  tone  of  the  conference  has  been  misrepresented  in  the  daily  press 
of  the  city  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  the  public  to  believe  that  the  representa- 
tives of  organized  laboi'  were  in  accord  ^^■ith  the  scheme  which  the  commission  is 
trying  to  put  acr<iss.  Such  was  not  the  case.  The  committee  was  unanimous 
in  condemning  it,  and  although  the  discussion  was  courteous  and  conservative 
in  tone  and  lasted  from  7.30  to  11  p.  m.  absolutely  no  points  of  agreement 
were  reached,  except  the  generally  understood  desire  to  promote  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  Territory.  The  views  of  the  commission  and  of  the  committee 
from  the  council  were  ^^'idely  divergent  as  to  the  actual  situation  itself,  the 
causes  that  underly  the  ju-esent  conditions,  and  the  remedies  proposed.     There 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAIL  647 

was  nj^rtHMiioiit  as  to  llie  <l('sii'M])ility  oT  inaiiilainin,^'  iiiduslrial  in-()si>crit:y  nnd 
Amoricaii  standards  of  living,  but  liore  asain  it  was  ovi(1(4it  tliat  there  existed 
a  dilference  of  oi)iiiioii  as  to  what  these  terms  really  mcnn  and  as  to  the  best 
methods  of  bringinj;-  tJieni  about. 

LACK    OF    DATA    ADMITTED. 

The  coriiniission  admitted  their  lack  of  data,  except  that  furnislied  to  Mr. 
Horner  by  the  i)]antations,  and  this  was  brushed  aside  by  the  labor  repre- 
sentatives as  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  sugar  planters.  The  many  sins  of  the 
planters  in  the  past  were  cited  as  affording-  just  grounds  for  the  distrust  and 
suspicion  with  which  the  sugar  interests  were  regarded  by  organized  labor  in 
the  Territory,  and  the  good  faith  of  the  instigators  of  the  present  mo^•ement  to 
import  laborers  was  seriously  questioned. 

The  only  statistical  facts  accepted  by  the  committee  were  those  offered  by 
Mr.  Horner  showing  a  sugar,  shortage  of  from  20  per  cent  to  40  per  cent  on 
the  various  plantations  as  compared  with  the  output  of  previous  years.  Even 
the  members  of  the  emergency  commission  disagreed  among  themselves  as  to 
the  actual  cause  of  this  shortage.  Mr.  Horner  afhrming  that  it  was  due  pri- 
marily to  an  actual  shortage  of  laborers,  while  the  other  members  of  the  com- 
mission were  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  largely  due  to  a  lowered  efhciency  on 
the  part  of  the  .Japanese  laborers.  Mr.  Dillingham  and  Mr.  Chillingworth  were 
[)bliged  to  admit  their  lack  of  personal  knowledge  on  tliis  matter. 

APPEAL    TO    PvACE    PREJUDICE. 

At  this  point  considerable  time  was  wasted  trying  to  develop  a  nationalistic 
md  racial  sentiment  to  cloud  the  issue,  but  the  committee  from  the  council 
insisted  that  inasmuch  as  the  subject  had  been  presented  as  an  economic  one 
it  must  be  discussed  in  that  light.  However,  if  the  issue  of  "  Americanization  " 
ivere  to  be  injected  into  the  conference,  the  committee  declared  that  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  American  standards,  politically,  socially,  and  industrially,  pre- 
cluded the  possibility  of  importing  starving  coolies  to  work  under  a  virtual 
system  of  peonage.  To  do  this,  it  was  asserted,  would  be  to  still  further 
'  orientalize  "  the  industry,  for  the  Japanese  and  Filipinos  w^ho  are  at  present 
employed  in  this  kind  of  work  are  at  least  partly  Americanized,  a  statement 
kvhich  was  not  denied. 

Mr.  Dillingham  disclaimed  any  desire  to  bring  in  Chinese  laborers,  but  stated 
:hat  he  could  see  no  other  alternative.  Mr.  Chillingworth  denied  that  the 
governor's  message  and  the  concurrent  resolution  contemplated  such  a  step,  and 
stated  that  the  representations  to  that  effect  in  the  papers  and  the  general 
mpression  prevailing  in  the  community  was  due  to  a  misunderstanding. 

M'HO    SPILLED    THE    BEANS? 

This  statement  created  some  amusement  among  the  members  of  the  com- 
nittee,  and  it  was  brought  out  that  the  report  originated  in  the  action  of  sonify 
)ver-zealous  senator  in  introducing  a  resolution  which  definitely  specified 
J5,000  Chinese  laborers.  The  imprudent  one  was  promptly  subdued,  according 
;o  report,  and  the  resolution  discarded  for  the  one  which  called  for  an  indefinite 
lumber  of  agricultural  laborers,  but  the  cat  was  out  of  the  bag  and  the  beans 
spilled,  so  to  speak,  and  the  real  intention  of  the  .scheme  became  manifest  to 
he  public. 

W^HY   NOT   WHITE  LABOR? 

The  commission  was  asked  why,  if  it  laid  so  much  stress  upon  the  Americaniza- 
;ion  of  the  industry,  it  did  not  recommend  the  employment  of  some  of  the  sur- 
)lus  labor  from  the  States,  where  it  is  generally  understood  that  in  the  neighbor- 
lood  of  5,000,000  men  are  at  present  unemployed.  The  general  superiority  and 
ifhciency  of  white  labor  was  admitted,  but  the  commission  claimed  that  since 
;he  price  of  raw  sugar  is  fixed  by  Cuba,  it  would  be  impossible  to  pay  a  wage 
hat  a  white  man  could  live  on.  One  of  the  delegates  from  the  labor  council 
)ointed  out  to  the  commission  the  unnecessarily  high  cost  of  living  in  Hawaii 
md  argued  that  if  local  profiteering  were  eliminated  and  some  of  the  excess 
)rofits  sacrificed,  the  plantations  could  easily  afford  to  pay  a  wage  that  would 
conform  to  the  American  standards.  Such  a  course  would  relieve  the  situation 
ocally,  it  was  pointed  out,  as  well  as  afford  relief  to  a  number  of  our  own 


648  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

unemployed  and  add  a  desirable  element  to  the  population.  It  >YOuld  take  time 
and  involve  some  sacrifices  from  the  industry,  but  it  would  be  an  intelligent 
attempt  to  solve  the  problem  and  would  be  justified  from  the  point  of  view  of 
permanent  economic  progress. 

The  point  raised  by  the  commission  that  such  a  supply  would  not  be  perma- 
nent and  would  last  only  until  the  new  laborers  could  work  up  to  better  posi- 
tions, and  thus  leave  the  fields  again  short,  was  answered  by  the  committee, 
which  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  same  thing  had  happened  with  the 
Japanese,  Filipinos,  Chinese,  and  Portuguese  formerly  imported  for  such  w^ork, 
and  would  necessarily  be  true  of  any  class  of  labor  brought  under  American  con- 
ditions of  employment.  The  renewal  of  the  supply  of  common  laborers  was  said 
by  one  of  the  delegates  to  be  the  fundamental  problem  of  modern  economics,  and 
one  that  could  not  be  solved  offhand  by  turning  back  the  clock  to  the  days  of 
chattel  slavery.  If  a  horde  of  Chinese  coolies  are  imported  now  it  will  only  be 
a  temporary  relief,  and  the  effects  will  be  disastrous  in  the  long  run,  for  unless 
they  are  held  in  bondage  they  Mdll  work  themselves  up  exactly  as  the  others- 
have  done  and  eventually  crowd  out  those  at  the  top  by  the  constant  upward 
pressure  of  the  forces  which  they  represent. 

SLAVERY    OR    PEONAGE? 

Mr.  Dillingham  claimed  that  the  planters  would  give  a  guarantee  that  im- 
ported laborers  would  be  used  only  in  the  low^er  grade  of  agricultural  work^ 
but  he  was  sharply  taken  up  on  this  point  with  the  statement  that  the  planters 
were  not  able  to  give  any  kind  of  a  guarantee  which  could  be  accepted  by 
labor  or  enforced  after  it  was  given.  The  legality  of  such  contract  was  ques- 
tioned and  the  whole  proceeding  characterized  as  an  attempt  to  introduce 
virtual  slavery  into  Hawaii.  The  technical  point  was  raised  as  to  whether 
it  could  be  called  slavery  or  peonage,  but  it  was  clearly  shown  that  it  would 
be  in  absolute  violation  of  the  present  immigration  laws.  This  fact  INIr. 
Chillingworth  admitted. 

SENATE    ACTION     SCORED. 

The  discussion  worked  around  in  a  circle  to  points  previously  touched  upon,, 
and  when  asked  why  the  action  of  the  legislature  in  the  present  emergency  was 
regarded  with  so  much  suspicion  by  the  representatives  of  labor,  the  answer 
was  made  by  the  committee  that  the  supposition  of  ulterior  motives  was  amply 
justified  by  the  manner  in  which  the  scheme  was  railroaded  through,  and  this 
view  was  supported  by  the  previous  attitude  of  the  senate  in  regard  to  all  the| 
labor  legislation  that  had  been  proposed.     Caustic  comment  was  freely  made 
by  members  of  the  committee  on  the  action  of  the  senate  in  killing  every  con- 
structive measure  which  had  the  backing  of  the  Central  Labor  Council.     The 
workmen's  compensation  law  and  the  measure  to  require  pure  drinking  water  [ 
were  cited  as  examples  of  senate  action  which  was  regarded  by  the  workers  as 
directly  opposed  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Territory,  and  the  question  was 
asked  in  effect,  "  How  can  you  expect  us  to  regard  your  actions  in  any  other 
light  when  your  conduct  has  been  unfriendly  and  antagonistic  from  the  start?! 
You  ask  for  our  cooperation  and  talk  about  working  together  for  the  good  of  i 
the  Territory;   you  will  have  to  show  us  first  that  you   are  sincere   in  your 
protestations  and  do  a  little  cooperating  yourselves.     So  far,  your  actions  have 
spoken  louder  than  words,  and  they  have  condemned  you !  " 

WOULD   CREATE  ARTIFICIAL  UNEMPLOYMENT. 

One  of  the  chief  objections  of  the  labor  delegates  to  the  proposed  scheme  was 
that  it  was  seemingly  a  deliberate  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  plantation  inter- 
ests to  lower  wages  in  the  Territory  before  the  cost  of  living  had  been  reduced 
to  a  point  where  the  worker  could  live  on  less  money.  It  was  shown  that  the 
imported  orientals  from  China  would  be  willing  to  work  for  practically  nothing 
if  assured  of  food  and  shelter  and  would  thus  displace  a  large  number  of  Japa- 
nese and  Filipinos  from  the  plantations.  Many  of  these  men  would  be  skilled 
or  semiskilled  in  some  of  the  mechanical  trades  and  would  drift  to  the  cities, 
where  they  would  be  forced  by  necessity  to  compete  with  the  men  who  are  at 
present  holding  these  jobs.  The  result  would  be  that  each  trade  and  craft 
would  find  itself  with  an  oversupply  of  available  labor  and  in  the  end  the  highest 
class  of  workers,  lowering  the  standards  and  of  wages  to  the  point  where  exist- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  649 

ence  "was  impossible  for  an  American  under  American  standards  of  living. 
This  was  characterized  as  the  "  orientalization  of  industry,"  and  it  was  shown 
that  in  the  end  the  highest  class  of  workers  must  be  the  ones  to  suffer. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  conference  was  protracted  by  the  discussion  of  immaterial  points  and 
by  returning  again  and  again  to  certain  arguments  and  lines  of  reasoning  upon 
wliich  it  early  became  evident  that  no  possible  agreement  could  be  reached. 
The  discussion  was  absolutely  free  from  personalities,  heated  arguments,  or 
radical  statements,  and  was  marked  by  earnestness  and  serious  attention  on 
both  sides.  The  sentiment  of  the  committee  from  the  labor  council  was  that 
the  emergency  commission  was  rather  to  be  sympathized  v/ith  than  censured, 
for  they  appear  to  be  up  against  a  harder  proposition  than  they  realize.  The 
committee  was  surprised  at  the  lack  of  convincing  data  in  the  hands  of  the 
commission  and  at  their  inability  to  look  at  the  problem  from  a  purely  eco- 
nomic standpoint.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  gentleman  who  was  present 
with  the  notebook  failed  to  take  any  notes  of  the  discussion,  although  the 
committee  expressed  the  desire  that  a  full  account  of  the  conference  might  be 
published.  It  was  feit  that  such  a  report  would  have  been  intensely  interest- 
ing to  the  public,  and  the  educational  value  of  such  a  record  would  have  been 
very  great, 

Mr.  Raker.  May  I  ask  the  witness  a  question  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  was  the  date  of  that  conference? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  date  of  that  conference  was  April  30,  1921. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  just  want  to  say  that  I  was  here  in  W^ashington  on 
April  30,  and  that  might  appear  as  though  I  was  personally  present. 
But  I  wasn't.     I  was  here. 

The  Chairman.  Does  it  mention  3^our  name? 

Mr.  Raker.  No,  no ;  but  the  sentiment  conveyed  by  the  committee 
spoke  as  though  I  had  been  present. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  that  is  a  fair  statement,  Mr.  Wright. 
Did  they  discuss  at  that  meeting  whether  there  was  a  shortage  of 
labor  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  discussion  at  that  meeting  was  not  whether  there 
was  a  shortage  of  labor,  but  a  shortage  of  sugar  crop.  Mr.  Horner 
said  in  his  opinion  the  shortage  of  sugar  was  due  to  actual  labor 
shortage  on  the  plantations,  whereas  Mr.  Dillingham  and  Mr.  Chill- 
ingworth  said  they  believed  it  was  due  to  decrease  of  efficienc}^  of 
workers  on  the  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  there  was  no  discussion  as  to 
laborers  leaving  the  islands  in  any  number  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  to  my  recollection. 

The  Chairman.  In  jour  opinion,  have  they  been  leaving  for  the 
last  year? 

Mr.  Wright.  1  believe  they  have — not  to  a  very  great  extent. 

The  Chairman.  I  w^ant  to  get  your  vieAV.  You  are  there  and  you 
are  interested,  and  I  want  to  get  your  view  on  this  problem.  Are 
there  many  more  laborers  leaving  than  are  coming  in? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  there  are  more  leaving,  or  had  been.  I  will 
not  say  that  is  true  at  the  present  time,  because  I  do  not  know-.  Of 
the  number  w^ho  have  left  the  plantations  I  understand  they  have  not 
all  left  the  islands,  and  of  the  number  who  have  left  the  islands  they 
are  not  all  from  the  plantations. 

The  Chairman'.  Was  there  any  discussion  as  to  Avhether  white 
labor  w^ould  do  this  plantation  labor  situation  aii}^  good  or  not? 


650  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  There  was  this  discussion :  The  matter  Avas  brought 
up  and  it  was  the  general  opinion  of  all  of  us,  including  the  com- 
missioners themselves,  that  white  labor,  if  it  could  be  secured,  would 
be  far  more  efficient  than  oriental. 

The  Chairman.  Was  there  any  opinion  that  it  could  be  secured? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  commission,  I  believe,  stated  that  they  wei'e  not 
particular  Avhat  kind  of  labor  was  brouglit  in;  that  it  was  only  to 
relieve  the  situation  and  bring  in  labor. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  tr^dng  to  get  the  workingman's  viewpoint. 
You  are  president  of  the  hibor  conference,  have  traveled  a  great  deal, 
and  you  are  a  trained  machinest.  I  want  to  get  your  view :  Will 
white  labor  work  on  the  plantations  there  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  under  present  conditions. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  if  wages  are  paid  as  the  highest  wages  in 
the  beet-sugar  industry? 

Mr.  Wright.  What  are  those  highest  wages? 

The  Chairman.  $3. 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  you  mean  is  it  possible  ? 

The  Chairman.  Let's  get  it  straight.  If  you  were  here  in  the 
United  States  with  your  present  knowledge  of  Hawaii  on  the  planta- 
tions, would  you  advise  white  laborers  to  go  to  the  islands  to  work 
on  the  plantations  for  from  $2.75  to  $3,  with  houses  furnished? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  would  make  this  statement :  If  I  were  here  in  the 
United  States  out  of  a  job,  and  no  possibility  of  securing  a  job  in  the 
higher  mechanical  trades,  and  forced  to  work  in  the  United  States, 
say,  in  the  fields  of  the  Middle  West  as  a  common  laborer,  I  would 
say  I  prefer  to  go  to  Hawaii  and  work  on  the  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  reason  for  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  At  a  wage  that  would  be  practically  the  same  as 
the  wage  I  would  get  here. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  the  work  any  harder  out  there  in  the  cane  planta- 
tions than  on  the  farms  of  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Is  it  any  harder? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  tell  you,  I  can  not  say  that  it  is.  Of  course, 
you  understand  that  I  have  not  actually  been  out  and  worked  at 
common  laborer's  work  on  the  plantations,  but  I  have  seen  them 
doing  all  the  classes  of  work,  and  ^  will  touch  on  that  later  on,  and 
on  the  subject  of  labor-saving  machinery. 

I  have  stood  and  watched  Japanese  plantation  labor  loading 
cane,  picking  it  up  in  big  bundles  on  their  shoulders  and  walking 
up  a  narrow  plank,  about  that  wide 

Mr.  Cable  (interposing).  How  wide  is  that? 

Mr.  Wright.  Six  inches  wide.  It  is  beveled  off  on  the  sides  so  as 
to  make  it  as  light  as  possible,  and  to  make  it  springy.  I  have  seen 
them  walk  up  that  plank  with  bundles  of  cane  on  their  shoulders, 
dum.p  the  cane  on  the  car,  walk  down  again,  take  another  bundle, 
and  take  it  and  dump  it  in  the  car.  Then  I  walked  up  the  plank 
myseli  to  see  how  it  felt,  and  I  confess  that  I  would  not  want  to  do 
it  that  way. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Did  you  have  a  bundle  of  cane  when  you  walked  up 
the  plank? 

Mr.  Wrkjht.  Xo,  sir;  I  did  not.  If  white  people  were  doing 
that  kind  of  work,  they  would  not  do  it  that  way.    As  stated  in  my 


LABOE   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  051 

previous  answer,  inider  tlie  present  condition  of  Ia!)or,  and  from  the 
way  tliino's  are  done,  the  Avhite  man  woukl  not  do  it,  bnt  a  white 
man  won  hi   start  immediately  to   improve  the  methods. 

Mr.  Carle.  What  I  want  to  find  ont  is  the  weight  of  the  bmidle 
that  they  carr}^  when  they  Avalk  up  on  this  narroAV  phmlv. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  they  carry,  as  the  manager  tohl  me,  75,  SO. 
or  possibly  100  pounds. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  long  is  the  bundle  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  plank  is  about 

Mr.  Cable  (interposing).  I  mean  the  bundle. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  a  rather  unwieldly  bundle,  perhaps  about  4,  4^, 
or  5  feet  long. 

Mr.  Free.  How  big  around? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  bundle  is  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  I  would  say. 
Those  stalks  of  cane  that  lie  on  the  ground  are  gathered  up  into  the 
l)undle,  and  then  wrapped  with  cloth  like  a  great  big  sash  and  swung 
on  the  shoulders.     They  are  heav}^ 

Mr.  Cable.  I  want  to  know  how  high  they  must  walk? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  height  is  about  6  or  64^  feet. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  have  a  railroad-cane  car  or  little  sugar- 
cane car? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  a  sugar  car. 

The  Chairman.  Is  the  first  platform  Ioav?  As  they  load  it  or  pile 
it  up,  they  start  low  on  the  platform  of  the  sugar-cane  car,  do  thev 
not? 

Mr.  Wright.  All  of  the  cars  that  I  have  seen  on  the  plantations 
are  cars  that  have  high  sides. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  lieii^ht  fi'om  the  ground  to  the  top  of  the 
side  at  the  highest  point  at  which  they  pile  the  cane? 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  3^011  mean  the  highest  part  where  it  is  loaded  on 
the  car  ? 

Mr.  Eaker.  Yes, 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  heiirht  upon  the  side? 

Mr.  Wright.  On  the  side,  I  would  say  it  is  6-^-  feet. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Is  that  the  highest  place  at  which  they  load  the  car? 

Mr.  Wright.  When  it  is  loaded  it  is  perhaps  2  or  3  feet  higher. 
That  depends  upon  the  conditions. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  it  be  8  feet  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  there  any  machinery  by  which  that  can  be  loaded, 
or  an  automatic  way  of  loading  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  develop  that  later  on. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  they  doing  that  now  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  can  all  be  done  that  way,  can  it  not? 

Mr.  Wright    Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Making  it  good  work  and  easy  work? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  it  is  being  done.  I  personally  saw  on  a 
plantation  a  cane-loading  machine  loading  cane  at  the  rate,  as  the 
plantation  manager  told  me  personallv,  of  about  a  ton  a  minute. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  easy  work,  and  it  is  like  a  man  feeding  grain 
from  a  stack  into  a  thrashing  machine  ? 


652  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  work  that  young  Filipinos  who  have  just  come 
over  can  do  and  that  Japanese  women  can  do.  The  Japanese  women 
are  somewhat  more  effective  at  that  work  than  the  Filipino  men. 

Mr.  Mead.  You  state  that  Japanese  women  load  cane  that  way  in 
bundles  ? 

Mr.  Wrigpit.  No,  sir;  I  was  answering  this  gentleman's  question. 

The  Chairman.  He  asked  j^ou  if  women  bundled  the  cane  up  and 
loaded  the  cane. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  cane  was  loaded  b}^  machines,  and  it  is  only 
bundled  by  the  workers.    It  is  loaded  by  the  machine  itself. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  there  any  Japanese  women,  Chinese  women,  or 
others,  who,  after  the  bundles  are  tied,  take  the  bundles  and  walk  up 
that  plank  and  put  the  bundles  on  the  car  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  not  seen  that;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  proportion  of  the  cane  is  loaded,  according  to 
the  method  you  have  described,  rather  than  by  machinery? 

Mr.  Wright.  What  proportion  of  the  crop  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Practically  the  whole  crop  is  being  handled  that 
Avay. 

Mr.  Free.  Qualify  him  by  asking  him  how  long  a  time  he  has 
spent  on  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  man^^  times  have  you  been  on  plantations  and 
obser A^ed  those  conditions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  passed  the  plantations  on  my  way  to  and 
from  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  times  have  you  observed  those  condi- 
tions— once  or  twice? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  taken  on  a  special  ride  over  some  plantations 
by  Mr.  Butler,  of  the  Sugar  Planters'  Association.  I  was  taken  on 
a  regular  route  of  the  plantations  and  shown  those  conditions  that  I 
am  trjdng  to  describe  to  you.  At  that  time  I  saw  this  cane  loading 
machine  in  operation. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  it  your  statement  that  the  greater  proportion  of  the 
cane  is  still  being  loaded  in  the  manner  you  have  described? 

Mr.  Wright.  By  hand. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir ;  absolutel}^ 

Mr.  Box.  How  many  plantations  were  visited  b}?^  you,  and  how 
long  did  you  stay  at  each  plantation  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  As  I  understand  it,  jou  made  one  round  of  several 
plantations.    How  many  plantations  did  you  visit? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  took  in  three  plantations  on  that  trip. 

Mr.  Raker.  Going  back  and  forth  from  your  work  and  driving  out 
in  the  country,  state  to  the  committee  how  long  you  have  observed 
this  condition  that  you  have  described  in  the  matter  of  the  loading 
of  cane. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  observed  for,  perhaps,  three  years  the  general 
field  operations  as  they  have  come  under  my  observation,  both  as  to 
irrigating  and  cutting  cane,  as  well  as  loading  it  on  the  cars. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  no  occasion  on  earth  to  load  cane  by  hand 
in  the  Avay  you  have  described,  with  the  kind  of  machinery  that  they 
have  for  loading,  is  there? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWATL  653 

INIr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  there  is  this  excuse  for  it,  that  it  costs  a 
little  more  to  load  it  by  machinery  with  the  present  development  of 
the  machine. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Did  you  find  out  on  your  trip  through  the  three 
plantations  that  they  hacl  any  machine  that  would  do  that  work  at 
all,  or  was  that  an  old  arrangement  or  a  new  arrangement? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  they  said  they  got  that  machine  last  year, 
or  rather  that  they  got  three  machines  and  they  had  one  in  opera- 
tion. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Up  to  that  time  did  they  have  any  loading 
machinery  that  you  know  of? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  that  I  know  of;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  They  have  tried  many  times  to  perfect  a  cane- 
loading  device,  and  are  still  working  on  that  problem.  Did  you 
gather  that  the  reason  for  not  using  cane-loading  machinery  in  the 
l^ast  was  because  it  cost  more  to  load  with  machinery,  or  because 
they  did  not  have  any  machine  to  load  with,  until  this  machine  which 
you  have  just  described  was  invented? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  gathered  that  there  had  been  a  number  of  ma- 
chines that  had  been  tried  out,  but  the  objection  always  had  been 
that  they  cost  more  to  operate,  and  that  it  cost  more  to  load  by 
machinery  than  by  the  old-fashioned  hand  method,  using  this  class  of 
workers. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Back  in  the  Middle  Ages  they  did  not  drive  men  like 
beasts  in  that  way  in  this  country. 

The  Chairman.  They  did  not  have  this  country  civilized  in  the 
Middle  Ages. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  could  drive  up  on  a  platform  and  put  it  do\rn 
hill,  instead  of  lifting  it  up  a  distance  of  8  feet.  Could  thev  not 
provide  a  platform  and  drive  or  pull  the  cane  down  instead  of  raising- 
it  8  feet? 

Mr.  Free.  Have  you  ever  seen  them  load  cane  in  a  field  in  Cali- 
fornia ? 

Mr.  Eaker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  There  are  so  many  possible  improved  methods  of 
handling  it  that  we  felt  that  our  charge  of  mismanagement  on  the 
part  of  the  plantations  was  justified  by  what  we  saw,  although,  per- 
haps, not  in  the  way  it  has  been  understood. 

The  Chairman.  What  other  instances  of  mismanagement  are  con- 
tained in  your  charges  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  that  answer.  Judge 
Raker  has  interposed  the  suggestion  there  that  we  are  doing  busi- 
ness in  Hawaii  according  to  the  methods  of  the  Middle  Ages.  That 
is  the  first  criticism  of  that  kind  that  has  been  made  here  of  the 
methods  emplo3^ed  in  handling  sugar  cane  in  Hawaii.  Do  you  know 
of  any  machine  that  would  handle  cane  at  any  cost,  so  far  as  the 
loading  of  it  is  concerned,  that  was  invented  prior  to  the  present 
one  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  of  my  personal  knowledge ;  no,  sir. 

Mr.  Gompers.  May  I  be  permitted  to  make  an  observation  ? 

The  Chairman.  Certainly. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  have  not  been  in  Hawaii,  but  I  have  been  on  the 
sugar-cane  plantations  of  the  United  States  and  also  of  Porto  Rico 


654  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

and  Cuba.  There  tlie}^  have  machmes  in  Avhich  the  cane  is  taken  up 
and  headed  on  railroad  cars  built  especialW  for  that  purpose.  Long 
iron  chains  are  placed  around  stacks  of  sugar  cane  weighing  tons 
and  the  sugar  cane  is  loaded  on  those  cars  with  those  chains  under 
each  bundle  at  each  end  holding  the  cane.  These  cars  are  drawn  by 
locomotives,  and  they  are  drawn  into  the  grinding  establishment. 
These  chains  are  just  hooked  together  to  another  chain,  and  the 
entire  load  of  cane  in  those  cars  is  taken  out  by  draulic  pressure  or 
steam  pressure,  I  am  not  sure  Avhich,  and  emptied  into  the  sugar 
hopper.  I  saw  that  done  in  Cuba  a  year  after  the  close  of  the 
Spanish-American  War  and  I  saw  that  in  Porto  Rico  several  times 
upon  my  visit  there  in  1898.  I  was  over  there  at  that  time,  and  I 
saw  them  in  the  United  States  before  that. 

Mr.  Meade.  I  have  just  come  back  from  Porto  Rico,  and  I  know 
that  the  method  of  loading  cane  there,  so  far  as  hand  work  is  con- 
cerned, is  far  worse  than  it  is  in  Hawaii.  They  handle  the  cane  by 
hand  twice,  because  they  load  it  from  the  field  on  an  ox  cart  and 
carry  it  on  the  ox  carts  to  the  loading  platform,  where  it  is  handled 
again  b}^  hand  in  loading  it  onto  the  platform  at  the  mill. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  On  small  plantations? 

Mr.  Meade.  No,  sir ;  large  plantations.  I  have  watched  them  load 
cane  over  there,  and  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  When  I 
asked  them,  "  Why  not  load  it  by  machinery,  or  why  not  load  it  in 
one  operation  ?  "  they  said,  "  We  have  so  much  labor  that  we  do  not 
have  to  use  machinery."  Did  you  know  that  for  50  years  the  Hawaii 
planters  have  spent  thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars  trying  to 
develop  cane-loading  machinery?  They  have  advertised  for  ma- 
chines, and  have  offered  premiums,  and  have  in  every  way  sought 
to  develop  a  cane-loading  device.  They  have  had  their  own  com- 
mittees of  experts,  and  they  have  employed  engineers  from  the 
United  States,  and  they  have  had  their  own  engineers  trying  to 
develop  a  machine  that  would  load  cane  economically  or  at  all. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  did  not  know  that. 

Mr.  Meade.  It  is  a  fact,  and  I  am  telling  you  that  it  is  a  fact.  I 
want  to  say  that  the  production  of  sugar  cane  from  the  planting 
on  is  the  most  advanced  operation  known  in  the  United  States  or 
anvAvhere  in  the  world.  .  ■  .   ^ 

The  Chairma^^  I  presume  that  the  large  plantations  will  lead 
the  way  in  that  respect  or  in  adopting  improved  methods  and  im- 
proved' machinery-  The  smaller  plantations  will  either  use  the 
same  methods  wherever  possible  or  will  be  absorbed  by  the  large 
ones.  I  judge  that  from  the  development  of  logging  operations. 
There  was  a  time  when  logs  Avere  handled  over  skid  roads  ox  dragged 
on  the  ground,  but  now  they  are  almost  invariably  handled  by  aerial 
tramAv^ys.  There  was  a  time  when  big  timbers  were  carried  around 
wharves  in  horse-drawn  carts,  but  noAV  they  are  handled  by  means 
of  automobile  trucks  designed  for  the  purpose.     Those  devices  are 

bound  to  come  in  time.  ,  -    ^  n      -^ 

Mr.  Meade.  If  our  sugar-cane  fields  were  leA^el  like  this  table,  it 
would  be  perfectly  feasible,  I  believe,  to  invent  a  machine  that  could 
load  cane,  but  the  sugar-cane  fields  out  there  are  not  like  that.  Down 
Avhere  you  saw  that  machine  at  Avork  the  ground  was  level  and  even, 
but  nine-tenths  of  the  sugar-cane  fields  of  Hawaii  are  on  the  sides 


LABOR    TROBLEMS   IN    HAWATT.  655 

of  hills,  and  you  can  not  o-et  a  loadino-  machine  that  will  successfully 
operate  on  the  side  of  a  hill. 

The  CiiAiRMAX.  What  other  criticism  does  the  labor  union  make 
as  to  mismanagement? 

Mr.  Free.  Suppose  Ave  let  him  proceed  according  to  the  regular- 
order. 

jSIr.  Wright.  I  will  state  that  during  the  months  of  May  and 
June,  when  this  labor  commission  was  in  Washington,  the  local 
papers  in  Honolulu  were  carrying  on  an  active  propaganda  for  the 
purpose  of  impressing  upon  the  people  of  the  Territory  that  the  future 
welfare  of  Hawaii  depended  upon  securing  the  admission  of  those 
coolies.  This  campaign  was  largely  in  good  faith,  I  Avill  say,  so  far 
as  the  majorit}^  of  the  people  were  concerned.  The  chamber  of 
commerce  and  the  Housewives  League  indorsed  the  proposal  at  once. 

I  know  attempts  were  made  to  have  it  indorsed  by  fraternal  or- 
ganizations and  I  do  not  know  of  any  of  the  organizations  that  really 
indorsed  it.  I  know  of  some  organizations  in  which  it  was  turned 
down.  So  far  as  the  American  Legion  is  concerned,  I  believe  you 
read  to-day  the  indorsement  by  the  American  Legion. 

The  Chairman.  I  read  a  statement  from  the  Territorial  head  who 
seems  to  be  present  in  the  United  States,  and  then  Ave  had  something- 
in  the  hearings  a  few  days  ago  of  attention  being  called  to  the 
Japanese  situation,  at  least  by  resolution  in  their  national  convention 
in  Minneapolis  last  year. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  was  a  general  proposition.  Any  material  legis- 
lation that  would  tend  to  break  up  the  tendency  to  continue  to  con- 
centrate on  nationality. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  any  of  the  editorials  that  Avere  published  in 
Hawaii  during  the  last  three  months  that  were  advocating  the  im- 
portation of  Chinese  into  Hawaii  under  this  resolution? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  a  file — I  used  to  keep  a  file  of  the  ncAVspapers 
at  the  hotel. 

Mr.  Raker.  Will  you  look  it  up,  and  if  you  have  any — if  there  is 
a  publication  relating  to  the  importation  of  Chinese — and  that  was 
the  purpose  of  this  resolution — I  wish  you  would  look  them  up  and 
put  them  into  the  record. 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  Noav,  Mr.  Chairman,  1  am  going  to  ask  that  this  man 
be  permitted  to  proceed  without  interruption. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  moved  that  Mr.  Wright  be  permitted  to  pro- 
ceed Avithout  interruption.  Let  us  vote  on  it.  All  in  favor  of  ihe 
motion  signify  it  by  saying  "  aye." 

(So  the  motion  Avas  unanimously  adopted.) 

Mr.  Wright.  Noav.  from  the  reports  appearing  in  the  papers  as 
to  Avhat  Avas  going  on  at  Washington,  the  impression  grew,  in  labor 
circles  especially,  that  this  emergency  commission  in  W^^^^^^^^^^ 
Avas  in  effect  misrepresenting  conditions  and  was  working  rather 
for  one  concrete  thing — that  is,  the  importation  of  coolies,  than  for 
the  general  solution  of  the  problems. 

The  Central  Labor  Union,  consisting  of  14  affiliated  trade  unions, 
discussed  the  matter  thoroughly  and  ordered  the  sending  of  a  Avire- 
less  message  to  the  legislatiA^e  representatiA^e  of  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor,  Mr.  Wallace,  in  which  was  embodied  the  collectiA^e 


656  LABOE   PROBLEMS   I^    HAWAII. 

opinion  of  the  labor  unions.  This  was  sent  to  Mr.  Wallace  by  wire- 
less. 

Immediately  upon  the  matter  beino^  reported  back  to  Honolulu  the 
dail}^  papers  began  a  campaign  of  vilification  and  attack  upon  me 
personally  as  the  author  of  the  message.  This  was  done  deliber- 
ately with  the  intention  of  clouding  the  issue  and  making  it  appear 
that  there  was  no  substantial  element  backing  the  protest. 

I  have  here  an  editorial  appearing  in  the  Honolulu  Advertiser 
on  that  subject  Avhich  I  would  like  to  have  introduced,  because  it 
touches  another  very  vital  point  which  I  believe  has  been  raised  be- 
fore this  committee,  and  that  is  the  nationalistic  character  of  the 
Japanese  strike  of  last  year. 

Mr.  Feee.  What  is  the  date  of  that  editorial  ? 

Mr.  AVright.  It  appears  in  the  Honolulu  Advertiser  of  June  28 : 

PLAY    FAIR,     PLAY    FAIR. 

The  Advertiser  admits  it  lias  no  idea  wlio  George  W.  Wriglit  is,  nor  does  it 
very  miicli  care,  so  far  as  that  is  concerned.  But  it  does  iNinow,  and  everyone 
in  Hawaii  who  is  interested  in  seeing  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  Terri- 
tory protected,  that  his  cablegram  read  to  the  House  Committee  on  Immigra- 
tion and  Naturalization  by  Edgar  Wallace,  of  the  American  Federation  of  ! 
Labor,  according  to  a  special  dispatch  to  the  Star-Bulletin  yesterday,  is  mis-  t 
leading  and  probably  was  intended  to  be. 

The  cablegram  said  that  there  is  no  actual  labor  shortage  in  Hawaii,  that 
the  Japanese  are  striving  for  American  ideals,  and  that  the  strike  last  year 
was  not  nationalistic  but  economic. 

Mr.  Wright — whoever  he  may  be— knows  cis  well  as  everyone  else  in  this 
Territory  that  there  is  a  serious  labor  shortage  in  Hawaii,  and  that  unless  it 
is  relieved  there  is  going  to  be  a  situation  that  will  be  more  than  serious. 
The  good  Lord  knows  it  is  serious  enough  now.  We  know  that  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  Filipinos  there  has  been  no  importation  of  labor  for  tiie 
plantation  since  1907.  In  the  period  that  has  elapsed  since  1907  thousands 
of  Japanese  and  Filipinos  have  left  Hawaii,  and  their  places  must  be  taken 
by  labor  of  some  sort. 

As  to  the  strike  of  last  year  everyone  knows  that  it  was  not  nationalistic,  as 
Wright  puts  it.  And  his  stating  so  in  his  cablegram  was  for  no  reason  other 
than  to  cause  the  members  of  the  Immigration  Committee  to  think  they  are 
being  misled  by  Walter  Dillingham  and  the  other  members  of  the  labor  com- 
mittee now  in  Washington. 

As  was  stated  in  yesterdny's  Advertiser,  the  members  of  organized  labor 
in  Honolulu  told  the  labor  commissioners  before  they  left  for  Washington  that 
they  were  in  favor  of  any  legislation  that  proposed  to  rejuvenate  agriculture  in 
Hawaii,  and  we  believed  they  were  sincere,  and  still  believe  so. 

What  in  the  world  this  man  Wright  expects  to  gain  by  opposing  a  measure 
that  means  an  adequate  supply  of  labor  for  Hawaii's  agriculture  we  do  not 
know.  But  whatever  his  object  may  be,  we  believe  it  would  be  well  for  him  to 
tell^the  facts  as  they  are— in  other  words,  play  fair. 

On  June  29  I  was  called  up  on  the  phone  and  asked  to  meet  one  of 
the  prominent  em]:)loyers  of  labor,  a  Mr.  Hall,  of  the  Honolulu  Iron 
Works,  wdio  said  he  desired  a  conversation  with  me  on  a  matter  of 
importance.  I  consented  to  an  interview  that  evening  in  the  house 
of  a,  friend,  a  member  of  the  machinists'  union,  in  whose  presence 
the  interview  took  place. 

Mr.  Hall  made  a  long  argument  supporting  the  position  of  the 
sugar  planters  on  the  matter  of  coolie  importation  and  asked  if  it 
Avould  be  possible  to  arrange  a  meeting  with  a  representative  com- 
mittee of  the  labor  body  at  w^hich  the  planters  would  be  given  an  op- 
portunity to  present  their  case.  Mr.  Hall  stated  that  they  realized 
that  their  case  would  be  much  strengthened  if  the}^  could  get  the 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HxiWAlL  657 

support  of  organized  Itibor.  I  consented  to  call  a  committee  and  ar- 
range a  meeting  that  would  be  in  the  nature  of  a  hearing  and  agreed 
to  see  that  every  opportunity  was  given  for  the  planters  to  submit 
arguments  and  data  which  would  be  presented  to  the  central  body 
for  their  judgment.  I  think  I  made  it  clear  to  everyone  with  whom 
we  had  any  subsequent  dealings  that  we  w^ere  all  actuated  by  the  best 
of  motives  and  had  only  the  welfare  of  the  territory  at  heart,  how- 
ever widely  our  personal  opinions  might  diverge. 

The  hearing  took  place  on  the  evening  of  June  30  at  Mr.  Hall's 
joffice  between  a  committee  of  five  from  the  central  body,  myself,  Mr. 
'Chilton,  Mr.  Ruh,  Mr.  Pascoe,  and  Mr.  Andrews  and  three  represent- 
ing the  planters,  Mr.  Bishop,  president  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Plant- 
ers' Association,  Mr.  Butler,  its  labor  secretary,  and  Mr.  Hall,  who 
had  arranged  the  meeting.  We  had  a  stenographer  present  and  have 
a  full  transcript  of  the  hearing.  It  Avas  not  a  discussion,  as  we  let 
it  be  understood  that  we  were  present  to  hear  what  they  had  to  say 
and  to  ask  questions.  They  reveiw^ed  all  the  arguments  that  had 
previously  been  advanced,  emphasizing  the  points  of  Japanese  na- 
tionalism and  of  the  economc  dependence  of  all  subordinate  indus- 
tries upon  the  basic  one  of  sugar  production.  Frankly,  in  our  opin- 
ion, they  failed  to  present  any  new  arguments  or  develop  any  very 
convincing  facts.  At  our  request  they  agreed  to  take  us  around  on 
some  of  the  plantations  on  the  following  day,  and  we  asked  to  see 
the  worst  they  had  to  show. 

The  next  day  we  visited  Oahu,  Ewa,  and  Aiea  plantations.  We 
found  conditions  apparently  very  much  as  they  had  described  them, 
but  we  asked  a  lot  of  questions  and  succeeded  in  developing  several 
important  points.  We  failed,  however,  to  find  conditions  as  bad  as 
we  had  been  led  to  expect  so  far  as  sanitation,  housing,  and  living 
conditions  were  concerned.  Some  of  the  camps  or  quarters  which  we 
asked  to  see  were  not  shown  to  us  on  account  of  lack  of  time.  W^e 
found  no  reason  to  believe  they  were  not  making  a  bona  fide  effort 
to  take  off  the  present  crop,  and  their  books  showed  a  numerical 
shortage  of  labor,  though  we  noticed  a  large  number  of  men  and 
women  not  working.  They  claim  that  many  of  their  field  hands 
work  only  ever}^  other  day,  or  possibly  less  frequently,  as  there  is 
practically  no  bonus  and  no  inducement  to  steady  work.  We  saw 
large  acreages  of  abandoned  cane,  in  wretched  condition,  especially 
on  the  uplands.  Much  of  this  cane  was  the  Lahina  variety,  which  has 
become  affected  with  a  mysterious  disease  due  to  soil  exhaustion  or 
to  some  undetermined  parasitic  fungus.  Other  fields  were  of  old 
cane  which  had  been  neglected  last  year  on  account  of  the  strike  and 
allowed  to  rattoon  again.  Still  other  abandoned  acreages  were  in 
locations  which  made  it  very  expensive  to  irrigate  or  handle  it,  or  on 
areas  otherwise  unfitted  for  the  production  of  sugar  economically  at 
the  present  low  price. 

Another  thing  which  we  saw  which  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the 
labor  situation  was  the  successful  operation  of  a  mechanical  cane 
loader  which  was  putting  cane  on  the  cars  at  the  rate  of  a  ton  a 
minute.  It  was  operated  by  a  gang  of  about  80  Filipino  men  and 
Japanese  women,  and,  though  crude  and  capable  of  vast  improve- 
ment, it  was  nevertheless  loading  cane  at  a  cost  of  $1.10  a  ton,  if  I 
recollect  the  figures  given  by  the  manager,  which,  I  understood,  in- 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  2 8 


658  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

eluded  all  overhead  and  the  balancing  off  of  the  first  cost  of  the 
three  machines,  only  one  of  which  Avas  working.  And  it  was  being 
operated  by  a  class  of  labor  that  is  easily  obtainable,  a  class  of  work 
that  even  boys  could  do.  The  cost  of  $1.10  a  ton  was  for  cutting 
and  loading,  as  against  80  some  cents  by  hand,  but  the  individual 
workers  received  an  average  of  $1.52  a  day.  We  who  were  me- 
chanics were  very  much  impressed  with  the  possibilities  for  the  im- 
provement and  further  development  of  the  machine,  with  a  view  tO' 
greatly  increasing  its  capacity  and  efficiency.  Personally,  I  am  con- 
A'inced  that  with  certain  improvements  the  machine  will  be  able  to 
handle  cane  more  cheaply  than  it  can  be  handled  by  the  crude  and 
old-fashioned  methods  of  a  generation  ago,  which  are  the  methods 
used  when  the  cane  is  handled  by  hand. 

We  were  shown  a  gang  of  little  boys  10  to  12  years  old  gleaning 
cane  after  the  Japanese  workmen  had  cleared  the  field  of  the  bulk 
of  the  crop.  Whether  or  not  this  exhibition  was  arranged  for  our 
special  benefit  I  can  not  sa}',  but  it  was  so  impractical  as  to  be  almost 
ridiculous.  The  little  tots  had  no  way  of  getting  the  cane  into  the 
car  except  to  throw  it  over  the  side,  which  is  fully  6  feet  high.  I  am 
positive  the  10  of  them  could  not  load  a  car  in  a  day,  and  the  man- 
ager told  us  that  he  paid  them  50  cents  apiece  a  day. 

Mr.  Gibbs,  of  the  Honolulu  plantation  at  Aiea,  whom  we  inter- 
viewed on  our  way  back,  threAv  an  illuminating  side  light  on  the 
situation  when  he  explained  that  the  Japanese  who  had  left  the 
plantation  had  nearly  all  gone  to  Federal  construction  work,  where 
they  were  able  to  earn  better  pay  than  on  the  plantation.  He  told 
us  that  he  did  not  think  a  large  number  had  left  the  Territory,  and 
of  those  who  had  left  he  expected  many  to  return  after  they  hadjj. 
spent  the  bonus  money  they  had  accumulated  when  sugar  was  at 
the  high  mark.  He  made  the  assertion  that  if  only  those  who  had 
left  for  Federal  construction  work  would  return,  he  would  be  satisfied 
and  would  not  need  any  more.  Mr.  Butler's  attention  was  called  to 
this  aspect  of  the  case,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  was  reported  in  the 
papers  of  that  date  that  the  Hawaiian  rehabilitation  bill  had  passed 
Congress,  carrying  the  proviso  that  no  aliens  Avould  be  employed  on 
Government  work.  Mr.  Butler  admitted  that  the  release  of  these 
men  would  help  considerably,  and  it  was  roughly  estimated  in  the 
couA^ersation  that  of  the  5,000  Avho  would  be  released  probably  2,000 
Avould  be  aA^ailable  for  the  plantations. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  delegates  to  the  Central  Labor  Union 
had  been  called  for  that  cATuing  and  a  full  report  of  the  iuA^estiga- 
tion  Avas  made  by  each  member  of  the  committee  and  the  transcript 
of  the  hearing  was  read.  Thereupon,  after  a  thorough  discussion, 
the  delegates  unanimously  voted  to  stand  by  the  original  message 
sent  on  the  25th,  but  to  authorize  the  committee  to  hold  a  second 
conference  Avith  the  planters  and  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  situa- 
tion Avith  a  view  to  offering  a  ncAv  program,  eliminating  further  con- 
sideration of  the  plan  for  importing  coolies. 

Accordingly  I  called  u])  Mr.  Hall  on  Saturday,  the  following  day, 
and  informed  him  of  the  action  of  the  Central  body.  He  asked  us  to 
meet  that  CA^ening,  and  I  so  informed  the  rest  of  the  committee. 

At  8  o'clock  the  kibor  representatives,  six  in  number — Mr.  Chilton, 
Mr.  Ruh,  Mr.  Pascoe.  Mr.  AndreAvs,  Mr.  Yickery,  and  myself — met 
Avith  fiA'e  representatives  of  the  sugar  planters — Mr.  Bishop,  Mr. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.       ^  659 

Butler,  Mr.  Dowsett,  Mr.  Bottomley,  and  Mr.  Hall.  The  con- 
ference was  opened  by  Mr.  Hall,  wlio  intimated  that  we  were  there 
to  arrive  at  an  understanding^  and  effect  a  bargain  by  which  labor 
would  indorse  the  planters'  program  of  importin<^  coolie  labor.  He 
was  at  once  corrected  from  our  side  of  the  table  with  the  statement 
that  we  were  not  there  in  that  sense  at  all.  as  we  had  nothing-  to  buy 
or  to  sell,  that  the  indorsement  of  coolie  labor  must  be  set  aside  as 
impractical  and  un-American,  and  that  we  were  there  solely  in  the 
interests  of  the  welfare  of  the  industr}^  in  Avhich,  as  residents  and 
workers  in  the  Territory,  we  had  a  vital  concern  ])roportionately  as 
great  as  that  of  any  of  the  planters. 

We  Avere  then  asked  if  we  had  any  other  suggestions  to  make,  any- 
thing constructive  to  offer  as  a  substitute,  and  we  replied  that  we  had 
a  very  definite  program  which  we  believed  would  afford  immediate 
relief  from  the  situation  in  which  the  planters  found  themselves — 
a  relief  that  would  also  be  permanent.  As  a  preliminary  we  asked 
whether  the  planters  would  be  willing  to  help  us  establish  a  perma- 
nent point  of  contact  for  the  purpose  of  cooperating  in  the  future 
for  the  solution  of  the  difficulties  that  might  arise  between  employers 
and  employees;  in  other  Avords  recognize  organized  labor  and  the 
principle  of  collective  bargaining  in  the  future. 

It  Avas  intimated  that  this  arrangement  might  be  effected  if  Ave 
Avould  recede  from  our  original  ])Osition  on  the  coolie  question.  That 
Avas  again  set* aside,  and  the  planters  returned  by  setting  aside  our 
proposition  for  the  recognition  of  organized  labor.  We  told  them 
that  Ave  had  not  made  the  proposition  in  the  spirit  of  bargaining, 
but  because  our  program  Avas  based  on  their  Aviilingness  to  meet  us 
in  the  proper  spirit  of  cooperation,  and  they  replied  that  this  Aviiling- 
ness Avas  already  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  they  Avere  so  meet- 
ing Avith  us  noAV. 

We  told  them  tliat  Ave  had  studied  the  situation  from  the  point  of 
vicAv  of  the  Avorkers  and  that  Ave  honestly  believed  we  Avere  able  to 
point  out  the  cause  of  their  trouble,  which  Avas  an  essential  pre- 
liminary to  suggesting  an  intelligent  remedy.  We  stated  that  Ave 
belicATd  that  the  flight  in  Avhich  the  sugar  industry  finds  itselt 
to-day  is  due  primarily  to  a  lack  of  understanding  betAveen  em- 
ployers and  employees.  This  results  in  the  discouragement  and 
antagonism  of  the  Avorkers  and  loAvers  their  efficiency  to,  sa}^,  50 
per  cent  of  normal,  and  causes  dissatisfaction  and  the  consequent 
drifting  aAvay  from  the  plantations  of  the  laborers  Avhose  services 
are  required  to  take  off  the  crop.  Extremely  Ioav  Avages  and  the 
impossibility  of  earning  a  living  except  at  the  loAvest  possible  stand- 
ards of  subsistence  preA^ents  those  liA^ng  outside  the  plantations  from 
taking  plantation  jobs,  though  in  our  opinion  there  are  enough  un- 
employed and  casually  employed  Avho  Avould  be  Avilling  to  fill  the 
jobs  if  the  conditions  Avere  such  that  there  Avas  any  inducement 
offered. 

We  then  outlined  verbally  our  proposed  remedy. 

FolloAv  the  approved  industrial  methods  and  endeaA^or  to  increase 
the  efficiency  of  your  employees  by  effecting  a  right  understanding 
with  them.  Recognize  the  principle  of  collective  bargaining  and 
signify  your  Avillingness  to  meet  with  representatives  of  your  em- 
ployees in  a  conference  Avhich  Ave  Aviil  arrange  and  to  Avhich  Ave,  as 


660  ,       LABOR   PIIOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

representatives  of  the  central  labor  body  will  be  present  as  the  third 
I)arty,  acting  as  mediators.  We  will  guarantee  that  if  this  is  done  in 
the  right  spirit  of  cooperation  on  your  part  it  will  be  met  in  the 
same  spirit  by  your  employees  and  an  agreement  reached  whereby 
3^ou  will  gain  the  friendship  of  your  men  and  increase  their  efficiency 
to  normal.  As  one  of  the  chief  matters  to  be  considered  at  such  a 
conference  we  suggest  the  establishment  of  a  new  wage  scale  based 
upon  the  cost  of  living,  details  as  to  flexibility  and  determining 
factors  to  be  worked  out  later. 

If  this  increased  efficiency  does  not  then  relieve  your  shortage, 
and  the  return  of  workers  drawn  back  to  plantation  life  by  the  in- 
centives offered  still  falls  short  of  your  requirements,  we  believe  that 
plenty  of  new  labor  can  be  recruited  in  the  Philippines,  with  the 
cooperation  of  the  Filipino  labor  commission. 

As  an  added  source  of  supply  we  point  out  that  a  large  number 
of  men  will  be  discharged  from  Federal  construction  works  upor 
the  signing  of  the  rehabilitation  bill  or  shortly  thereafter,  who  wil 
be  forced  back  on  the  plantations,  where  they  belong,  provided  yoi 
make  it  a  point  to  employ  citizen  labor  in  the  skilled  and  semiskille 
industries  which  your  influence  dominates.  There  is  no  question 
in  our  minds  but  that  you  will  thus  be  able  to  fill  your  shortage  oi 
labor  and  maintain  3^our  industry  at  a  normal  pace  without  the  im- 
portation of  any  other  oriental  labor. 

This  proposal,  which  constituted  labor's  program',  was  turned 
down  as  impractical,  theoretical,  and  academic. 

There  was  more  scattering  discussion,  but  the  program  Ave  offeree 
would  not  be  entertained  and  the  conference  was  closed.  At  the 
last,  in  answer  to  a  question  regarding  our  message  to  Mr.  Wallace 
which  had  been  printed  in  the  evening  paper  as  cabled  back  bj 
Dillingham,  I  explained  that  the  message  was  not  in  any  sense  ar 
expression  of  personal  opinion  but  an  instructed  statement  of  the 
views  of  the  delegates  in  the  central  body.  I  Avas  then  asked  whether 
in  Adew  of  Avhat  had  been  said  and  Avhat  I  had  seen,  I  Avould  stil 
uphold  the  statements  it  contained.  I  ansAvered  that  I  regretted  the 
use  of  the  Avord  "  intolerable,"  as  it  Avas  too  strong,  and  I  admittec 
the  error  of  judgment  in  its  use,  for  I  am  usually  particular  in  tha 
respect.  I  also  A^olunteered  the  statement  that  I  was  personally  con- 
Adnced  that  there  Avas  no  deliberate  curtailment  of  present  production 
though  most  of  our  people  still  insisted  that  there  was.  As  to  the 
shortage  of  labor,  I  stated  that  I  had  seen  enough  to  couAnnce  me  tha 
it  was  actual  as  far  as  the  plantations  were  concerned,  and  that  ] 
had  ncA^er  said  otherAvise,  haAdng  been  misquoted  in  that  respect 
Asked  if  I  Avould  wire  Mr.  Wallace  to  that  effect,  I  replied  that  ] 
Avould  be  glad  to  do  so,  which  promise  I  carried  out  by  night  lettei 
on  July  4. 

It  Avas  understood  that  these  conferences  were  semiconfidential 
that  is,  that  they  were  not  to  be  giA^en  out  for  publication  in  the 
papers,  but  Avere  to  be  limited  for  use  as  between  the  parties  con 
cerned.  Noav,  this  understanding,  I  believe,  Avas  kept  locally  so  fai 
as  both  parties  Avere  concerned,  but  the  statement  that  was  made 
here  to-day,  and  information  Avhich  I  had  received  previously,  lee 
me  to  belieA^e  that  the  other  side  to  the  conference  considered  thij 
committee,  or  these  members  of  this  committee,  as  being  in  a  sense 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN    HAWAIL  661 

parties  included,  and  the  fact  tliat  advanced  information  was  given 
in  Washington  as  to  the  message  Avhich  I  agreed  to  send  to  Mr. 
Walhice  led  me  to  draw  that  conclusion.  I  would  like  that  point  to 
be  cleared  up  at  the  present  time. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  through  with  your  statement  now? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Of  course,  you  wdll  understand  now  that  when 
this  commission  arrives  and  begins  to  present  their  statements  that 
the  inquiry  does  not  end  with  just  their  statements.  We  have  kept 
you  people  here  and  it  has  been  dragged  out  a  great  deal  in  order 
to  try  to  get  as  far  as  we  could  on  our  own  angles.  After  the  whole 
statements  were  in  for  the  first  time  and  the  hearing  tentatively 
closed,  I  heard  (I  do  not  know  Avhether  it  came  from  the  Hawaiian 
newspapers  or  where)  that  Mr.  Wallace  had  received  a  telegram 
differing  from  the  statements  in  your  original  telegi^am.  I  spoke 
with  him  about  it,  and  I  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  get  it.  As  to 
what  w^as  in  your  second  telegram  I  have  never  known  until  this 
da}'.  Regardless  of  that  I  am  glad  to  hear  your  statement  to-day, 
and  I  think  that  telegram  and  the  report  here  make  a  ver}'  fair 
statement.  The  committee  will  probably  want  to  ask  3'ou  some  ques- 
tions as  to  labor  problems  over  there  and  discuss  in  full  with  you 
the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor,  stud}^  its  by-laws,  and  what  they 
mean.     You  are  in  a  position  to  heljD  us  on  that  a  great  deal. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  you  Avrote  me  two  letters  sub- 
sequent to  sending  tliat  cablegram  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  a  fact  that  I  wrote  you  two  lettei^. 

Mr.  Wallace.  When  were  those  letters  mailed? 

Mr.  Wright.  Those  letters  Avere  mailed  in  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Wallace.  When?  How  early  before  the  time  of  your  leaving 
Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  One  letter  Avritten  on  June  28,  the  letter  referred  to 
is  being  held  up  pending  that  conference :  and  that  was  mailed  with- 
out any  additions,  on  July  2  or  3 ;  and  that  note  in  the  telegram  was 
:o  explain  why  you  had  not  received  the  letter  earlier.  The  second 
■etter  was  written  on  July  5,  and  I  believe  mailed  on  the  6th  or  Tth. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  wish  to  state  that  I  have  not  received  either  one 
)f  those  letters  for  some  reason.  You  left  yourself  possibly  a  week 
)r  more  afterwards,  didn't  you,  after  you  sent  the  second  letter  and 
irrived  here  and  have  been  here  for  scA^eral  days?  Those  letters 
lave  never  yet  reached  me.    Did  you  mail  them  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  did  not  mail  those  letters  personally.  I  gave  them. 
:o  my  son  to  put  them  in  the  Honolulu  post  office  rather  than  to  put 
;hem  in  the  box. 

Mr.  Wallace.  At  separate  times?  You  did  not  give  them  both 
;o  him  at  the  same  time? 

^ir.  Wright.  Oh,  no ;  not  at  the  same  time. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Neither  one  of  those  letters  has  reached  me. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  copies  of  those  letters  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir.    I  have  copies  of  them. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  confidential  letters? 

Mr.  AYright.  They  are  confidential. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  old  is  vour  son,  Mr.  Wright? 


662  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IX    HAWAII. 

I 

Mr.  A\  RIGHT.  Sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of  age.  ■" 

Mr.  Cabi>e.  iVnd  has  it  been  customar}^  for  you  to  have  him  mail 
letters  for  yon  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes ;  it  has  been  customary.  I  have  been  working 
at  Pearl  Harbor,  which  makes  it  difficult  for  me  to  get  down  town 
without  making  a  special  trip,  and  my  son  has  been  doing  quite  a 
bit  of  work  for  me. 

Mr.  Box.  How  long  after  tliey  Avere  supposed  to  have  been  mailed 
before  you  left  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  How  long? 

Mr.  Box.  When  did  you  leave  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  left  Hawaii  on  the  12th. 

Mr.  Box.  And  they  w^ere  mailed  about  w^hen  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  were  mailed  about  the  5th  or  6th,  the  last  one. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  inquired  of  3^our  son  Avhether  he  mailed  those 
letters  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  not  had  the  time. 

Mr.  Box.  You  did  not  know  that  they  had  not  been  received? 

Mr.  Wright.  No  ;  not  until  I  reached  Washington. 

The  Chairmax.  Did  you  write  any  other  letters  to  Mr.  Wallace? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  have  written  no  other  letters  to  Mr.  Wallace. 

The  Chairman.  And  he  has  received  none  of  7/our  letters? 

Mr.  Wright.  My  only  communications  with  Mr.  Wallace  that  he 
received  were  the  two  messages. 

Mr.  Wallace.  The  two  messages  and  the  cablegrarh  that  you  were 
leaving. 

The  C'hairvIan.  AVait  a  minute.  One  of  these  letters  was  a  sort  of 
digest  of  the  statement  you  were  making? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes:  the  letters  w^ere  in  a  sense  a  summary  of  the 
events. 

The  Chairiviax.  You  addressed  those  to  Mr.  Wallace? 

Mr.  Wright.  Those  were  addressed  to  Mr.  Wallace. 

The  Chairman.  Were  there  any  statements  in  those  of  the  state- 
ments he  has  received? 

Mr.  Wright.  Those  were  the  letters. 

The  Chairmax^.  Did  you  send  them  to  anyone  else? 

iSir.  AVright.  I  did  not. 

The  Chair^iax.  How  does  it  come  that  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  here  liave  a  digest  of  this  matter  addressed  to  the  president 
rather  of  tlie  Central  Labor  Conference  at  Llonolulu  ? 

Mr.  Weight.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  that. 

Tlie  Chairmaxl  It  is  the  information  boiled  down  that  you  were 
sending  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  information  is  a  matter  of  common  knoAvledge 

to  IIS. 

The  Chairmax.  So  that  digest  on  page  673  of  the  American  Fed- 
erationist  reached  the  federation  in  another  letter  than  in  the  letter 
to  Wallace? 

Mr.  GoiMPERS.  Yes;  that  is  a  letter  addressed  to  Frank  Morrison, 
secretary  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  at  Denver,  by  Mr. 
Wright.' 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  the  letter  to  Mr.  Morrison. 

The  Chairmax^.  So,  then,  you  did  send  some  letters  to  other  peoph 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  663 

Mr.  Win  OUT.  Oh,  yes. 

The  CHAimiAX.  You  misunderstood  my  question. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  CHATR]\rAX.  That  is  immaterial. 

We  will  adjourn  until  Monday  morning,  Auo;iist  1,  at  10  o'clock. 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Monday,  August  1,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Guy  L.  Shaw  (acting 
chairman)  presiding. 

STATEMENT  OF  MH.  C.  C.  HAMim,  COLOEADO  SPRINGS,  COLO. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  represent  the  Garden  City  Co., 
which  has  a  heet-sugar  factory  at  Garden  City,  Kans.;  also  the 
Holly  Sugar  Co.,  which  has  factories  in  California,  Wyoming,  and 
Colorado;  and,  for  the  purpose  of  this  statement,  and  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  this  statement,  I  also  represent  the  Great  Western  Sugar 
Co.,  having  factories  in  Nebraska,  Colorado,  Montana,  and  Wyoming. 
The  combined  production  of  these  beet  factories  is  possibly,  at  least, 
40  per  cent  of  the  entire  beet  output  of  the  United  States,  and  I 
should  say  upward  of  50  per  cent  of  the  sugar  production  west  of  the 
Missouri  River;  more  than  50  per  cent. 

I  came  here  because  of  certain  matters  I  have  seen  in  the  news- 
papers regarding  a  statement  purported  to  have  been  made  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.  I  have  not  seen  that  statement. 
I  have  seen  a  denial  of  it,  and  I  have  before  me  here  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  carried  by  the  Associated  Press.  The  statement,  if  I 
gather  it  correctly,  is  to  the  effect  that  the  beet-sugar  people  of  the 
United  States  are  cooperating  with  the  Hawaiian  planters  in  favor 
of  this  bill,  with  the  ultimate  idea  of  getting  Chinese  into  our  beet 
fields  in  the  United  States. 

I  want  to  say  that  I  am  confident  there  is  absolutely  no  foundation 
for  that  statement;  and,  for  the  interests  I  represent,  I  will  say  that 
we  have  no  desire  to  have  coolie  labor  in  the  United  States.  It 
would  be  a  visionary  dream  to  think  of  it.  I  will  say,  personally, 
and  I  think  I  reflect  the  views  of  those  whom  I  represent^  that  we  are 
in  full  accord  with  the  policy  of  the  United  States  with  reference  to 
the  use  of  coolie  labor  in  our  country.  So  far  as  the  pending  legisla- 
tion is  concerned,  we  are  taking  no  interest  in  it  whatever  so  far  as 
our  concerns  are  involved. 

I  will  say  that  in  some  years,  in  connection  with  the  beet-sugar 
l)usiness,  talking  with  various  beet-sugar  men,  and  in  meetings  we 
have  had  from  time  to  time,  I  have  never  even  heard  it  suggested 
that  is  was  desirable  to  have  or  to  seek  to  have  Chinese  labor  in  our 
beet  fields.  Regardless  of  whether  it  might  be  good  or  bad,  we  are 
American  citizens,  and  we  are  in  sympathy  and  in  harmony  with 
the  policy  of  the  Government  in  that  respect;  and  while  I  have  not 
seen  the  statement — ^I  am  speaking,  Mr.  Raker,  of  the  statement 
purported  to  have  been  given  out  by  the  American  Federation  of 


664  LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Labor — while  I  have  not  seen  the  statement,  I  can  say  positively 
there  is  nothing  to  it. 

That  is  about  all  I  have  to  present  upon  that  phase  of  the  question. 

Mr.  Shaw.  There  was  a  man  who  appeared  before  the  committee 
the  other  day  by  the  name  of  Oxnard,  whom,  I  think,  represented  the 
sugar  business. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Just  as  I  do.  I  represent  certain  companies,  and  he 
represented  his  own  compan}^  I  think  neither  of  us  represents  the 
industry  as  a  whole. 

Mr.  Weeber,  How  much  of  the  industry  do  you  represent,  as  com- 
pared with  Mr.  Oxnard  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  believe  that  the  American  Beet  Sugar  Co.  is  perhaps 
10  per  cent,  and  the  concerns  I  speak  for  on  this  particular  question 
represent,  I  should  say,  40  per  cent  of  the  industry.  Our  labor 
situation  is  a  serious  one 

Mr.  Shaw  (interposing) .  Where  do  you  get  your  labor  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  We  have  three  kinds  of  labor.  During  the  war  and 
even  prior  to  the  war,  we  had  a  good  deal  of  Mexican  labor.  We 
have,  especially  in  northern  Colorado,  a  great  deal  of  what  is  called 
Russian  labor.  It  is  really  a  German  labor.  They  are  Germans  who 
went  to  Russia  under  Catherine  and  were  afterwards  compelled  to 
leave.  They  are  experienced  beet  raisers.  We  have  some  little 
Indian  labor  under  contract — this  is  at  Garden  City — from  the  Indian 
Department  of  the  United  States.  That  is  the  only  contract  labor 
we  have. 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  is  that  contract  labor  employed — through  the 
department  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Through  the  Indian  Department,  as  I  understand  it, 
of  the  Interior  Department.  They  are  boys  that  come  up  there  dur- 
ing the  beet  season  and  work  during  the  summer  months  while  they 
are  out  of  school. 

Mr.  Weeber.  And  you  made  contracts  for  those  Indians  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  As  I  understand  it,  and  I  think  I  am  right  in  this,, 
the  contract  is  made  with  the  Indian  agent. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  probably  pay  the  Government,  then. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes;  but  I  think  the  money  goes  to  the  individual 
worker.     Our  labor  problem  is  a  very  serious  one. 

I  do  not  know  that  it  is  germane  to  this  question,  but,  in  connection 
with  the  labor  situation,  I  might  refer  to  a  clipping  from  the  Wall 
Street  Journal  of  July  15  in  regard  to  the  statement  of  the  United 
Fruit  Co.  for  the  first  six  months  of  this  year.  It  may  be  of  interest 
to  you.  Of  course,  our  great  competitor  is  Cuba.  That  is  particularly 
true  since  her  tremendous  war  expansion  in  the  production  of  sugar. 
We  can  not  adjust  ourselves  as  the}^  can. 

In  other  words,  we  will  commence  manufacturing  sugar  in  October 
on  beet  contracts  that  we  made  in  January  of  last  year,  and  the 
sugar  is  not  sold,  all  of  it,  until  18  or  20  months  after  the  contracts 
are  made.  Neither  can  we  adjust  labor  conditions  as  they  can^  nor 
do  we  want  to.  The  condition  in  Cuba  to-day  is  that  they  have 
shut  down  their  factories  and  are  discharging  their  entire  forces,  with 
the  idea  of  rehiring  them  on  a  prewar  basis. 

This  statement  is  very  brief,  and  I  think  the  information  is  prob- 
ably reliable  and  it  is  illuminating.  It  goes  on  to  say  that  the  United 
Fruit  Co.  made  before  taxes  $12,218,000,  the  equivalent  of  $12.21  a 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  665 

share  on  its  1,000,000  shares  of  capitalization,  for  the  first  six  months 
of  this  3^ear,  and  then  goes  on  to  say  that  they  would  probably 
return  a  balance  of  $16  a  share  on  its  stock  for  the  year,  and  then 

it  says: 

Satisfactory  as  are  these  earnings,  the  contrast  with  a  ye?.r  ago  marks  and  ilhistrates- 
the  terrific  force  of  the  deflation  which  has  liit  the  entire  work!,  for  in  the  first  six 
months  of  1920  United  Fruit  actnally  earned  three  times  as  much  as  this  year,  or  over 
136,000,000.  The  explanation  is  that  over  50  per  cent  of  this,  or  some"  117,500,000,. 
came  from  sugar  which  was  then  commanding  22-^-  cents  a  pound . 

I  want  to  simply  state  in  that  connection  that  when  Cuban  raws 
were  selling  at  22^  cents  a  pound,  at  that  time  our  western  beet 
factories  were  confined  to  a  price  of  12  cents  a  pound  for  refined 
sugar,  and  the  Louisiana  planters  to  17  cents  a  pound.  Indeed,  I 
think  it  is  due  to  this  condition,  and  to  the  fact  that  Cuba  backed  up 
its  sugar  against  the  world  supply  and  produced  800,000  tons  of 
duty-paid  sugar  which  has  produced  a  crisis  in  <the  sugar  business;: 
not  only  the  beet  sugar  business,  but  all  sugar. 

Then,  the  article  goes  on  to  say: 

It  is,  of  course,  very  doubtful  if  United  Fruit  can  show  any  profit  on  sugar  this  5^ ear,, 
but  it  is  improbable  that  a  permanent  investment  of  $50,000,000  in  lands,  modern 
refineries,  and  working  capital  can  long  be  profi.tless.  Labor  costs  are  coming  down, 
rapidly,  dropping  from  $2.50  to  65  cents  a  day  with  supply  exceeding  demand. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  in  Cuba  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  That  is  in  Cuba.     I  continue: 

Every  effort  is  being  made  to  get  back  to  the  prewar  basis  which  will  insure  a  reason - 
ible  profit  when  sugar  prices  recover  somewhat. 

Now,  while  our  labor  situation  is  serious,  we  certainly  do  not  want 
to  introduce  into  the  United  States  a  new  labor  element  which  the 
definite  policy  of  the  Government  is  against.  Personally,  I  do  not 
think  we  should  introduce  anyone  into  the  United  States  and  allow 
them  to  come  in  here  unless  they  have  the  potentiality  of  citizenship. 

Mr.  Weeber.  By  the  United  States,  what  do  you  mean? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Continental  United  States.  I  do  not  believe  any- 
body should  be  allowed  to  remain  here  longer  than  five  years  without 
learning  the  language. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  make  an}^  distinction  between  continental 
United  States  and  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  do  you  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes;  I  am  speaking  of  continental  United  States. 
That  is  the  only  thing  of  which  I  am  advised. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  you  do  not  make  any  distinction  between  the 
continental  United  States  as  to  its  laws  and  the  policy  that  should  be 
carried  out. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  As  I  say,  this  legislation  is  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  us,  but  I  will  say  this 

Mr.  Raker.  I  said  continental  United  States  and  its  Territories. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Mj  own  personal  opinion  is  that  if  we  acquire  tropical 
territories  we  have  got  to  legislate  rather  difi^erently  than  we  would 
for  the  mainland,  perhaps.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  would 
not  be  justified.  I  am  not  advocating  it,  but  I  am  not  saying  it 
py^ould  not  be  justified.  From  what  I  can  learn,  the  conditions  are 
quite  difi^erent  from  what  they  are  in  continental  United  States. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  use  a  good  deal  of  Russian  labor  in  Montana,  do 
y^ou  not  ? 


666  LABOR   PROBLEMS    iX    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  think  so.  It  is  very  good  labor.  To  a  considerable 
extent  these  Russians  I  speak  of  have  settled  in  those  countries. 
First,  they  came  in  as  laborers,  and  the  next  step  was  as  tenant 
farmers,  and  many  of  them  now  are  acquiring  their  own  farm^s. 
Those  people  have  large  families  and  to  a  large  extent  supply  their 
own  labor  in  their  own  families. 

Mr.  Shaw.  And  most  of  them  have  become  naturalized  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  do  not  know  as  to  that;  but  a  great  many  of  them' 
undoubtedly  have. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  ask  you  a  couple  of  questions  about  this 
contract  Indian  labor.  Do  you  know  what  the  nature  of  those  con- 
tracts is  ? 

Mr.  ILvMLiN.  Just  in  a  general  way.  At  Garden  City,  for  instance, 
about  which  I  am  better  acquainted  than  any  place  else,  we  will 
probably  in  a  season  have  60.  I  can  not  designate  the  officer;  but, 
anyhow,  an  officer  of  the  Indian  Department  comes  there  in  due  time 
and  makes  the  contracts.  They  are  paid  the  same  wage  that  we 
would  pay  for  like  labor  to  anybody  else. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  can  quit  when  they  want  to  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  No:  I  understand  not.  They  are  under  strict 
Government  control. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  us  see  about  that.  That  is  a  new  phase  I  have  not 
found  out  about.  I  have  found  pretty  nearly  everything  else.  You 
say  the  Indian  can  not  quit  when  he  wants  to  ?  Suppose  he  does  not 
hke  the  labor,  and  says,  ''  I  won't  work  any  more,"  and  just  picks  up 
his  blankets,  if  he  has  any,  and  leaves. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  He  might  quit  working,  I  imagine,  but  he  could  not 
go  away  because,  whether  they  are  in  the  schools  or  in  the  field  or 
wherever  they  are,  they  have  their  own  supervisor,  or  whatever  you 
call  him,  who  is  in  charge  of  them.  They  are  to  be  taken  at  a  certain 
time  and  returned  at  a  certain  time. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  can  not  arrest  him  and  bring  him  back? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Oh,  no;  v/e  have  no  control  over  him. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  I  was  trying  to  get  at. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Oh,  no;  we  have  no  control  over  him,  but  the  super- 
visor of  the  Government  could  take  the  whole  bunch  and  move  them 
out,  I  suppose.  We  can  not  keep  that  labor  there,  for  instance,  for 
the  beet  harvest,  because  the  school  commences  then. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  far  as  you  are  concerned,  you  have  no  control  over 
his  circulation? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  No;  our  dealings  are  entirely  with  the  supervisor. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  can  not  arrest  him  if  he  quits  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Oh,  no;  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  individual. 

Mr.  Weeber.  All  your  dealings  are  with  the  Government  agent 
who  comes  there  with  the  men  and  is  sent  there  with  the  men  1 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Entirely;  we  have  no  control  over  them  at  all. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  been  to  Cuba  lately? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  No;  I  have  never  been  to  Cuba,  Mr.  Raker. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  know  anything  about  their  labor  condi- 
tions, then? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Only  by  hearsay.  I  do  know,  as  I  stated — this,  of 
course,  is  hearsay,  but  I  can  state  it  as  authentic,  that  what  I  stated 
about  their  discharging  their  labor  in  their  mills  and  going  back  to  a 
prewar  basis  immediately  is  true. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  667 

Mr.  Raker.  You  said,  "  We  have  no  interest  in  this  legislation/'  or 
words  to  that  effect.     What  do  you  mean  by  that  '^ 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  mean  we  are  making  no  presentation  for  or  against 
it.  I  presume^  of  course,  I  suppose  it  would  be  for  the  benefit  of  the 
American  industry,  the  continental  industry,  if  there  was  no  sugar 
produced  in  Hawaii,  but  we  do  not  take  that  narrow  view.  I  do  not. 
They  are  under  our  flag,  and  it  is  for  this  committee  to  say  whether 
this  is  necessary  for  their  welfare  and  prosperity  or  not.  I  do  not 
know. 

Mr.  Raker.  Notwithstanding  you  are  interested  in  the  sugar 
business,  I  suppose  you  have  a  keen  interest  as  an  American  citizen 
in  the  treatment  of  labor. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Absolutely. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Anywhere,  United  States  or  Russia. 

Mr.  Raker.  Or  in  its  Territories  or  wherever  it  is. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  you  would  lament  the  day  when  we  should 
attempt  to  return  to  the  old  system  that  was  in  vogue  in  years  gone 
by  in  this  country  of  slavery  or  peon  labor,  as  well  as  serfdom,  or  the 
old  Mexican  system,  or  the  Chinese  system. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Oh,  yes.  Of  course,  I  do  not  favor  that.  I  believe 
in  America  for  Americans.  As  I  say,  I  do  not  believe  anybody 
should  be  admitted  to  this  country  unless  they  have  the  potential 
qualities  of  citizenship,  and  I  would  go  further  and  say  they  should 
not  be  allowed  to  remain  unless  they  learn  the  language.  I  think 
we  pay  too  little  attention  to  the  immigrant  after  he  gets  into  this 
country. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  a  question? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Hamlin,  you  say  you  believe  in  America  for 
Americans.  If  you  were  informed  that  the  sugar  industry  in  Hawaii 
which  has  been  under  control  of  American  capital  and  American 
managem-cnt  for  50  years,  was  in  danger  of  passing  out  of  their  hands 
within  a  comparatively  few  years  and  into  the  hands  of  an  oriental 
race,  if  something  was  not  done  to  check  such  a  turnover,  and  the 
only  method  which  is  feasible  to  check  that  turnover  is  to  bring  in 
some  Chinese  labor  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  under  restriction — 
a  rotating  immigration  plan,  which  would  not  produce  another  racial 
problem  within  the  United  States — would  you  prefer  that  no  such 
arrangement  be  made  for  securing  Chinese  labor  under  restrictions 
and  permit  the  indsutry  to  pass  over  into  the  hands  of  alien  control, 
or  would  you  prefer  to  see  some  such  arrangement  made  as  is  suggested 
by  this  resolution  ?     Are  3"ou  familiar  with  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes;  I  have  read  the  resolution.  I  would  answer 
that  in  this  way,  as  between  orientals,  and  I  speak  from  some  little 
experience,  because  when  I  was  a  young  man  and  came  West,  we  had  a 
good  deal  of  Chinese  labor  in  the  community  in  which  I  settled — as 
between  the  orientals,  I  think  the  Chinese  are  the  best.  Pie  is  honest, 
frugal,  and  so  on,  and  a  good  citizen.  He  pays  his  debts;  and  if  there 
is  a  danger  of  the  control  of  any  industry  passing  into  the  hands  of 
orientals,  if  it  were  a  country  where  the  oriental  performed  the  work, 
I  would  say  that  legislation  of  this  kind  might  be  justified.  That  is 
merely  my  personal  opinion. 


668  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  In  other  words,  you  would  prefer  to  see  this 
resolution  passed  and  the  relief  provided  in  preference  to  seeing  the 
industries  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  pass  into  the  hands  of  aliens  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes.  I  certainly  think  it  would  be  very  unfortunate 
if  the  industrial  control  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  should  pass  to 
Japan,  for  instance.  I  would  much  rather  see  a  mixture  of  labor 
than  to  have  that  eventuality  happen.  I  do  not  know  whether  there 
is  danger  of  that,  but  I  think  it  would  be  a  great  calamity. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Hamlin,  did  you  get  the  full  purport  of  Mr.  Dilling- 
ham's question  and  the  full  purport  of  your  answer  to  it  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  thought  so,  but  perhaps  not.     It  was  rather  long. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  it  was  quite  long,  and  I  wondered  whether  you 
fully  understood  it  or  not. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  thought  I  did  when  I  answered  the  question,  but  you 
put  it  in  3^our  way. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  put  it  in  this  way:  You  say  you  have  read  this 
resolution  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  studied  it  enough  to  realize  and  to  know 
that  this  resolution  inaugurates  in  a  Territory  of  the  United  States 
peon  and  contract  labor  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  can  not  say  that  I  got  that  impression  of  it.  As  I 
understand  the  term  ^^  contract  labor, "  as  we  had  it  in  the  old  days, 
the  agents  of  various  industries  would  go  abroad  and  make  a  fixed 
and  binding  contract  for  labor,  and  bring  it  here  and  place  it,  and 
would  be  able  to  hold  them  to  that  contract.  I  am  not  in  favor  of 
that  anywhere  or  under  any  conditions.  Of  course,  I  have  not 
given  the  resolution  as  close  study  as  you  have,  Mr.  Raker,  but,  as  I 
understood  the  resolution,  it  simply  provides  the  same,  as  the  Mexicans 
have  been  allowed  in  this  country  for  temporary  periods,  and  once 
here  he  has  a  right  to  hire  out  to  whomever  he  pleases. 

Mr.  Raker.  Oh,  no. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Then  I  do  not  understand  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  resolution  provides  that  they  can  work  at 
certain  kinds  or  classes  of  work,  designated,  upon  their  being  admitted 
into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  They  can  not  quit  that  work  and  go 
to  other  work. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  They  could  go  to  the  same  kind  of  work  under 
another  employer  1 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  that  is  a  question. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  do  not  know.     I  am  asking  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  know  about  that. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  am  not  stating  that,  but  just  asking  the  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  if  he  came  over  for  the  cane  fields,  he  could  not 
quit  and  go  to  the  city  and  go  into  the  restaurant  business,  or  he 
could  not  quit  the  pineapple  or  rice  or  sugar  business  and  go  intO' 
the  peanut  business  or  into  the  potato  business.  He  would  be  subject 
to  arrest  and  deportation. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  You  mean  if  he  went  from  one  form  of  agricultural 
labor  to  another  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  he  would  have  to  stick  to  that  one  particular 
class  of  work.  Now,  would  you  be  in  favor  of  bringing  labor  to 
Hawaii  or  to  any  other  place  under  conditions  whereby  you  could 


LABOn   PROBLExMS   IN    HAWAII.  669 

arrest  tliein  and  deport  them  if  they  did  not  follow  that  particular 
kind  of  labor. 

Mr.  Haivilix.  I  am  not  strong  on  this  arresting  and  deporting. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  that  is  a  clean-cut  proposition.  That  is  just 
what  this  resolution  means  and  nothing  else,  and  I  want  to  know, 
as  a  man  interested  in  the  sugar  business,  your  answer  to  that  ques- 
tion; that  is,  whether  you  are  in  favor  of  that  kind  of  labor  in  the 
United  States* 

Mr.  Hamlin.  No;  I  am  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  think  it  would  be  a  sad  day  when  we  returned 
to  the  old  days  of  contract  and  peon  labor,  and  slavery,  and  invol- 
untary servitude  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  can  not  be  done  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  We  do  not  want  it;  but  I  do  say,  as  I  stated  before, 
not  that  I  would  favor  it  even  there,  but  I  think  in  your  tropical 
possessions,  where  you  have  a  yellow  man's  country,  or  we  will  call 
it  that  for  the  purpose  of  designating  it 

Mr.  Raker.  We  have  only  two  such  places,  and  they  are  Hawaii 
and  Porto  Rico.     We  have  no  others. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Well,  there  are  the  Philippines. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  that  is  the  reason  I  asked  you  the  question  a 
while  ago  so  you  could  make  it  clear.  Hawaii  is  a  Territory  and  a 
part  of  the  United  States.  The  Philippines  are  an  insular  possession 
and  not  a  part  of  the  United  States.  Porto  Rico  is  a  Territory  and 
a  part  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  peonage.  I  am  not  in  favor  of 
any  of  those  laws  where  the  employee  is  reduced  to  virtual  slavery. 
I  would  not  say  that  a  condition  might  not  arise  where  he  should  be 
confined  if  the  necessity  existed. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  read  the  history  of  labor  in  this  country — 
slaver}",  peon  labor,  and  serfdom — and  you  have  read  the  history  of 
Cuba  with  its  revolting  history  of  labor,  and  you  have  read  over  the 
history  of  Mexico,  which  brings  the  blush  of  shame  to  any  man  who 
ever  participated  in  it,  and  also  the  history  of  some  of  the  old  coun- 
tries. It  has  all  been  eliminated  now,  save  and  except  the  interior 
of  Africa,,  and  they  are  trying  to  eliminate  it  in  Mexico.  Do  you 
believe  the  people  of  this  country  would  stand  for  one  minute  for  a 
return  to  any  form  of  labor  whereby  the  man  would  not  have  the 
right  of  free  circulation  or  where  he  could  be  held  as  a  peon  or  as  a 
slave  or  held  in  serfdom  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  No;  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  any  law  that  ever  intimated  or  permitted  that 
you  would  be  against,  would  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  if  any  business  in  this  country  requires  that 
kind  of  labor  we  had  better  quit  the  business  rather  than  to  turn 
back  to  the  days  of  peonage  and  serfdom  and  slavery. 

Mr.  Hamlin ."^  I  would  say,  so  far  as  the  business  which  I  represent 
is  concerned,  it  would  be  better  for  us  to  go  out  of  business,  with  our 
investment  and  all  that,  if  we  had  to  have  it.  . 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  make  a  statement  pertinent 
to  Mr.  Hamlin's  evidence  ?  Mr.  Hamlin  began  his  evidence  by  saying 
that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  had  issued  an  interview  to 


670  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AIL 

the  effect  that  we  understood  that  the  American  sugar  growers 
favored  the  resolution  on  the  ground  that  if  this  resolution  passed  it 
would  be  possible  for  American  sugar  growers  to  get  the  same  kind 
of  labor  and  under  the  same  conditions.  The  American  Federation 
of  Labor  did  not  issue  such  an  interview  or  circular.  What  has  been 
said  by  the  officials  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  based  upon 
evidence  presented  here  before  this  committee,  is  that  the  American 
sugar  growers  were  approached  and  it  was  signified  to  them  that  if 
they  favored  this  resolution  there  might  be  hope  for  them  some  day  to 
get  the  same  kind  of  accommodation.  We  have  that  upon  the  evi- 
dence and  upon  the  personal  statements  to  us  of  certain  sugar  growers 
in  the  United  States,  that  they  have  been  so  approached;  but  we  did 
not  say  that  they  consented  and  favored  this  resolution  upon  that 
ground.  We  do  not  believe  they  do;  in  fact,  what  evidence  has  been 
before  the  committee  is  to  the  contrary. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  Mr.  Wallace,  right  there,  will  you  just  give  the 
names  of  those  men,  the  sugar  growers  of  the  United  States  that  in 
substance  talked  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  and  said 
that  this  would  result  as  you  have  stated? 

Mr.  Wallace.  Mr.  Oxnard,  before  this  committee,  made  that 
assertion. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wallace.  And  Mr.  Rogers  made  that  assertion;  and  while 
they  were  rather  vague,  inasmuch  as  they  would  not  say  which  of  the 
commission  or  what  agent  of  the  commission  approached  them,  yet 
they  made  that  assertion. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Mr.  Wallace,  Mr.  Oxnard  said  he  talked  to  the  man 
two  minutes  and  did  not  know  his  name  and  would  not  know  him  if 
he  saw  him.  That  just  demonstrates  how  these  statements  that  are 
based  on  vague  statements  get  into  the  press.  I  learned  of  this  state- 
ment. I  did  not  see  it  here  in  Washington.  I  had  supposed  it  was 
in  your  records,  probably. 

I  learned  that  this  statement  had  been  given  out  here  in  Washing- 
ton, but  I  did  not  see  the  statement  itself.  I  said  that  this  appeared 
in  3^our  records,  probably,  but  I  could  not  find  it  here  this  morning; 
but  here  is  the  way  the  statement  was  carried  in  a  comparatively 
small  paper  in  my  home  town,  the  Colorado  Springs  Evening  Tele- 
graph, of  July  26,  1921.  It  is  a  Washington  dispatch  and  is  evi- 
dently an  Associated  Press  dispatch,  headed  ^\Sugar  interests  sup- 
port coolies."     The  article  reads  as  follows: 

The  effort  to  pass  legislation  permitting  the  importation  of  Chinese  coolies  into 
Hawaii  is  a  "conspiracy"  that  has  behind  it  their  eventual  admission  into  the  United 
States,  the  legislative  committee  of  the  American  Federation  of  I>abor  charge  in  a 
report  made  public  to-day.  Representatives  of  the  sugar  interests  of  Hawaii,  the 
report  said,  have  advised  sugar  men  of  this  country  not  to  interfere  with  the  enact- 
ment of  a  law  permitting  Chinese  coolies  to  come  into  Hawaii. 

Now,  as  I  said,  I  did  not  know  that  that  report  had  been  made, 
but  that  was  a  newspaper's  deduction  from  the  report  that  went 
broadcast  over  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  it  not  quite  natural  to  draw  the  inference  that  if 
the  sugar  interests  of  Hawaii  are  permitted  to  break  down  the  law 
and  obtain  contract  coolie  labor,  which  is  peon  or  serf  labor,  it  would 
be  only  the  entering  wedge  toward  supplying  the  sugar  interests  on 
the  mainland  with  the  same  sort  of  labor  ? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  671 

Mr.  Hamlix.  I  think  there  are  two  answers  to  that.  In  the  first 
phice,  I  think  there  is  no  such  (]isposition,  and,  further  than  that, 
anyhody  who  has  foUowed  lahor  legishition  in  this  country,  no  mat- 
ter how  desirahle  that  situation  might  be,  would  reahze  that  under 
the  Law  we  have  ah-eady  adopted 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  Under  the  thirteenth  amendment. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  All  right;  under  the  thirteenth  amendment,  although 
after  the  thirteenth  amendment  we  did  have  contract  labor  in  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  all  of  those  laws  have  been  held  unconstitutional. 

Mr.  Hamlix.  But  we  did  have  it.  It  was  in  vogue.  It  might  not 
have  been  presented  to  the  courts. 

Mr.  Raker.  ViHierever  there  has  been  a  decision  on  the  subject 
such  laws  have  been  held  unconstitutional.  What  I  asked  you  is 
this:  If  the  Hawaiian  sugar  interests  could  induce  or  persuade  Con- 
gress to  permit  this  kind  of  labor  to  come  into  Hawaii,  would  it  not 
be  an  easy  step  to  assume  that  the  sugar  interests  in  the  United 
States  vrould  ask  the  same  privilege  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  No,  sir;  I  would  not  think  so.  I  do  not  know  any- 
thing about  Hawaiian  conditions,  but  they  are  foreign  to  our  con- 
ditions. I  think  that  the  bringing  of  contract  labor  or  peon  labor 
into  the  United  States  is  so  repugnant  and  foreign  to  all  of  our  ideas 
that  it  is — — 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  You  overlook  the  fact  that  Hawaii  is  a 
part  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  do  not  know  their  conditions.  I  hold  no  brief  for 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  ^Yhat  difference  does  it  make  as  to  the  conditions? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  None  whatever,  so  far  as  peonage  is  concerned. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that,  if  they  could  by  any  means,  in  any  part  of  the 
United  States,  although  it  was  only  a  possession  or  Territory,  get  this 
sort  of  concession,  it  would  be  quite  natural,  or  it  would  look  quite 
feasible,  to  get  it  at  any  other  place  in  the  United  States,  would  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  do  not  think  so,  and  I  would  have  to  answer  no. 

Mr.  Wallace.  I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Oxnard 
and  Mr.  Rogers  have  stated  that  they  were  opposed  to  having  coolie 
labor  imported  into  the  United  States,  but  that  if  that  accommoda- 
tion was  given  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  they  would  also  require  that 
same  accommodation  here,  inasmuch  as  they  were  competitors. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  do  you  feel  about  that? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  have  felt  very  strongly 

Mr.  Weeber.  And  you  represent  half  of  the  beet  sugar  industry  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Not  half  of  it,  but  about  40  per  cent  of  it.  So  far  as 
the  Great  Western  interests  were  concerned,  I  wired  out  there. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  quite  natural  for  any  American  citizen  to  realize 
that  to-day,  because  in  the  event  he  was  trying  to  get  a  benefit  from 
the  Government,  he  could  not  stand  up  and  ask  for  coolie  contract 
labor  in  this  country 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Speaking  personally,  I  would  not  want  it.  I  would 
rather  see  the  business  go  out  than  have  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  do  your  associates  feel  about  it  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  In  the  same  way.     I  know  that  they  do  not  want  it. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  This  assuniption,  which  Judge  Raker  says  is  a 
natural  one  from  the  evidence  which  has  come  before  this  committee, 


"672  LABOR  PROBLEMS   lis    HAWAII. 

namely,  that  the  sugar  interests  in  this  country  would  be  interested 
in  bringing  Chinese  in  if  the  Hawaiians  got  Chinese,  or  if  they  got 
permission  to  bring  them  into  Hawaii,  and  that  therefore  there  was  a 
conspiracy  between  the  sugar  interests  of  the  mainland  and  of  Hawaii 
to  bring  Chinese  into  the  United  States 

Mr.  Eaker  (interposing).  No,  sir;  I  made  no  such  statement. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  did  not  so  understand  Judge  Raker. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  the  statement  put  out  here  by  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  tried  to  find  the  original,  but  I  did  not  find  it. 
I  saw  it  as  it  was  reported  by  the  Associated  Press. 

Mr.  Shaw.  The  question  has  been  asked  as  to  whether  you  were 
the  attorney  of  these  interests  or  represented  them  in  some  other 
way? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  am  both.  That  is  to  say,  I  am  a  lawyer  and  I 
have  been  more  or  less  active  in  tlie  managerial  sense. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Mr.  Dillingham  referred  to  a  statement  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.     What  is  that  statement  ? 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  tried  to  get  the  statement,  but  all  that  I  had  of  it 
was  what  was  carried  in  the  Associated  Press  dispatch  which  I  read 
here,  and  which  was  to  the  effect  that  there  was  a  conspiracy  between 
the  beet-sugar  growers  of  the  United  States  and  the  Hawaii  sugar 
planters  to  ultimately  introduce  Chinese  labor  into  the  United  States. 
That  is  practically  the  way  the  Associated  Press  carried  it  as  the 
statement  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  I  am  not  saying 
that  that  is  a  correct  or  proper  deduction  from  it,  but  I  am  simply 
showing  you  how  it  got  into  the  papers,  and  I  have  come  here  for  the 
purpose  of  denying  it. 

The  Chairman.  The  entire  statement  purporting  to  be  the  state- 
ment that  Mr.  Gompers  offered  the  press  is  printed  as  a  part  of  last 
Friday's  hearings. 

•  Mr.  Dillingham.  I  wanted  to  get  the  statement  here  to  see  what 
it  was.  We  are  trying  to  unravel  a  fact  that  is  based  on  a  statement 
purporting  to  have  come  from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  I  will  read  the  interview  given  by  Mr.  Gompers, 
the  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  as  it  appears  in 
our  hearing  of  last  Friday. 

(At  this  point  the  chairman  read  the  interview  of  Mr.  Gompers 
which  appears  in  the  record  of  Friday,  July  29,   192L) 

Mr.  Hamlin.  I  presume  that  those  two  last  lines  would  be  the 
ones  referring  to  the  matter  carried  by  the  Associated  Press. 

Mr.  Weeber.  That  was  not  the  interview.  It  was  printed  from 
some  advance  pages  of  the  American  Federationist. 

Mr.  LCamlin.  This  is  not  the  one,  but  it  is  a  statement  carried  by 
the  legislative  committee  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
That  was  carried  in  the  press. 

The  Chairman.  What  I  have  read  was  the  interview  given  out. 
The  other  matter  was  the  advance  sheets  from  the  forthcoming  number 
of  the  American  Federationist,  containing  a  report  of  the  legislative 
committee.  I  think  it  is  somewhat  similar  except  that  it  has  the 
first  telegram  from  Mr.  Wright  and  not  the  second  telegram  which 
made  some  modifications. 

These  advance  sheets  also  contain  wdiat  we  learned  the  other  day 
was  part  of  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Morrison  at  Denver.     In  this  report 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  673 

P  the  legislative  committee  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
:)nsisting  of  the  three  gentlemen  whose  names  were  given  the  other 
ay,  this  statement  is  made: 

The  conspiracy  to  admit  more  than  50,000  Chinese  coolies  into  Hawaii  for  any  pur- 
Dse  leaves  no  doubt  that  it  has  behind  it  the  idea  of  their  eventual  admission  into 
le  United  States.  Representatives  of  the  su«:ar  interests  make  no  secret  of  this  in 
,lking  to  those  they  believe  friends  of  the  bill.  Their  advice  to  the  sugar  men  in 
lis  country  who  it  can  be  said  are  opposed  to  the  bill  is:  Do  not  interfere  with  the 
lactment  of  a  law  permitting  Chinese  coolies  to  come  into  Hawaii.  It  is  an  entering 
edge;  if  we  get  them,  yoii  will  have  no  trouble  to  get  them  into  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  That  is  the  portion. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  May  I  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  no 
tatement  there  bearing  out  the  alleged  charge  that  there  is  a  con- 
piracy  between  the  sugar  planters  of  Hawaii  and  those  of  the  United 
tates  ?  It  states  there  is  a  conspiracy,  and  of  that  fact  there  is  no 
oubt  in  the  minds  of  those  representing  the  American  Federation  of 
iabor — -that  is,  that  a  conspiracy  exists  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  deny  that  there  is  any  such  conspiracy.  We 
Topose  to  be  open  and  above  board  in  every  particular.  We  have  a 
ommission  here  that  was  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Hawaii  under 

concurrent  resolution  passed  by  the  I^egislature  of  Hawaii,  and  the 
harge  of  a  conspiracy  is  entirely  unwarranted  and  not  supported  by 
,ny  of  the  facts. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  the  committee  understands,  and  it  is  giving 
,  good  deal  of  its  time  to  these  hearings  because  of  the  fact  that  the 
ommission  which  is  here  comes  from  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii.  A 
esolution  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii,  and  for  that 
eason  we  believe  that  we  should  go  into  it  as  fully  as  we  can.  Mr. 
lamlin,  the  committee  thanks  you  for  your  statements. 

I  meant  to  ask  you,  Mr.  Gompers,  when  you  were  here  the  other 
[ay,  if  we  could  get  hold  of  Mr.  Keefe. 

Mr.  Gompers.  There  is  no  doubt  you  can. 

The  Chairman.  Where  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  saw  him  for  a  moment,  and  only  for  a  moment, 
in  last  Saturday. 

The  Chairman.  In  connection  with  suppressed  or  withheld  reports 
>r  papers,  I  feel  that  a  whole  lot  of  our  trouble  in  regard  to  oriental 
)eople  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  never  been  able  to  secure  the 
)asis  of  the  gentleman's  agreement,  and  I  feel  that  this  committee  is 
Lcting  largely  in  the  dark  on  Japanese  matters  for  want  of  those 
)apers. 

Mr.  Gompers.  My  impression  is  that  we  were  not  discussing  Jap- 
inese,  but  Chinese. 

The  Chairman.  The  question  in  my  mind  is  what  to  do  with  the 
lawaiian  Islands  with  43  per  cent  Japanese  population,  a  large  part 
)f  that  43  per  cent  being  American-born  Japanese. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  do  not  know,  and  I  will  not  assert  it,  but  if  my 
inemory  serves  me  right,  or,  at  least,  I  have  somehow  got  the  im- 
)ression  that  last  Friday  you  said  that  the  most  important  thing 
or  Hawaii  was  sugar.  If  that  statement  was  made  by  you,  sir,  as  a 
itizen  and  as  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  I 
esent  it.  I  regard  as  the  most  important  thing  in  Hawaii  man  or 
aanhood. 

56754— 21— SEE  7.  pt  2 9 


674  LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  merely  sphtting  hahs,  and  the  record 
will  show  what  I  said.  Just  what  I  said  was  that  the  basic  industry 
of  the  island  is  sugar,  that  the  various  business  enterprises  they 
have  out  there  rest  largely  upon  sugar,  and  that  without  the  sugar 
business  you  would  not  have  much  prosperity  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  But  there  are  different  methods  by  which  sugar  can 
be  produced  profitably  without  following  the  present  method  of 
using  peon  labor,  Japanese  labor,  or  Chinese  labor. 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  has  gone  at  considerable  length 
into  the  labor  troubles  of  Hawaii  since  long  before  her  acquisition  by 
the  United  States,  and  going  back  to  the  days  of  the  monarchy.  We 
have  made  a  study  of  the  work  of  the  Hawaiian  Immigration  Board. 
We  have  seen  the  situation  of  Hawaii  in  that  regard  as  a  republic, 
when  she  turned  back  some  Japanese  laborers,  and  then  we  have 
seen  her  as  a  Territory  of  the  United  States  forced  to  apologize  for  that 
action  and  pay  $75,000  in  damages  and  admit  the  Japanese.  Finally 
we  have  run  into  the  situation  created  by  the  ^'gentlemen's  agree- 
ment," and  I  am  wondering  if,  as  we  have  been  in-formed,  the  ' 'gentle- 
en's  agreement"  has  a  separate  provision  as  to  Hawaii,  and,  if  so^ 
where  Hawaii  gets  off  in  the  long  run. 

Mr.  Kaker.  Would  it  not  be  proper  to  say  that  while  it  was  a 
monarchy,  they  admitted  Chinese,  and  that  the  residents  of  Hawaii 
then  arose  and  demanded  the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese,  while  the 
sugar  planters  were  in  favor  of  admitting  the  Chinese,  and  they 
fought  it  out.  The  sugar  planters  said  that  they  could  not  exist 
without  the  Chinese,  but,  after  a  long  struggle,  the  people  of  Hawaii: 
excluded  the  Chinese  through  their  legislature,  and  they  had  them 
excluded  when  the  islands  became  a  part  of  the  United  States.  My 
recollection  is  quite  clear  on  that,  and  the  record  will  show  that  there 
was  a  memorial  by  the  sugar  planters  making  it  clear  as  to  what  the}^ 
wanted. 

In  that  connection,  I  hope  that  Mr.  Keefe  will  come  forward  so 
that  he  can  make  a  statement  with  regard  to  the  length  of  time  it 
took  me  to  get  the  Keefe  report.  After  I  got  the  report,  I  obtained 
permission  from  the  House  to  have  it  published  as  it  appears. 

Mr.  Box.  Will  you  have  inserted  in  the  record  the  date  of  the  act 
by  the  Hawaiian  government  by  which  they  excluded  Chinese? 
There  has  been  some  reference  to  such  an  act.  That  was  prior  to 
annexation. 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  long  before;  following  the  Gary  Act.  The 
Chinese  comprised  one-fourth  of  the  population  of  Hawaii  at  that 
time.  The  native  population  has  always  been  declining  since  Capt. 
Cook  made  the  discovery  of  the  islands,  and  they  have  always  main- 
tained their  population  by  some  form  of  immigration.  The  Chinese 
were  going  into  the  small  trades  and  businesses,  and  thereupon  the 
people  became  afraid  that  they  would  be  orientalized  through  the 
Chinese  and  excluded  them. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Have  you  read  the  memorial  that  was  presented  at 
that  time  by  the  sugar  planters  ?  It  is  not  in  exactly  the  same  words 
as  this  resolution,  but  it  is  very  similar  to  the  resolution  that  is  pre- 
sented by  the  governor  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  to-day. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  you  are  perfectly  right  in  stating 
that  this  committee  has  gone  into  the  history  of  immigration  into  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.     We  have  gone  into  it  also,  and  one  fact  must 


LABOR   PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  675 

3ome  to  the  fore,  and  that  is  that  the  people  of  Hawaii  for  40  ^years 
have  reahzed  that  the  only  way  to  secure  American  control  of  that 
country  was  to  keep  the  races  in  balance.  Pointing  back  to  the 
[Chinese  problem,  when  we  realized  that  the  Chinese  were  getting  a 
numerical  strength  out  of  proportion  to  the  other  nationalities  in  the 
country  we  put  the  clamps  down.  At  the  time  of  annexation  and 
prior  to  annexation  we  called  attention  to  the  fact  that,  unless  some- 
thing was  done,  by  virtue  of  Japanese  immigration  to  Hawaii  the 
Japanese  would  get  out  of  balance  with  the  other  races  and  the 
30untry  w^ould  get  out  of  American  hands.  For  23  years  that  matter 
las  at  different  times  been  called  to  the  attention  of  Congress.  To- 
iay  Mr.  Gompers  and  others  are  insisting  that  our  problem  can  be 
solved  in  some  way  other  than  that  w^e  have  suggested.  No  such  plan 
las  been  put  forward  by  them,  but  I  want  to  say  that  there  is  sufficient 
atitude  in  the  resolution  passed  by  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  to  give 
IS  the  opportunity  of  meeting  any  constructive  remedy  which  may 
3e  suggested  here  in  Washington.  The  resolution  which  is  before 
3his  committee  to-day  was  prepared  here  in  Washington.  It  is  true 
:hat  we  believe  that  Chinese,  or  a  limited  number  of  Chinese,  ad- 
nitted  under  certain  restrictions  would  relieve  this  situation  to-day. 
[f  there  is  a  better  way,  we  want  to  know  it.  We  do  not  know  of  any 
)ther  way.  We  believe  that  this  is  the  best  way.  If  it  is  a  question 
)f  whether  or  not  Hawaii  shall  go  over  to  the  control  of  an  alien 
lationality  and  American  control  cease,  we  protest  and  urge  that 
something  be  done  to  make  secure  American  control  of  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  The  problem  now  before  the  committee  is  this: 
[t  is  admitted  here  that  the  Japanese  are  there  in  suflicient  numbers 
;0  endanger  the  maintenance  of  the  islands  by  this  country  as  an 
American  territory.  You  have  a  considerable  number  of  Filipinos, 
rhe  testimony  of  Mr.  Keefe,  when  it  comes,  or  as  you  will  see  from 
.his  report,  will  show  that  he  assailed  the  Filipinos  in  very  bitter 
anguage.  The  present  proposition  is  to  bring  in  Chinese.  All  of 
Iiese  propositions  are  detrimental  to  the  bringing  in  of  any  sort  of 
European  labor,  which  probably  would  not  come  to  Hawaii  unless  it 
vere  poverty  stricken  and  illiterate.  Where  will  you  go  to  draw  your 
ine  ?  If  you  bring  in  Chinese  for  a  period  of  five  years,  you  will  have 
nade  it  that  much  more  oriental  and  that  much  more  unlikely  to 
ittract  European  immigration,  e^en  if  we  should  relax  the  law  so 
is  to  admit  the  illiterate.  Therefore,  at  the  end  of  five  years,  your 
)osition  would  still  be  oriental,  with  Japanese  there  and  still  coming 
hrough  the  picture-bride  method  and  otherwise.  They  will  be  cer- 
ain,  in  my  opinion,  through  peaceful  penetration,  in  time  to  exercise 
;omplete  control  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  I  think  that  is  the 
)roblem. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  the  problem. 

The  Chairman.  Whether  this  resolution  or  some  modification  of 
he  same  offers  a  temporary  solution  is  the  question.  I  think  it  will 
)e  a  matter  of  comparatively  few  years  before  the  sugar  plantations 
dll  be  in  the  actual  control  of  the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  peculiar  thing  is  this — and  I  have  given  the 
natter  study  and  investigation  for  16  years — that,  so  far  as  I  can 
ind,  there  has  been  no  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Hawaiian  people, 
►efore  any  committee  of  Congress,  or  otherw^ise,  to  restrict  Japanese 
tnmigration,  but  there  have  been  two  long  and  hotly  contested  mat- 


676  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

ters  before  this  committee  when  they  sought  Chinese  labor,  and  both 
of  them  were  defeated  mianimously.  This  is  the  third  time  the  matter 
has  been  presented  to  this  committee. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Did  I  understand  Mr.  Raker  to  say  that  the 
Territory  has  previously  asked  Congress  for  legislation  for  the  admis- 
sion of  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  I  did  not  say  that.  I  said  that  there  had  been 
two  questions  brought  before  Congress,  one  eight  years  ago  and 
another  one  three  years  ago 

Mr.  Kalanianaole  (interposing).  Proposed  by  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  it  was  not  by  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  want  to  make  it  clear  that  this  is  the  first 
time  since  I  came  here  to  Congress  that  the  Territorial  government 
has  asked  Congress  for  relief  of  this  kind. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  was  not  one  of  the  bills  of 
which  Judge  Raker  speaks  before  the  Committee  on  Territories  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Not  the  Hindle  bill;  that  was  the  United 
Chinese  Society's  bill  that  they  sent  Mr.  Hindle  here  to  ask  for. 
The  bill  you  refer  to  was  the  bill  to  prohibit  the  employment  of  aliens 
on  Federal  public  works. 

The  Chairman.  And  that  was  before  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories. As  a  matter  of  fact,  you  started  the  plan  to  take  oriental 
labor  or  Asiatic  labor  off  of  Federal  works  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Right  there  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Gompers 
something.  He  said  he  wanted  '^men"  there.  Now,  at  the  last 
election  in  Hawaii  the  labor  unions  in  Hawaii  opposed  me  at  the 
election  on  this  same  proposition  of  Americanization  in  the  rehabili- 
tation bill.  That  provides  for  Americanization  of  public  works  by 
prohibiting  the  employment  of  aliens  on  Federal  public  works.  That 
was  the  first  time  that  a  representative  from  Hawaii  had  ever  come 
to  Congress  asking  for  such  protection  for  American  labor,  and  the 
labor  unions  of  Plawaii  opposed  me  on  that  proposition  at  that  elec- 
tion. 

Mr.  McClellan.  Is  it  not  true  that  the  beneficial  results  from 
that  part  of  the  rehabilitation  bill  are  greater  than  from  any  other 
part  of  that  bill  ?   '  . 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  at  lea^t  so  far  as  the  laboring  man  is 
€oncerned. 

Mr.  Wright.  On  the  point  the  Delegate  has  just  raised,  I  wish 
to  make  a  correction.  In  the  first  place,  the  labor  unions  did  not 
oppose  Mr.  Kalanianaole  at  the  last  election — that  is,  did  not  go  on 
record  as  opposing  him — although  the  sentiment  of  the  organizations 
was  opposed  to  the  rehabilitation  bill,  but  it  was  absolutely  not  for 
that  reason  at  all;  it  was  opposed  to  the  rehabilitation  bill  that  was 
before  the  Congress  at  that  time  because  it  was  the  general  sentiment 
that  that  bill,  if  passed,  would  put  an  end  to  homesteading.  That 
was  the  sole  ground  upon  which  organized  labor  opposed  the  rehabili- 
tation bill. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  labor  men  knew  that  this  labor  section) 
for  the  Americanization  of  the  islands  was  in  that  bill,  and  Mr.; 
Tyson,  president  of  the  labor  union  at  that  time,  notwithstanding: 
that  knowledge,  came  out  with  a  statement  opposing  me  generally 
on  that  bill.     They  publicly  opposed  me  on  the  whole  bill  without! 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAn.  677 

any  reservation  wh<a,tsoever.  The  most  important  matter  in  that 
bill  so  far  as  organized  hibor  is  concerned  was  the  Americanization 
section  and  yet  the  labor  unions  opposed  that,  a  matter  that  was  of 
vital  interest  to  the  Hawaiian  laboring  people.  Why  ?  Because  we 
wanted  our  country  to  be  run  by  Americans  and  not  Asiatics,  and 
yet  the  labor  unions  opposed  it. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  And  that  is  the  reason  why  you  want  to  bring  in 
Chinese  coolies  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  is  not  the  reason  at  all,  but  the  reason  is 
that  Hawaii  and  the  Hawaiian  people  have  been  knocking  at  the 
doors  of  Washington  for  relief  for  years  but  Washington  has  not 
granted  that  relief.  Ever  since  annexation  I  am  on  record  for  the 
Americanization  of  those  islands,  and  why  do  not  those  who  stand 
for  Americanization  here  stand  for  something  that  will  help  the 
Hawaiian  people  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Let  me  answer  that  question  by  saying  this:  That 
the  relief  you  ask  to  Americanize  Hawaii  is  to  bring  Chinese  coolies 
into  Hawaii.    That  is  3^our  system. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Before  annexation  we  had  our  labor  laws. 
Hawaii  is  not  a  new  country,  and  we  solved  the  problem  of  our  labor 
through  labor  laws  which  permitted  us  to  bring  in  laborers  in  such 
a  way  as  to  maintain  a  balanced  population  and  we  had  no  such 
racial  issues  as  we  have  had  since  annexation.  We  had  laws  barring 
the  Japanese  from  Hawaii,  but  when  annexation  came,  the  American 
laws  allowed  them  to  flood  Hawaii,  with  the  result  that  they  are  now 
in  numerical  control.  And  now  Hawaii  is  appealing  to  Congress  for 
relief  from  a  situation  which  is  a  result  of  no  act  of  our  own.  That  is 
our  situation.  You  have  allowed  the  Japanese  to  come  into  Hawaii, 
and  we  ask  you  to  solve  the  problem  for  us  and  make  it  an  American 
Territory. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  By  permitting  Chinese  coolies  to  come  into  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes;  to  overcome  the  preponderance  of 
Japanese  population  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  have  allowed 
to  come  into  Hawaii.  We  believe  the  Chinese  are  the  only  ones  that 
can  overcome  that  preponderance;  and,  while  we  propose  this  as  an 
emergency  relief  measure,  we  want  you  to  pass  permanent  immigra- 
tion laws  to  allow  white  people  from  Europe  to  come  into  Hawaii 
and  make  that  a  white  man's  country. 

Mr.  Wallace.  Will  they  come  and  compete  with  the  Chinese? 
Will  any  white  man  compete  with  those  you  have  there  now,  the 
Filipinos,  for  instance  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  Filipinos  have  as  much  right  there  as 
anybody  else. 

Mr.  W^allace.  Absolutely,  and  more  so  than  the  Chinese. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  The  Chinese  would  not  compete  with  any 
white  men  at  all  under  the  terms  of  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Wallace.  They  will. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  But  they  can  not  do  so  under  this  resolu- 
tion. It  is  all  up  to  the  committee  here.  If  they  see  fit  to  pass  such 
a  resolution  as  this,  it  is  up  to  them  to  restrict  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
protect  citizen  labor,  but  if  they  do  not  pass  it  we  are  delivered  into 
alien  hands. 

Mr.  Box.  I  have  read  somewhere  that  your  Government,  prior  to 
annexation,  sent  a  commission  to  Japan  and  finally  succeeded  in 


678  LABOR   PROBLEMS   lis^   HAWAII. 

inducing  Japan  to  consent  to  the  importation  of  a  lot  of  Japanese 
laborers — is  that  correct  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  When   was   that? 

Mr.  Box.  It  must  have  been  during  the  kingdom. 

Mr.  Kalanl\naole.  Yes;  that  was  done  by  the  Government. 

Mr.  Box.  And  some  thousands  were  brought  in. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Oh,  yes;  but  when  we  saw  that  we  were  going 
to  be  dominated  by  a  certain  race  we  stopped  them  from  coming  in, 
because  we  could  not  allow  any  one  alien  race  to  dominate. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  you  now  have  a  large  number  of 
Japanese  in  the  islands.  Their  presence  there  has  brought  about 
an  acute  economic  and  racial  condition. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  to  remedy  that  condition 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  are  asking  you  to  give  us  a  remedy  for  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  To  remedy  that  condition  you  are  seeking  to  have 
brought  in  Chinese  contract  labor  which  will  go  out  in  the  fields  and 
take  the  places  of  these  Japanese — is  that  right  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  is  not.  No  Chinese  would  replace  a  single 
Japanese.  We  are  coming  to  you  and  advising  you  of  the  condition 
in  Hawaii,  and  we  believe  that  the  provision  of  a  balanced  popula- 
tion is  the  only  way  to  solve  the  racial  problem  we  have  there.  If 
you  do  not  believe  in  the  solution  we  are  presenting  to  you,  for  God's 
sake  give  us  something  else,  but  do  not  condemn  us  for  coming  over; 
here  and  trying  to  save  ourselves.  It  seems  as  though  you  think  we 
are  a  bunch  of  damned  crooks  and  that  we  are  trying  to  sneak  some- 
thing through  Congress;  while,  as  Mr.  Dillingham  has  stated,  this 
commission  ha.s  been  sent  here  ofRcially.  We  strongly  resent  any 
such  intimations. 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing) .  Let  me  ask  you  a  question. 

Mr.  Free.  I  do  not  believe  Mr.  Kalanianaole  understood  your  last 
question.  You  asked  him  whether  they  were  not  trying  to  get  in 
Chinese  convicts  to  do  this. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  I  did  not.     I  said  Chinese  contract  laborers. 

Mr.  Chairman.  You  would  be  willing  to  accept  the  complete 
exclusion  of  orientals  from  the  islands  and  the  United  States,  too  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  It  is  up  to  you  to  solve  that.  W^e  have  had 
racial  questions  in  Hawaii  for  many  years  and  we  have  solved  them, 
but  now  it  is  a  question  for  you  gentlemen  to  solve;  and,  unless  it  is 
solved,  it  is  going  to  be  the  same  question  that  arose  in  the  South. 
If  you  send  this  commission  back  to  Honolulu  without  this  problem 
solved  by  Congress,  you  will  find  that  the  Japanese  will  feel,  and  so 
state  publicly,  that  the  United  States  is  afraid  to  exclude  Japanese 
and  afraid  to  admit  Chinese.  ''The  Americans  are  afraid  of  us 
Japanese,"  they'll  say,  and  they  will  act  in  accordance.  That  is  the 
situation.  I  tell  you  that  you  must  solve  our  problem  and  not  let 
it  continue  until  a  condition  arises  in  Hawaii  similar  to  the  condition 
that  arose  in  the  South,  and  let  lynch  law  solve  it.  Solve  it  now  while 
the  situation  is  such  as  will  enable  you  to  solve  it  without  international 
difiSculty. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  down  in  Fresno  somebody  took  the 
Japanese  and  put  them  on  the  train  and  sent  them  out  of  Fresno. 
You  want  legislation  whereby  we  can  go  to  China  and  bring  over 

Mr.  Kalanianaole  (interposing).  The  Fresno  situation  is  not 
similar.     I  do  not  want  you  to  go  anv  further  with  that  until  I  am 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  AIL  >679 

through.  You  sent  these  shiploads  of  Japanese  and  put  them  in 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  The  people  there  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  dumping  of  those  Japanese  into  the  islands,  and  we  are  coming 
to  3"0u,  who  dumped  them  in  there,  to  solve  the  problem  that  they 
make  to-dav  for  Hawaii.  We  did  not  bring  them  into  Hawaii;  you 
did  it. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  suspend  this  line  of  debate.  Mr.  Wright 
is  here  and  we  will  proceed  to  hear  him.  Are  you  ready  to  go  on  with 
your  statement,  Mr.  Wright  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  I  guess  so. 

The  Chairman.  You  said  you  have  been  in  the  islands  about  how 
long? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  stated  I  had  been  in  the  islands  about  four  years, 
a  little  less  than  four  years. 

The  Chairman.  You  visited  how  many  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  visited  on  two  of  the  islands;  I  have  been  on  two 
islands — the  islands  of  Oahu  and  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  made  a  study  of  the  sugar-plantation 
business  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  not  made  an  exhaustive  study  of  it;  no.  I 
worked  on  a  plantation  in  Hawaii  for  three  months,  and  that  is  all 
the  plantation  work  I  have  done. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  sent  here  as  a  delegate  from  the  trade - 
unions  of  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  I  have  credentials. 

The  Chairman.  Are  there  trade-unions  in  other  parts  of  the 
islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Other  than- — - 

The  Chairman  (interposing).  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Wright.  There  are  members  of  our  organizations  in  the  other 
islands,  but  no  local  branches.  i 

The  Chairman.  Just  who  sends  you. 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Honolulu  central  labor  body. 

The  Chairman.  You  come  from  the  Honolulu  organization  and 
not  from  any  that  may  be  at  Hilo  or  Maui  or  anywhere  else  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  no  lodges  on  the  other 
islands;  our  members  on  the  other  islands  are  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Honolulu  lodges. 

The  Chairman.  About  what  did  you  say  was  the  membership  of  the 
labor  unions  in  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  said  that  at  the  present  time  the  membership  had 
probably  dropped  to  1,200. 

The  Chairman.  Is  it  dropping  off? 

Mr.  Wright.  Although  I  am  not  positive. 

The  Chairman.  Has  the  membership  come  down  a  little  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  membership  has  come  down;  yes. 

The  Cpiairman.  What  is  the  cause  of  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  pretty  hard  to  tell,  Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  Has  industry  let  down  a  little  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  A  good  many  of  our  people  who  are  from  the  States — 
mechanics — have  returned  to  the  States.  Then  we  had  trouble  with 
the  telephone  company;  the  electrical  workers  were  involved  in  a 
quarrel  with  the  telephone  company,  and  as  a  result  the  membership 
of  the  electrical  workers  fell  oil  considerably. 


680  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IIT   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Are  there  many  electrical  workers  on  the  Island  of 
Oahu? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  in  our  organization  there  were  at  one  time  over 
200  members. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  employed  in  the  navy  yard  at  Pearl 
Harbor — is  that  right  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  And  your  work  is  that  of  a  machinist  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  paid  directly  by  the  Federal  Government  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  by  the  Federal  Government. 

The  Chairman.  Are  all  the  employees  paid  in  that  way  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  All  the  employees  in  the  navy  yard  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Oh,  yes. 

The  Chairman.  Were  there  any  orientals  at  work  there? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  are  no  orientals  working  in  the  navy  yard. 

The  Chairman.  Were  there  any  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  have  been  some,  I  understand,  working  on 
contract  works,  and  that  is  especially  true  of  contract  works  under 
the  Army. 

The  Chairman.  What  I  want  to  get  at  exactly  is  this:  In  Pearl 
Harbor,  as  far  as  you  know,  up  to  the  passage  of  this  recent  law, 
which  was  a  part  of  the  rehabilitation  bill,  were  there  Japanese 
laborers  employed,  or  other  orientals,  or  alien  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  you  include  Filipinos  as  alien  laborers  ? 

The  Chairman.  No. 

Mr.  Wright.  During  the  war  I  believe,  Mr.  Chairman,  there  were 
quite  a  few  aliens  employed  in  the  navy  yard,  but  immediately  after 
the  war  an  order  was  issued  by  the  Navy  Department,  I  understand, 
which  absolutely  eliminated  all  aliens  from  employment  in  the  navy 
yard. 

The  Chairman.  Can  you  make  any  estimate  as  to  the  number  of 
orientals  that  have  been  eliminated  from  Federal  employment  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  From  Federal  employment  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Directly  and  on  contract  work  under  the  Federal 
Government  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  has  been  variously  estimated  at  from  5,000  to 
10,000,  but  up  to  the  time  I  left,  which,  you  understand,  was  only  a 
few  days  after  this  went  into  effect,  there  had  been  no  authoritative 
statement  issued,  aside  from  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  Hono- 
lulu Advertiser  on  July  2,  which  I  ask  to  have  inserted  in  the  record. 

(The  article  is  as  follows :) 

■  i 

MANY  ALIENS  TO  BE  THROWN   OUT  OF  WORK  HERE — PASSAGE   OF  REHABILITATION  BILE 
MEANS    DISCHARGE    OP   5,000    FROM    FEDERAL    WORK — -WILL    AID    PLANTERS. 

Operation  of  the  rehabilitation  bill,  which  now  has  been  passed  by  both  Houses, 
will  release  from  Federal  employment — and  probably  make  available  for  employment 
on  sugar  plantations^about  5,000  aliens  now  employed  on  Armv  and  Navy  and  other 
Federal  Government  work  in  the  islands.  Thus,  although  the  immediate  effect  may 
be  to  paralvze  construction  work  at  Schofield  Barracks  and  elsewhere,  the  plantations 
will  be  enabled  to  speed  up  the  grinding  of  the  sugar  crop,  which  is  behind  schedule. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS    IN"    HAWATL  681 

The  Chairman.  When  that  went  into  effect,  were  these  orientals  — 
and  I  take  it  they  were  mostly  Japanese — immediately  dropped  from 
the  works  ?  n 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  they  were,  immediately  upon  the  signing  of 
that  bill  by  President  Harding. 

The  Chairman.  Were  there  other  people  ready  to  take  their  places  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  To  take  the  places  of  these  men  who  were  dropped 
off? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  In  some  of  the  lines  there  probably  were. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  know  in  detail  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  the  thing  in  detail,  because  it  all  took 
place  so  shortly  before  I  left. 

The  Chairman.  In  your  opinion,  will  the  men  who  were  dropped 
off  the  Federal  works  go  to  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  were  the  men  who  had  come  originally  from  the 
plantations,  a  large  portion  of  them,  and  in  our  conversation  with  Mr. 
Butler,  the  labor  secretary  of  the  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  and 
who,  by  the  way,  is  also  a  member  of  the  American  Legion  and  very 
proud  of  the  fact  that  this  was  put  over  through  the  efforts  of  the 
American  Legion — in  our  conversation  with  him  he  developed  the  fact 
that  in  his  opinion  about  2,000  of  those  men  who  were  released  would 
be  immediately  available  for  plantation  work,  and  he  said  that  would 
have  an  effect  upon  the  problem.     That  is  the  way  he  put  it  to  us. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  left  the  islands  you  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  a  shortage  of  labor  on  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  On  the  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  left  the  islands,  you  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  a  shortage  of  labor? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  had  realized  for  some  time  that  there  was  a  shortage 
on  the  plantations;  yes. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  go  away  on  business  of  this  kind,  do  you 
quit  your  Federal  job  or  take  a  furlough? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  on  furlough;  I  have  a  leave  of  absence,  part  with 
pay  and  part  without  pay,  from  the  commandant  at  Pearl  Harbor  to 
come  to  the  mainland  and  present  data  and  information  that  we  have 
collected  on  the  conditions  in  Hawaii  and  on  the  cost  of  living  es- 
pecially before  the  Navy  Wage  Board,  which  is  about  to  convene. 
The  fact  that  I  was  coming  here  on  that  proposition  was  one  of  the 
reasons  that  I  was  chosen  as  delegate  from  the  central  labor  body, 
because  it  was  felt  that  expense  could  be  saved  in  that  way,  and  that 
two  birds  could  be  killed  with  one  stone,  you  might  say,  by  combining 
the  missions. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  authorized  by  the  commandant  of  the 
navy  yard  to  make  these  presentations  on  the  cost  of  living  and  wage 
adjustment. 

Mr.  Wright.  Before  the  wage  board;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  understand  that  you  are  authorized  to  do 
that  by  the  commandant  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  authorized;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Does  he  pay  some  of  your  traveling  expenses  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Oh,  no. 

The  Chairman.  He  is  just  interested  in  having  you  make  that 
presentation  ? 


682  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IX   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Chairman,  as  a  new  member  of  this  committee  I 
have  consumed  very  little  time  of  this  committee.  I  think  one 
morning  I  asked  two  questions;  I  started  to  ask  three,  but  finished 
with  two.  This  committee  has  been  sitting  here  for  about  a  month. 
We  have  been  listening  to  statements  made  by  members  of  a  commis- 
sion from  Hawaii,  representing  the  Government  and  appointed  by  the 
governor  of  the  Haweaian  Islands,  and  those  men  seem  to  be  the 
authorized  agents  of  those  islands.  Their  statements  have  been 
open  and  aboveboard  and  have  been  quite  interesting. 

At  first  I  was  inclined  to  sit  back  and  listen  to  questions  by  some 
of  the  older  members  of  the  committee,  several  of  whom,  I  think, 
know  about  as  much  as  can  be  known  about  this  question,  but,  since 
Mr.  Wright's  first  telegram  came,  I  have  been  made  to  realize  the 
seriousness  of  some  of  the  charges  he  has  made.  I  have  gone  into 
this  thing  a  little  bit  individually  and  I  would  like  the  indulgence  of 
the  committee  for  a  little  while  to  ask  quite  a  number  of  questions, 
if  I  may. 

The  Chairman.  Go  ahead. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  you  testified  on  Friday  that  you  went  to 
Hawaii  in  1917,  and  that  you  had  been  employed  as  a  machinist 
since  that  time.  Have  you  ever  been  on  a  sugar  plantation,  except 
for  the  time  of  your  visit  on  or  about  July  2  of  this  year,  subsequent 
to  your  conference  with  representatives  of  the  sugar  planters  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Have  I  been  on  a  plantation  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  vforked  on  a  plantation  as  a  machinist. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  kind  of  machinist  work  were  you  doing  on  the 
plantation  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  General  mill  repair  and  overhaul  work. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  had  nothing  to  do  with  field  machinery  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Nothing  to  do  with  the  field  machinery;  no. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Did  you  have  anything  to  do  with  the  field  management 
of  these  various  sugar  plantations  ?  . 

Mr.  Wright.  Personally,  no. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  do  not  have  any  first-hand  knowledge  of  the 
plantation  work  there;  that  is,  gained  from  experience  on  the  planta- 
tions ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Then,  you  have  never  done  any  so-called  field  work  on 
sugar  plantations  in  Hawaii  or  any  place  else  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Have  you  ever  visited  any  plantation  outside  of  the 
island  on  which  you  live  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Where? 

Mr.  Wright.  On  the  island  of  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  many  days  altogether  have  you  spent  on  sugar 
plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  How  many  days  altogether  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  stated  I  had  worked  three  months  on  this  planta- 
tion in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Shaw.  On  that  one  plantation  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  683 

Mr.  Wregiit.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  did  not  understand  that.  But  that  work  was  wholly 
with  the  machinery  in  the  mill  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  that  was  my  work. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Just  ¥/liat  do  you  know  about  sugar,  as  a  matter  of  fact  ? 
Is  that  ail  the  experience  you  have  had  in  the  sugar  business,  just 
your  three  months'  work  in  this  mill  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  all  the  personal  experience  I  have  had,  yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  long  did  you  say  it  takes  a  sugar  crop  to  mature  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  A  sugar  crop  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  supposed  to  take  18  months. 

Mr.  Sha-W.  What  kind  of  attention  does  it  require  in  the  ground 
and  while  it  is  growing  ?  Can  you  describe  the  operations  of  pro- 
ducing a  crop  of  sugar? 

Mr.  ¥i^RiGHT.  The  entire  operations  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Why,  I  think  I  can,  in  a  general  way.  Do  you  want 
me  to  go  into  detail  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  You  understand  that  the  ground  has  to  be  prepared; 
the  old  stools  are  plowed  under  and  the  ground  is  prepared,  furrowed, 
and  the  seed  planted;  then  the  seed  is  covered  and  given  its  first  irri- 
gation, and  after  that  nature  does  its  work,  assisted  b}^  the  cultivators. 
The  cane  is  given  irrigation  at  certain  intervals,  I  do  not  know  how 
frequently,  and  when  it  requires  it,  it  is  cultivated,  hoed  by  hand  and 
weeded. 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  many  times  do  they  cultivate  it  in  a  season  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  differs  on  the  different  plantations,  I  believe. 
I  understand  that  the  plantation  of  Olaa,  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii,  has 
reduced  the  cultivation  to  a  very  marked  extent  by  use  of  the  paper 
mulching  system  on  this  plantation.  The  seed  cane,  after  it  is  first 
irrigated,  is  covered  with  a  peculiar  kind  of  paper  that  is  manufac- 
tured from  the  waste  products  of  the  cane.  It  is  something  like 
building  paper  in  rolls;  it  is  laid  over  the  cane,  and  this  paper  kills 
the  growth  of  weeds ;  it  is  easily  broken  by  the  sharp  point  of  the  cane 
shoot  as  it  comes  up,  and  it  also  retains  the  natural  moisture  of  the 
soil,  and  is  considered  to  be  a  very  improved  method. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  the  pulp  from  the  stock,  left  after  the  sugar  is 
squeezed  out  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  after  the  sugar  is  squeezed  oilt  this  fiber  is  put 
through  a  process  which  brings  it  to  the  form  of  paper,  and  it  is  then 
used  for  that  purpose.  That,  of  course,  reduces  the  necessity  for 
cultivation  on  that  plantation,  but  I  believe  it  has  not  been  followed 
to  any  extent  on  other  plantations.  Of  course,  after  the  cane  is  up 
and  closes  the  field  over  there  is  no  more  cultivation.  Then  the 
problem  is  simply  one  of  irrigation  and  fertilization.  The  fertilizer, 
I  believe,  is  applied  through  the  irrigating  water  in  solution,  sacks  of 
nitrate  being  dumped  into  the  ditches  according  to  instructions 
issued  by  the  chemist.'  That  goes  on  and  the  cane  grows  until  it  is 
ready  for  the  harvest.  I  believe  the  cane  blooms  first,  and  then 
immediately  after  blooming  I  think  it  is  supposed  to  be  ready. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  it  supposed  to  be  ready  when  the  bloom  falls  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  that  is  the  case. 


684  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Shaw.  At  what  season  of  the  year  is  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  practically  a  rotating  proposition;  that  is,  you 
understand,  we  have  no  seasons  as  we  have  here,  and  it  depends  on 
when  the  ^ane  was  planted;  so  many  months  after  it  is  planted  it 
reaches  that  stage  of  maturity.  Then  the  problem  is  to  get  the  field 
cleared  off  as  economincally  as  possible,  and  on  most  of  the  planta- 
tions the  fields  are  burned  over,  which  burns  up  the  dry  leaves  and 
leaves  the  stalks  of  cane — blackened  stalks  of  cane.  Then  after  that 
the  cutting  gang  goes  in  and  cuts  the  cane;  it  is  stripped  wherever 
necessary  and  the  tops  cut  off,  trimmed  up,  and  left  in  shape  to  be 
loaded  on  the  cars;  then  the  loading  gang  loads  it  on  the  cars  and  it 
is  hauled  to  the  mill.  The  cars  are  hauled  to  the  mills  on  railroad s^ 
the  plantations  running  roads  a  certain  distance  apart,  150  feet,  I 
believe,  or  300  feet,  and  it  is  taken  to  the  mill  and  crushed.  That  is. 
the  cycle  of  the  operation,  so  far  as  I  understand  it. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  this  cane  cut  by  hand  or  by  machinery? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  cane  is  cut  altogether  by  hand. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  it  topped  after  it  is  cut  or  before  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  it  is  usually  topped  at  the  same  time,  but  I 
am  not  positive  on  that,  because,  as  I  say,  I  never  went  into  the 
fields. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  I  would  like  to  know  just  what  facts  you 
based  your  first  cablegram  on.  That  is,  on  the  date  of  that  message^ 
what  information  did  you  have  and  where  did  you  get  it,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  statements  by  the  Hawaiian  commission  before  thi& 
committee  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  In  regard  to  the  fact  of  their  misrepresenting  con- 
ditions ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes;  and  all  other  facts  mentioned  in  your  telegram. 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  will  say  that  largely  our  impression  was  gained 
from  the  newspapers  published  in  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  say  your  impression  was  gained.  Do  you  mean 
to  say  that  that  statement  was  not  based  on  facts  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  say  the  statements  that  they  made  were  misrepre- 
senting conditions.  Of  course,  we  were  not  here  present  in  Washing- 
ton and  had  absolutely  no  way  of  knowing  except  through  the  reports 
that  were  given  out  there  as  to  what  was  being  done  here  at  Wash- 
ington. 

We  believed,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  labor  situation  had  been 
greatly  exaggerated,  at  least  the  criticalness  of  the  situation.  We 
admitted  there  was  a  certain  labor  shortage,  but  it  seemed  to  us  a 
misrepresentation  to  attribute  all  the  ills  of  the  Territory  to  this  one 
factor,  as  we  were  led  to  believe  was  being  done. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  did  not  mean  to  be  positive,  then,  that  it  was- 
being  misrepresented,  but  you  thought  from  the  facts  you  gathered 
from  the  newspapers  that  that  was  probably  the  case. 

Mr.  Wright.  Certainly.  That  is  the  only  way  in  which  we  could 
secure  any  information. 

Mr.  Shaw.  When  you  were  under  the  impression  that  they  were 
misrepresenting  conditions,  just  what  particular  misrepresentation 
did  you  have  in  mind  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  will  state,  as  I  stated  before,  that  the  matter- 
was  discussed  and  different  delegates  from  the  central  body  expressed 
their  opinion.     I  will  state  that  that  was  one  of  the  points  upoA  which 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  685 

WO  bolievod  thoy  were  misrepresenting  conditions,  attributing  all 
the  ills  of  the  Territory  to  the  labor  shortage;  and  another  thing,  we 
believed  from  cross-examination  of  Mr.  Dillingham,  when  Mr.  Raker 
tried  to  bring  out  a  definite  statement  that  coolies  or  Chinese  under 
bond  were  desired,  the  report  carried  the  impression  that  this  issue 
was  being  evaded  and  the  real  intention  concealed.  Of  course,  that 
might  not  come  under  the  head  of  misrepresentation  of  conditions. 

Mr,  Raker.  Where  is  that  in  the  record  ?  I  have  been  trying  to 
find  that  colloquy  in  the  record.  Do  you  know  where  that  was  ?  I 
have  been  looking  for  it  for  a  couple  of  days. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  in  this  record  which  has  just  been  printed. 
You  have  not  seen  that  record  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  had  not  seen  the  record  until  this  morning. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  I  want  you  to  understand  that  I  have  not 
any  special  interest  in  this  matter  except  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  ail  any  of  us  want.  We  were  discussing 
misrepresentation  when  Judge  Raker  interrupted  a  moment  ago. 

Mr.  Dillingham's  statement  as  to  the  setback  to  the  pineapple 
industry  appealed  to  us  as  misrepresentation,  for  we  knew  that  the 
pines  were  coming  off  at  least  two  weeks  ahead  of  season  and  that 
the  fields  and  canneries  had  plenty  of  labor  to  handle  an  abnormally 
large  crop.  No  extensive  advertising  was  necessary  this  year  to 
secure  all  the  labor  required,  and  offers  of  blocks  of  labor — in  hundred 
lots — was  turned  down,  according  to  information  given  by  the  Fili- 
pino labor  agencies.  There  was  a  standing  ad.  in  one  of  the  papers 
offering  all  kinds  of  Filipino  labor.  The  propaganda  carried  on  there 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  backing  up  the  commission's  request  gave 
us  the  impression  that  the  commission  was  not  really  striving  for  a 
solution  of  a  probtem  but  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  very  definite 
objective,  namely,  the  admission  of  Chinese  coolie  labor  into  the 
Territory.  We  felt  that  to  insist  that  such  a  program  constituted 
the  only  solution,  or,  in  fact,  constituted  any  actual  solution  to  the 
problems  of  the  Territory  was  the  rankest  kind  of  misrepresentation. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  since  you  have  discussed  the  cablegram  generally, 
let  us  take  it  up  point  by  point.  You  stated  that  statistics  in  your 
possession  indicated  that  there  was  no  actual  labor  shortage  in  the 
Territory.     Have  you  those  statistics  with  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  state  in  regard  to  the  statistics  in  our  posses- 
sion that  the  commission,  I  believe,  has  claimed  that  6,000  laborers 
were  required  at  present  to  fill  the  shortage.  Mr.  Butler  stated  to 
us  that  5,000  was  all  that  could  be  absorbed  within  the  next  18 
months.  Mr.  Hall  stated  that  2,000  within  the  next  two  months 
would  probably  be  all  they  could  handle.  We  figured  that  Mr.  Hall 
was  very  near  the  mark;  in  fact,  a  little  under  our  mark.  We  had 
assumed  that  about  3,000  would  fill  the  present  shortage.  Conse- 
quently, we  felt  that  the  amount  of  shortage  was  being  overestimated. 

We  were  positive  from  inquiries  we  had  made  that  this  shortage  of 
2,000  or  3,000  could  easily  be  filled  locally.  All  the  other  industries 
except  pineapples  were  slacking  down,  and  men  were  being  laid  off, 
and  we  find  that  there  is  a  large  class  of  casuals  or  men  engaged  on 
occasional  jobs,  or  temporarily  employed,  who  ought  to  be  figured 
as  available  for  steady  work,  and  it  was  reported  to  us  that  there 
were  1,000  idle  Filipinos  and  2,000  idle,  or  only  occasionally  employed, 
laborers   of   other  nationalities   who   would   be   available   on   short 


686  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  ( 

notice  for  any  kind  of  laborer's  work,  requiring  groups  or  blocks  of 
men.  The  reports  were  made  to  us  during  the  investigation  that  was 
carried  on  through  a  committee  of  the  central  body.   . 

Mr.  Free.  Pardon  me  just  a  moment  right  there,  Mr.  Wright. 
You  say  reports  were  made.     Who  was  making  those  reports  to  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Our  committee  members  who  had  been  asked  to 
make  these  investigations.  So  far  as  signed  statem^ents  are  con- 
cerned, we  can  not  give  you  any  signed  statements,  because,  I  will 
state  to  this  committee,  the  people  do  not  dare  to  put  their  names 
to  anything  that  might  become  public  for  fear  it  would  result  in  their 
being  discharged  or  blacklisted.  That  is  an  absolute  fear  that  our 
people  are  working  under. 

Mr.  vShaw.  Who  do  you  mean  by  ''our  people,"  Mr.  Wright? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  mean  the  working  people,  the  people  who  are 
dependent  for  their  living  upon  jobs.  Whether  that  theory  is 
justified  or  not,  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  say,  but  it  is  an  absolute 
fear,  a  fear  of  coming  out  publicly  with  any  statement  that  might 
be  construed  in  that  wa}^. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  there  not  some  way  in  which  you  can  determine 
whether  or  not  that  theory  is  justifiable  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  say  that  in  our  opinion  there  has  been  a  black- 
list system  eft'ective  on  the  islands.  Of  course,  it  is  denied  absolutely 
by  the  plantation  interests  and  the  employers  of  labor. 

Mr.  vShaw.  And  you  do  not  have  any  positive  proof  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  tell  you,  gentlemen,  that  we  tried  to  get  a  bill 
through  the  last  legislature  prohibiting  blacklisting,  and  we  failed 
absolutely.  They  refused  to  pass  that  bill.  It  is  perfectly  evident 
that  we  have  no  data  of  any  kind  that  could  be  submitted  to  this 
committee  as  statistics. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Then  your  statement  was  based  upon  statistics 

Mr.  Wright  (interposing).  Statistics  that  had  been  given  to  us. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Statistics  described  in  this  testimony  by  you  as  having 
been  prepared  by  yourselves  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Then  you  did  not  secure  any  information  from  any 
other  source  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  committeemen,  you  understand,  made  inquiries- 
of  the  employment  agencies,  and  also  made  inquiries  of  the  heads  of 
the  different  labor  organizations,  and  as  a  result  of  the  reports  that 
were  given  to  them,  they  reported  to  the  central  body  wtat  condi- 
tions they  found.  You  appreciate  we  were  not  in  any  position  to 
carry  on  a  canvass  of  tiie  territory  or  anytliing  of  that  kind;  but  I 
will  state  again  what  I  stated  before,  that  the  thing  we  wanted,  the 
thing  we  want  now  more  than  anything  else,  is  an  absolute  showdown 
on  this  proposition;  an  authoritative  investigation  by  some  Federal 
agency  wnich  will  absolutely  determine  what  we  can  not  ourselves 
determine.  That,  I  believe,  is  the  thing  we  asked  for  in  the  very 
start. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  how  many  laborers  are  employed  on  the 
sugar  plantations  and  how  many  were  there  employed  last  month? 

Mr.  Wright.  How  many  laborers  are  employed  on  all  the  sugar 
plantations  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Whight.  I  have  not  the  information  for  last  month;  no. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  687 

Mr.  vSHAA\^  Would  a^ou  recall  it  if  you  heard  the  number? 

Mr.  Wright.  Of  all  nationalities? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes;  all  laborers. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  would  say  that  I  presume  there  are  about  37,000 
or  38,000. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Are  there  not  about  38,600?     Is  not  that  about  right? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  would  not  recognize  those  figures;  no. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  know  how  many  there  were  employed  in  June, 
1920,  on  the  sugar  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  In  June,  1920 — I  think  I  can  give  you  May,  1920. 
The  only  sources  of  information  we  have  on  those  points  are  the  pub- 
lished statistics.  All  nationalities,  44,285  in  June,  43,371  in  May, 
skilled  and  unskilled,  including  contractors,  according  to  the  gov- 
ernor's report. 

Mr.  Shaw.   1920? 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  Yes;  1920. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  was  it  in  1919  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Forty-five  thousand  three  hundred  and  eleven. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  voti  think  there  is  a  real  labor  shorta2;e  existing;  in 
the  islands  now  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  I  do  not;  that  is  my  personal  opinion.  I  do  not 
think  there  is. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  your  personal  judgment. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  just  my  personal  opinion.  I  believe,  if  any- 
thing, so  far  as  plantation  labor  is  concerned,  there  is  an  over-supply; 
that  is,  so  far  as  the  ordinary  lower  level  of  labor  is  concerned, 
because  I  believe  this  discharge  of  aliens  from  Federal  construction 
work  has  released  enough  men,  together  with  those  unemployed  and 
casually  employed,  to  fill  the  plantation  vacancies  for  the  present; 
that  is,  the  present  plantation  requirements.  Now,  if  it  comes  to  the 
problem  of  supphdng  this  deficiency  that  has  been  created  in  Federal 
construction  work,  then  that  is  another  problem  entirely.  That  is  a 
problem  that  should  be  solved  by  the  taking  over  of  unemployed 
white  citizens  from  the  United  States.  You  understand  that;  that 
is  where  that  shortage  could  be  supplied  by  white  labor,  and  I  will 
state  further,  we  have  contended  all  along,  and  our  efforts  have  been 
directed  with  this  point  in  view,  of  keeping  the  Japanese  on  the  plan- 
tations as  far  as  possible.  Our  fear,  our  menace,  has  been  the  upward 
crowding  of  the  Japanese,  and  we  have  believed  that  any  means  that 
could  be  devised  to  keep  the  Japanese  on  the  plantation  where  he  was 
originally  brought  to  do  his  work,  would  be  the  solution  of  the 
problem. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  mean  to  say  bringing  in  other  laborers  would 
advance  the  Japanese  and  that  that  would  furnish  you  competition  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Unquestionable  it  would.  The  Japanese  would  ^ 
yield  to  the  pressure  from  below  of  this  lower  grade  of  orientals  that 
are  brought  in  underneath  them,  and  absolutely,  they  would  crowd 
out  those  at  \h.^.  top,  and  we  who  consider  ourselves  on  the  top  level 
would  be  the  ones  crowded  off"  the  islands.  That  is  the  way  we  look 
at  it. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  you  said  in  your  cablegram  that  men 
were  driven  from  the  plantations  by  intolerable  conditions. 

Mr.  Wright.  Which  I  amended  by  dropping  the  word  ^intoler- 
able." 


/ 


•i 


688  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  amended  that  in  the  second  cablegram  to  Mr.  Wal- 
lace, which  was  read  on  Friday.  Now,  I  would  like  to  know  just  why 
you  made  such  a  serious  charge,  knowing  it  would  be  presented  to  a 
committee  of  Congress,  and  then  found  reason  within  a  week  to 
retract  that  charge. 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  you  are  harping  on  the  use  of  the  word  '^  intol- 
erable." 

Mr.  Shaw.  No;  I  am  not  harping  on  anything.  I  just  want  to 
know  what  the  conditions  are  there.  I  want  to  know  why  you  made  a 
statement  like  that  and  then  had  to  retract  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  confessed  to  the  committee  an  error  of 
judgment  in  using  the  word  "intolerable."  That  is  all  I  can  do  so 
far  as  that  is  concerned.  Omitting  that  word,  the  statement  would, 
be  that  the  ''men  are  driven  from  the  plantations  by  conditions. 
Men  who  are  driven  from  the  plantations  by  the  conditions  are  still 
available  if  paid  a  living  wage. " 

Mr.  Shaav.  Now,  what  are  the  conditions  under  which  they  have 
been  driven  from  the  plantations  'I 

Mr.  Wright.  The  conditions  could  be  classified  in  two  ways. 
First,  there  is  the  simple  question  of  a  living  wage.  That  is  included 
in  the  conditions  under  which  the  men  work.  And  the  second  is  the 
arbitrary,  autocratic  way  in  which  they  are  treated  and  all  their 
requests  for  adjustments,  wage  adjustments,  or  wage  changes  are  not 
only  denied  but  are  refused  consideration.  That  in  itself  has  created 
among  all  the  plantation  laborers — -I  am  not  speaking  of  the  Japa- 
nese; I  am  speaking  of  all  of  them^ — a  feeling  of  antagonism  and  dis- 
content. The  men,  as  far  as  I  can  find,  have  been,  or  consider  that 
they  have  been,  illtreated  in  their  efforts  to  get  what  they  consider 
adequate  living  conditions. 

Mr.  Free.  May  I  interrupt  right  there,  Mr.  Weight?  Is  it  not  a 
fact  that  they  made  tremendous  salaries  during  the  last  year  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  they  have  not  been  paid  any  tremendous  sala- 
ries.    They  have  been  paid  a  bonus. 

Mr.  Free.  I  am  referring  to  the  bonus. 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  Yes;  they  have  been  given  a  bonus. 

Mr.  Free.  And  they  made  more  than  you  did  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Some  of  them  did,  and  some  of  them  did  not. 

Mr.  Free.  Have  they  any  complaints  in  the  world  on  the  wages 
they  have  been  paid  in  the  last  year  in  Hawaii  on  sugar  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  What  is  that  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Have  they  any  complaints  on  the  wages  that  they  have 
been  given  for  the  work  they  have  done  during  the  last  year  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  You  mean  up  to  the  time  sugar  took  this  drop  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  think  they  have  any  complaint  as  to  the 
amount.     The  only  complaint  they  had  was  to  the  principle  involved. 

Mr.  Free.  What  principle  was  involved  ?  If  they  got  good  wages 
and  good  living  quarters,  what  were  they  kicking  about  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  principle  of  a  bonus  in  itself. 

Mr.  Free.  They  did  not  want  the  bonus  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  As  near  as  I  can  understand  it,  they  would  have  pre- 
ferred a  steady  basic  wage  that  would  raise  them  to  a  permanent 
higher  economic  level,  rather  than  to  be  dependent  upon  a  fluctuat- 


LABOR  PEOBLEMS   IN"    HAWAII.  689 

ing  schedule  of  bonuses  that  was  given  to  them  as  a  gift  and  could 
be  taken  away  at  any  time.     That  was  the  idea,  I  believe. 

Mr.  Free.  Then  they  were  not  fighting  on  account  of  the  amount 
of  money  they  were  getting  or  on  account  of  the  living  quarters,  but 
were  fighting  because  they  wanted  a  higher  basic  wage  instead  of 
getting  a  larger  amount  of  money  throuofh  a  bonus;  is  that  right? 

Mr.  Wright.  Are  you  speaking  of  conditions  previously  or  condi- 
tions existing  at  the  present  time.  I  am  speaking  of  present  condi- 
tions. 

Mr.  Free.  Present  conditions  have  only  come  on  in  the  last  few 
months. 

Mr.  Wright.  Under  the  present  conditions,  you  understand,  the 
bonus  has  practically  been  eliminated. 

Mr.  Free.  But  you  were  speaking  of  trouble  that  was  created  there 
in  the  islands  and  complaints  that  were  made  by  the  workers  and 
that  must  have  been  a  year  ago,  because  there  has  not  been  any  late 
trouble,  has  there  ?  In  other  words,  they  were  kicking  while  they 
were  getting  this  big  money,  were  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Last  year  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  they  had  been  kicking  for  some  time  because 
they  did  not  believe,  as  I  understand  it,  that  the  system  was  a  proper 
system,  but  I  do  not  know,  and  of  course  I  am  not  sufficiently  in 
touch  with  those  people  to  know  just  what  it  was  that  they  demanded. 
All  I  know  is 

Mr.  Free  (interposing) .  All  you  know  is  that  despite  the  fact  they 
were  getting  bigger  wages  than  the  mechanics  in  the  islands  and 
despite  the  fact  they  were  getting  good  living  quarters,  yet  they  had 
it  in  for  their  employers ;  that  is  the  fact,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  will  tell  you  this 

The  Chairman.  Suppose  we  let  Mr.  Shaw  go  ahead  with  his  series 
of  questions. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  ought  to  answer  the  question  first. 

Mr,  Wright.  I  believe  what  the  gentleman  was  trying  to  arrive  at 
was  in  regard  to  the  strike  of  last  year.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
whether  or  not  they  were  justified;  that  is  another  matter;  but  the 
fact  remains  that  they  were  defeated  in  that  strike  and  were  beaten 
down  and  crushed,  and  as  a  result  of  that  these  feelings  were  engen- 
dered, which  result  in  the  present  shortage  of  labor  and  in  the  present 
lowering  of  efficiency. 

The  Chairman.  A  little  later.  Judge  Raker  and  myself  and  some 
others  want  to  take  up  the  matter  of  that  strike  at  some  length,  but 
for  the  present  we  will  let  Mr.  Shaw  continue. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  in  connection  with  the  question  that  Mr. 
Free  asked,  when  you  said  that  enough  laborers  can  be  procured  if 
paid  a  living  wage,  what,  in  your  opinion,  is  a  living  wage  for  planta- 
tion workers,  and  do  you  still  believe  that  such  laborers  are  not  paid 
a  living  wage. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  a  rather  involved  question. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  made  the  statement,  did  you  not,  that  if  the  labor- 
ers on  the  sugar  plantations  were  paid  a  living  wage  there  would  be 
a  sufficient  number  of  laborers  in  the  islands  ? 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  2 10 


690  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  .think  I  stated  ^hat  they  would  be  drawn  back  to 
the  plantations;  that  laborers  wrT^  be  turned  back  to  the  planta- 
tions if  paid  a  living  wage. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  all  comes  down,  of  course,  to  the  basis  of  a  living 
wage. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  what  do  you  consider  a  living  wage  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  At  present  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  In  the  neighborhood  of  $2.50  or  $3  a  day,  I  would 
say;  that  is,  for  orientals,  those  at  the  lowest  subsistence  level,  which 
would  not,  of  course,  be  according  to  American  standards. 

Mr,  Shaw.  What  would  it  be  according  to  American  standards  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  According  to  American  standards,  a  living  wage 
would  amount  to  something  in  the  neighborhood  of  $8  or  $9  a  day; 
that  is,  for  a  person  in  a  skilled  mechanical  trade. 

Mr.  Shaw.  In  a  skilled  mechanical  trade  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Would  you  advocate  the  planters  paying  that  price  for 
their  laborers,  for  these  unskilled  laborers  on  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  For  unskilled  laborers  I  could  not  recommend  that,  no. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Just  what  do  you  recommend  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  problem  of  the  adjustment 
of  wages  ought  to  be  based  upon  an  investigation  which  would  in- 
volve the  cost  of  living  at  the  level  and  under  the  standards  of  the 
class  for  which  the  adjustment  is  made. 

Mr.  Shaw.  And  that  has  not  been  gone  into,  and  you  are  not  pre- 
pared to  say  now  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No  ;  that  is  one  of  the  things  we  ask. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  I  am  informed  that  there  are  about  50  of 
these  large  sugar  plantations  down  there.  On  how  many  of  these 
plantations  have  you  ever  made  a  personal  investigation  as  to  hous- 
ing, sanitary  conditions,  and  general  living  conditions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  A  personal  investigation  myself  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Oh,  I  will  state  that  I  have  only  been  on  four  different 
plantations — three  recently,  and  one  a  couple  or  three  years  ago. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Have  you  inspected  those  thoroughly  enough  to  say 
you  are  familiar  with  the  conditions  on  those  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  absolutely.  This  inspection  was  at  the  time 
when  Mr.  Butler  and  Mr.  Hall  took  our  committee  around  on  the 
plantation  to  show  us,  and,  as  I  stated  before,  I  believe  there  were 
certain  things  we  asked  to  see  which  we  did  not  have  time  to  see ;  but 
so  far  as  our  observation  went  and  things  our  attention  was  called  to, 
we  do  not  have  any  particular  kick  against  the  sanitary  systems  at 
present  installed  or  against  the  living  quarters.  Of  course,  there  are  I 
field  camps  that  are  not  up  to  date,  but  the  efforts  of  the  plantations 
have  been,  I  will  state  frankly,  in  the  past,  in  the  past  year  or  year 
and  a  half,  to  improve  the  conditions  wherever  possible.  There  was 
quite  a  bit  of  trouble  at  the  time  of  the  ''flu"  epidemic  and  there 
was  considerable  criticism  at  that  time  in  regard  to  the  handling 
of  the  cases. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  did  not  that  same  criticism  prevail  through- 
out the  United  States  pretty  generally  at  that  time  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAW  AIL  691 

Mr.  Wright.  It  may  have;  in  fact,  there  are  conditions  here  in  the 
United  States  that  are  worse  than  the  conditions  on  the  Hawaiian 
sugar  pLantations  so  far  as  housing  and  sanitary  conditions  are 
concerned. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  condition  that  you  spoke  of  applied  in  my  own 
home,  and  I  had  a  pretty  good  home  at  that  time;  that  is,  at  the 
time  of  the  '^flu"  epidemic.  That  is  not  quite  an  analogous  case, 
is  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Oh,  no. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  Mr.  Wright,  I  have  understood  that  the  earnings 
of  the  laborers  on  the  islands  in  1920  were  pretty  high,  and  that  the 
Japanese  alone  were  able  to  send  $17,000,000  home  to  Japan;  do  you 
know  anything  about  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  how  much  they  sent 
home. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  would  represent  prosperity  among  the  laborers  if 
that  is  true,  would  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  sent  that  much  money  out  of  the  country? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes;  to  Japan. 

Mr.  Wright.  $17,000,000? 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  what  I  understand. 

Mr.  Wright.  And  found  no  opportunity  for  investing  it  in  our 
country  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  It  is  not  the  principle  of  the  Jap,  is  it,  to  invest  in  our 
country  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No.  That  is  what  we  wish  to  bring  out,  that  it  is  not 
the  policy  of  the  Japanese  to  invest. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  know  how  much  they  sent  home  in  that  year  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  do  not  know  personally.  You  have  given  me 
the  figures,  $17,000,000. 

Mr.  Shaw.  It  is  hearsay  on  my  part,  because  I  have  not  looked  it 
up.  Is  it  not  true  also  that  the  Filipino  laborers  sent  substantial 
amounts  of  surplus  earnings  back  to  their  country,  and  is  it  not  true 
that  the  director  of  the  Philippine  Bureau  of  Labor  reported  that  the 
conditions  in  Hawaii  were  so  favorable  that  special  and  added  induce- 
ments had  to  be  offered  Filipinos  in  their  own  country  in  order  to 
keep  them  from  going  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  that  is  the  substance  of  that  Varona 
report  to  which  I  made  reference  in  the  telegram.  The  conditions  of 
the  Filipinos  at  the  time  of  the  strike,  and  immediately  after,  were 
not  very  desirable,  it  is  generally  understood,  and  the  Filipino 
Government  sent  Mr.  Varona  as  a  labor  commissioner  to  investigate 
conditions.  Mr.  Varona  made  a  tour  of  the  plantations  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  and  inspected 
all  the  plantations,  and  made  a  complete  report,  which  I  believe  so 
far  has  been  confidential  and  not  accessible;  but  he  recommended 
certain  things  in  addresses  to  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Asso- 
ciation, and  I  believe  that  his  recommendations  have  been  put  into 
effect.  Then  he  came  on  to  the  United  States  and  on  his  return 
stopped  in  Honolulu  and  there  was  a  banquet  there  of  the  Hawaiian 
sugar  planters  and  Mr.  Varona  and  the  officials  of  the  Filipino 
laborers'  organization.  It  was  in  the  nature  of  a  sort  of  love  feast, 
you  might  say,  and  everything  had  been  fixed  up,  and  as  a  result  of 


692  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

that,  Mr.  Varona  before  his  departure  gave  out  an  interview  to  the 
paper,  which  is  referred  to  in  that  letter,  in  which  he  said: 

Mr.  Varoua  believes  that  one  result  of  his  labors  in  Hawaii  mil  be  an  influx  of 
Filipino  labor  into  the  islands.  AVhen  the  results  of  his  mission  are  published  in  the 
Philippines,  he  asserts,  the  misgivings  of  the  Filipinos  as  to  the  treatment  that  they 
can  expect  here  will  be  dissipated  and  they  will  tiock  to  Hawaii  in  increasing  number^. 

(The  text  of  the  article  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

Varona  Promises  Loyalty  on  Part  of  Filipinos  in  Hawaii. 

"I  can  assure  the  planters  that  there  will  be  no  more  trouble  from  the  Filipinos  in 
Hawaii, ' '  said  Francisco  Varona,  special  labor  commissioner  of  the  Philippine  Govern- 
ment,_  at  an  aloha  dinner  to  him,  given  by  the  Filipino  community  at  the  Young  Hotel 
last  night. 

"  I  do  not  consider  this  dinner  as  an  honor  paid  to  me  alone  but  to  the  entire  Filipino 
community, "  said  Senor  Varona.  ''It  is  the  first  time  that  the  Filipinos  and  Ameri- 
cans here  have  ever  gotten  together.  The  Filipinos  are  playing  their  part  in  the 
cosmopolitan  orchestra  of  Hawaii  and  we  want  to  play  without  discord.  We  are  a 
peace-loving  people,  and  we  want  to  be  better  understood.  We  have  been  so  often 
mistreated  in  the  past  that  we  have  mistrusted  everybody." 

Senor  Varona  has  been  in  Hawaii  since  last  October,  with  the  exception  of  two 
months  on  the  coast  studying  conditions  among  the  people  of  his  race  there.  He  will 
leave  by  the  Wolverine  State  for  Manila  to  make  his  report  to  the  insular  government. 

Rev.  B.  T.  McKapagal  acted  as  toastmaster  at  the  dinner.  Approximately  200 
guests  were  present. 

Gov.  Charles  J.  McCarthy  said  that  when  Senor  Varona  arrived  in  Honolulu  the 
governor  told  him  that  he  would  be  given  every  opportunity  to  investigate  conditions 
in  the  Territory. 

"He  has  investigated, ' '  said  the  governor,  "and  has  told  us  plainly  what  he  thought 
should  be  done  and  it  is  being  done.  I  consider  Hawaii  a  great  agricultural  uni- 
versity for  the  Filipinos  and  I  believe  that  those  Filipinos  who  have  taken  a  course  of 
study  in  this  univeristy  are  grateful  for  what  it  has  taught  them. ' ' 

J.  M.  Dowsett,  speaking  for  the  H.  S.  P.  A.,  said  that  the  planters  would  like  to 
welcome  Senor  Varona  back  to  Hawaii  as  the  permanent  resident  commissioner  from 
the  Philippines.  Mr.  Dowsett  said  that  he  was  sure  Senor  Varona 's  report  to  his 
government  would  be  absolutely  fair  and  impartial. 

Other  speakers  were  Pablo  Manlapit,  for  the  Filipino  laborers;  Miss  Soledad  Abary, 
of  the  Filipino  nurses  in  Hawaii;  and  Sam  }3.  Trissel,  of  the  Advertiser. 

[Star-Bulletin,  Hawaii,  Wednesday,  June  22,  1921. J 
Varona  Will  Praise  Policy  of  Sugar  Men. 

PHILIPPINES   commissioner  DECLARES   NEW   UNDERSTANDING  PROMOTES   GOOD    WILL — ■ 
THINKS  FAVORABLE  REPORT  MAY  INDUCE  LARGE  NUMBERS  TO  COME  HERE  TO  WORK. 

An  area  of  better  understanding  has  been  reached  in  the  industrial  relations  between 
the  Philippine  Islands  and  employers  of  Hawaii  and  the  mainland,  in  the  view  of 
Francisco  Varona,  Philippine  labor  commissioner,  who  departed  for  Manila  on  the 
Wolverine  State  last  night  after  devoting  several  months  to  an  investigation  of  condi- 
tions in  Hawaii  and  the  coast  States. 

Mr.  Varona  asserted  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  that  he  is  returning  home  with  the 
conviction  that  his  visit  has  paved  the  way  for  the  elimination  of  all  misunderstandings 
which  have  led  to  industrial  strife  in  the  past. 

"We  understand  you  better  and  you  understand  us  better,"  said  Mr.  Varona.  In 
a  phrase,  that  is  the  secret  of  the  present  situation.  In  the  past  only  a  mutual  failure 
to  reich  this  happv  condition  has  prevented  complete  cooperation  and  accord. 

"The  Filipino  has  it  in  him  to  be  a  moral  and  an  industrial  asset  to  any  community 
in  which  he  happens  to  be  living.  Hawaii  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  There  has 
been  a  tendency  in  the  past  to  forget  that  the  present  generation  of  Filipinos  who 
have  left  their  own  country  to  seek  a  foothold  elsewhere  are  barely  getting  a  start. 
Better  result:  <^%n  be  accomplished  by  trying  to  help  them  up  instead  of  keeping  them 
down.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  as  the  result  of  the  missionary  work  along  this  line  that 
has  been  done  on  the  mainland  and  in  Hawaii,  this  fact  is  coming  to  be  generally 
recognized. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  693 

"can  depend  on  planters. 

''We  feel  that  we  can  depend  absolutely  upon  the  sugar  planters  and  other  employers 
of  Hawaii  to  take  a  broad  and  generous  view  of  the  Filipino  labor  problem  from  now 
on.  Employers  here  have  shown  me  every  courtesy  and  consideration  and  have  put 
themselves  to  great  pains  to  assist  me  in  carrying  out  my  mission.  They  met  me, 
perhaps,  a  little  more  than  half  way,  and  strengthened  the  conviction  which  I  had 
entertained  from  the  first,  that  beneath  the  surface  of  all  apparent  disagreements  and 
misunderstandings  was  a  mutual  ignorance  of  motives  and  purposes." 

Mr.  Varona  believes  that  one  result  of  his  labors  in  Hawaii  Vill  be  an  influx  of 
Filipino  labor  to  the  islands.  AMien  the  results  of  his  mission  are  published  in  the 
Philippines,  he  asserted,  the  misgivings  of  the  Filipinos  as  to  the  treatment  which 
they  can  expect  here  will  be  dissipated  and  they  will  flock  to  Hawaii  in  increasing 
numbers. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  that  implies 
the  previous  discontent,  previous  misunderstanding,  and  previous 
prejudice  that  existed  and  that  will  exist  until  the  time  when  Yarona 
shall  return  to  the  Philippine  Islands  and  make  his  report.  That  will 
set  their  minds  at  rest.  When  that  is  done  there  is  no  question  but 
what  they  will  be  anxious  and  glad  to  come  to  Hawaii.  That  in  itself 
is  an  added  argument  on  this  point  that  there  is  no  necessity  for 
Chinese  coolies  if  they  can  get  all  the  Filipinos  they  want.  If  there 
should  prove  to  be  a  shortage  of  labor  in  the  Territory — which  we  do 
not  believe,  but  if  there  should  prove  to  be  a  shortage,  upon  a  Federal 
investi^^ation,  then  there  is  that  source  of  labor  in  the  Philippines, 
which  is  always  accessible,  and  which  is  under  the  American  flag  in  a 
certain  sense,  and  they  are  not  considered  aliens,  like  the  other 
Asiatic  races. 

Mr.  SiiAW.  Does  Mr.  Gompers  wish  to  submit  something  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Mr.  Gompers  asked  me  whether  Mr.  Yarona  had  a 
conference  with  representatives  of  labor  in  Hawaii,  or  representatives 
of  white  labor,  and  I  said  that  I  was  invited  to  meet  Mr.  Yarona  at 
this  banquet.  I  was  invited  by  a  representative  of  the  Filipino  labor 
organization,  but  I  had  a  very  important  meeting  on  at  that  time 
and  I  was  unable  to  attend.  Therefore,  I  did  not  have  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  Mr.  Yarona. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  you  appear  here  as  the  representative  of 
organized  labor  in  Hawaii,  do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  represent  the  organizations  affiliated  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Did  I  understand  you  correctly  on  Friday  to  say  that 
you  did  not  know  just  how  many  men  you  represent,  but  that  you 
thought  it  was  about  1,200? 

Mr.  Wright.  In  the  neighborhood  of  1,200. 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  many  of  those  1,200  men  would  j^ou^say  are  in 
good  standing  with  all  their  dues  paid  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  a  question  I  can  not  answer.  In  the  first 
place,  I  do  not  know;  and  if  I  did  know,  I  do  not  know  that  I  would 
feel  at  liberty  to  say. 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  many  of  that  number  are  Japanese? 

Mr.  Wright.  None  of  them  are  Japanese. 

Mr.  Shaw.  None  of  them  are  Japanese? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir:  not  to  my  knowledge. 

Mr.  Shaw.  How  many  members  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  in  Hawaii  are  employed  by  the  Federal  Government  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  are  something  like  200  members  of  the  Federal 
employees'  organization,  and  then  we  have  in  the  machinists'  organi- 


694  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII, 

zation,  I  should  say,  in  the  neighborhood  of  75.     That  is  just  a  rough 
guess. 

Mr.  Shaw.  In  round  numbers,  275  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Whatever  that  number  is,  are  the  Federal  employees 
dependent  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  Territory  for  their  own  liveli- 
hood, or  would  they  still  have  jobs  even  if  all  the  rest  of  the  Territory 
were  just  an  arid  desert  ?  In  other  words,  if  the  sugar  and  pineapple 
business  were  not  in  existence,  those  people  who  are  in  the  employ  of 
the  Federal  Government  are  the  only  ones  who  would  have  jobs,  are 
they  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  could  not  even  say  that  they  would  have  jobs,  or 
all  of  those  connected  with  Government  work.  Of  course,  you 
understand  that  a  lot  of  the  Federal  employees  are  not  organized— 
that  is,  they  are  not  affiliated.  The  post  office  employees,  or  the 
volume  of  the  post  office  business,  would  naturally  depend  upon  the 
prosperity  of  the  community. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  understood  you  to  say  that  they  were  organized  but 
not  affiliated. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Are  there  any  unions  in  Hawaii,  outside  of  the  Japanese 
and  Filipinos,  that  are  not  affiliated  with  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor;  and,  if  so,  what  are  they?  You  have  answered  a  part  of 
that  question. 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  you  mean  not  affiliated  with  the  American  Feder-j 
ation  of  Labor  'I 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.    Wright.  There   are   none.     The   post   office   employees    are] 
affiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.     Now,   do  nol 
misunderstand  that  point 

Mr.  Free.  I  did  not  get  your  last  answer. 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  When  I  mention  the  post  office  employees,  I  do  not^ 
want  to  give  the  impression  that  they  are  not  connected  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  because  I  believe  they  are,  but  they 
are  not  affiliated  yet  with  our  central  body. 

Mr.  Free.  Will  you  explain  that  situation  for  me?  I  thought 
that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  was  the  central  body.  What 
is  the  difference  ?     There  is  a  State  central  body,  is  there  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  central  labor  union  of  any  locality  is  a  voluntary 
grouping  together  of  the  organizations  that  are  qualified  to  be  affiliated 
together  in  this  way  by  being  directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.  Some  of  them  are  connected  directly 
through  direct  membership,  and  some  of  them  are  connected  through 
international  or  trade  unions.  For  instance,  the  machinists  organiza- 
tion, to  which  I  belong,  is  a  local  branch  of  the  international  organiza- 
tion of  machinists,  which  is  affiliated  internationally  with  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor.  Now,  these  local  organizations  group 
themselves  together,  and  each  union  elects  delegates  to  what  we  call 
the  central  body,  or  the  central  labor  union.     It  is  all  local. 

Mr.  Free.  Is  not  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  a  body  over 

them  all? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  the  headquarters  with  which  all  of 
those  central  bodies  are  affiliated,  or  those  local  central  labor  unions. 
We  have  them  in  all  the  big  cities.     We  have  them  here  in  the  States, 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  695 

and  they  also  have  another  grouping  together  of  local  central  labor 
bodies  forming  State  federations.  It  is  a  system  of  subdivisions  within 
the  organization. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  based  upon  the 
form  of  government  of  the  United  States  of  America — that  is,  the 
international  units  and  the  national  trade  units  are  grouped  as  Mr. 
Wright  has  stated.  For  instance,  the  machinists  have  their  local 
unions  or  local  lodges,  as  they  call  them,  in  all  parts  of  the  American 
jurisdiction.  It  is  a  form  of  the  international  union,  because  Canada 
is  a  part  of  the  labor  union.  There  are  local  unions  of  each  of  these 
national  organizations  of  trade,  such  as  bricklayers,  carpenters,  elec- 
tricians, street  railway  men,  etc.  These  locals  form  in  each  city  and 
town  where  there  is  a  sufficient  number  of  local  union  men,  and  they 
form  central  labor  unions  to  deal  with  the  industrial,  commercial,  and 
political  conditions  in  the  localities.  I  want  to  say  that  there  are 
about  1,060  of  those  local  central  labor  unions  in  America,  and  in  the 
States  they  form  State  federations,  consisting  of  delegates  from  all  of 
those  local  organizations  within  the  State,  and  they  deal  with  the 
economic,  industrial,  political,  and  legislative  subjects  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  State.  The  international  unions,  or  the  national 
trade-unions  form  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and,  as  its 
name  implies,  it  is  a  federation  of  all  of  those  organizations  or  trade- 
unions  and  central  bodies  and  State  federations.  In  Porto  Rico  we 
have  an  insular  federation  of  labor,  with  local  unions  and  a  central 
body. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  the  delegates  to  your  American  Federation  of  Labor 
come  from  the  State  organizations  or  directly  from  the  local  unions  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  In  order  that  you  may  have  the  entire  picture,  let 
me  explain  the  situation  to  you.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
realizing  that  there  was  only  one  way  in  which  a  body  of  that  char- 
acter and  size  could  legislate;  that  is,  either  by  a  democratic  form  or 
by  an  autocratic  form,  adopted  that  plan.  It  was  for  that  reason 
that  we  established  a  system  such  as  this.  The  national  and  inter- 
national trade  unions  elect  at  their  national  trade  union  conven- 
tions the  quota  of  delegates  to  which  each  organization  is  entitled  to 
;send  to  the  convention  of  the  Federation,  or  when  they  do  not  elect 
those  delegates  at  their  respective  conventions,  as  they  do  usually  or 
as  a  general  rule,  they  elect  them  by  a  referendum  vote.  For  in- 
stance, there  was  recently  an  election  in  the  organization  in  which  I 
hold  my  primary  membership,  and  throughout  the  jurisdiction  of 
that  organization,  including  Porto  Rico,  Canada,  and  the  United 
States  an  election  was  held.  It  required  a  second  election  to  deter- 
mine the  matter.  I  was  the  only  delegate  who  was  elected  by  the 
referendum  on  the  first  ballot  out  of  a  total  number  of  20  aspirants. 
There  was  a  second  ballot,  and  there  v/ere  three  more  to  be  elected. 
The  aspirants  or  nominees  were  those  who  received  the  six  highest 
number  of  votes.  Those  names  were  submitted  for  a  second  ballot, 
and  it  is  arranged  in  that  way  so  that  it  will  not  take  more  than  a 
second  ballot  to  determine  an  election.  Those  three  additional 
•delegates  were  elected. 

The  president  of  the  organization  was  a  delegate  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  and  four  other  delegates  were  to  be  elected.  They  were 
elected  in  the  way  I  have  stated.  This  goes  on  all  through  the  year, 
and  sometimes   simultaneously,  for  the  purpose  of  having  this  a 


696  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII. 

legislat/ive  body  rather  than  one  that  can  be  dominated  by  auto 
cratic  action  or  by  dividing  into  groups  of  two,  one  in  support  of  the 
administration  and  one  against  the  administration.  If  we  had 
delegates  innumerable,  we  would  have  a  convention  probably  as 
large  as  either  of  the  great  national  parties,  the  Republican  and 
Democratic.  It  could  not  be  a  legislative  body.  Therefore,  we 
devised  this  plan,  providing  that  any  national  union  with  below' 
4,000  members  was  entitled  to  one  delegate;  from  4,000  to  8,000 
members,  to  two  delegates;  from  8,000  to  16,000  members,  four 
delegates;  from  16,000  to  32,000  members,  five  delegates;  from  32,000 
to  64,000  members,  six  delegates;  from  132,000  to  264,000  members, 
seven  delegates,  and  so  on  in  geometrical  order,  but  retaining  thisi 
democratic  principle  that  the  delegates  from  those  organizations  ar© 
entitled  to  cast  one  vote  only  for  every  100  members  they  represent.- 
Therefore,  we  have  a  comparatively  small  number  of  delegates  in 
the  convention,  so  as  to  make  it  a  workable  legislative  body,  wher 
discussion  may  be  had  upon  any  question.  I  might  say  that  at  th 
last  convention,  and  at  the  convention  before  that,  there  was  not  on^ 
delegate  who  was  limited  in  the  time  that  he  desired  to  discuss  an;y 
subject  before  the  convention. 

Have  I  answered  your  question  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Now,  the  State  federations  and  the  city  centra 
bodies  are  entitled  to  send  one  delegate  and  each  delegate  is  entitlec 
to  one  vote.  That  is  provided  for  the  reason  that  those  memben 
of  the  central  bodies  and  the  members  in  the  State  federation  are 
already  represented  by  delegates  of  their  national  or  international 
unions,  and  they  cast  the  vote  of  those  men.  The  right  of  repre- 
sentation or  the  right  to  cast  one  vote  is  such  that  there  is  no  dupli 
cation  in  the  representation,  or  in  the  voting  powers  of  these  men 
and  women  in  organized  labor  unions;  so  that  they  may  participate 
in  the  convention  and  have  a  marked  influence  upon  the  deliberation 
and  decisions  of  the  convention,  by  the  fact  that  they  are  there  anc 
have  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  any  delegate  from  any  national 
or  international  union.  I  think  I  might  safely  say  that  their  influence 
in  the  conventions  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  determin- 
ing policies  is  very  marked  and  that  they  may  know  as  well  as  convey 
or  that  they  may  receive  as  well  as  convey,  information  from  the 
point  of  view  of  delegates  representing  the  labor  movement  of  the 
entire  continent. 

Mr.  Free.  I  thank  you  for  your  explanation. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  nothing  to 
hide. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  think  a  good  deal  of  this  discussion  was  had  because 
of  a  misunderstanding  of  conditions,  and  it  is  m}^  purpose  to  try  t 
work  this  thing  out. 

Now,  Mr.  Wright,  you  stated  in  your  cablegram,  and  repeated  on 
Friday,  that  no  labor  organization  has  indorsed  this  resolution. 
How  did  you  know  that  no  labor  organization  had  indorsed  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  possibly  the  trend  of  that  was  misunderstood. 
What  v/e  consider  labor  organizations  are  bona  fide  labor  organiza 
tions,  and  among  ourselves  or  in  communicating  with  each  other,  as 
I  do  with  Mr.  Wallace,  it  would  be  perfectly  understood  by  him  that 
I  meant  an}-  labor  organization  within  our  ranks.     Whether  or  not 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  697 

Japanese  have  indorsed  it  or  whether  Fihpinos  have  indorsed  it,  I 
do  not  know. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  is  it  not  a  fact  that  your  statement  was  incorrect, 
and  that  thi^ee  labor  organizations  actually  had  indorsed  it  before 
the  date  of  your  first  cablegram  ? 

Mr.  Weight.  I  do  not  think  so.  I  believe  there  was  a  subsequent 
reference  by  Mr.  Dillingham  before  the  committee  to  the  fact  that  the 
teamsters  had  indorsed  it.  Mr.  Dillingham's  assertion  of  that  fact 
was  reported  in  the  Honolulu  papers. 

Mr.  Shaw.  If  you  did  not  know  positively,  wh}'  did  you  make  that 
statement  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  brought  that  point  up  prior  to  the  sending  of  the 
message  and  inquired  of  the  delegate  to  the  Central  Labor  Union 
present  from  the  teamster's  labor  union  as  to  whether  or  not  that 
union  had  uidorsed  it,  and  he  said  that  they  had  not,  and  that  they 
had  gone  on  record  as  opposed  to  it.  Subsequently,  however,  after 
the  propaganda  began  to  be  pretty  intense  at  that  end  for  indorse- 
ment, I  was  advised,  and  I  think  it  was  at  the  next  meeting  after- 
wards, that  some  arrangements  had  been  made  by  which  a  special 
meeting  of  the  teamsters  had  been  called  and  an  indorsement  secured* 
Now,  just  how  that  was  worked  I  do  not  know,  but  to  my  mind  it 
shows  economic  pressure,  because  I  know  that  the  teamsters  are 
naturally  opposed  to  it. 

Mr.  Free.  Was  this  resolution  made  under  the  seal  of  the  team- 
sters' union,  and  did  it  go  through  the  matter  regularly  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know.  I  have  not  seen  the  indorsement. 
Mr.  Dillingham,  says  that  it  has  been  presented  to  the  committee. 

Mr.  Shaw.  It  appears  that  on  May  29  the  president  of  the  team- 
ster's union,  Mr.  M.  T.  Robello,  sent  the  following  cablegram: 

At  a  meeting  of  the  directors  of  the  teamsters'  union  it  was  agreed  to  indorse  the 
proposal  to  amend  the  immigration  la.ws  to  allow  Chinese  to  come  to  Hawaii  as  agri-^ 
culturists  to  relieve  the  labor  shortage. 

Mr.  Wright.  At  a  meeting  of  the  directors  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes.  That  does  not,  however,  appear  as  the  original 
indorsement  of  the  organization  itself,  but  that  was  written  for  them. 

Mr.  Wright.  All  I  loiow  is  the  statement  which  was  made  to  us- 
by  their  delegate  in  Honolulu. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  The  teamsters  have  no  board  of  directors. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  do  not  know  whose  testimony  it  was. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  did  not  know  that  they  had  any  directors. 

Mr.  Shaw.  This  appears  in  Mr.  Dillingham's  testimony. 

Mr.  Wright.  Possibly  it  is  the  personal  opinion  of  Mr.  Robello. 
I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  Mr.  Wright,  the  indorsements  of  three  labor 
organizations  have  been  presented  to  this  committee.  The  steve- 
dores' union,  the  teamsters'  union,  and  the  Marine  Engineers'  Bene- 
ficial Association,  all  appear  to  have  indorsed  this  proposition. 
How  many  members  have  those  unions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Are  all  those  organizations  in  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  my  impression. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  order  that  there  might  not  be  any  misimder- 
standing,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  matter  appearing  on  page  326 
of  the  record.  There  is  printed  there  a  telegram  from  the  stevedores, 
but  it  does  not  indorse  this  resolution. 


698  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Shaw.  This  telegram  reads: 

At  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Hawaiian  Stevedores'  Association  a  motion  wa£ 
unanimously  passed  favoring  immigration.  The  members  also  voted  that  you  repre- 
sent them  at  such  hearings  as  may  be  held. 

That  is  signed  ^^McGuire,  president." 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  The  stevedores'  association  is  an  employers'  associa- 
tion. 

Mr.  Wright.  The  stevedores'  association  is  not  a  union  at  all,  hut 
it  is  a  sort  of  beneficial  organization  of  employees  of  the  companies 
This  association  is  run  by  some  clerks  of  the  company,  and  it  is  what 
they  call  a  company  organization.  It  is  a  paternal  organization,  anc 
the  Hawaiian  name  for  it  is  Hui  Poola. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  is  the  nationality  of  the  members  of  those  thre( 
unions   or  organizations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  nationality  of  the  Hui  Poola  is  pretty  nearly  al 
Hawaiian,  I  believe.  So  far  as  the  teamsters'  union  is  concerned^ 
I  believe  they  are  mostly  Portuguese. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  about  the  others,  the  marine  engineers? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know.  That  is  an  organization  that  has  no 
substantial  existence  in  Honolulu,  except  that  it  has  a  headquarters 
and  a  charter  there.  They  are  constantly  coming  and  going,  anc 
the  membership  is  constantly  changing.  I  will  state  that  they  ar( 
not  affiliated  with  the  local  central  labor  union. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  is  the  membership  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know.  I  doubt,  however,  if  there  are  2C 
members  of  the  organization  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Shaw.  My  impression  was  that  there  were  80  or  90.  Are  th( 
members  of  those  three  unions  employed  by  the  Federal  Government 
or  are  they  altogether  dependent  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  Territory 
for  their  own  living? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  should  say  that  neither  the  teamsters  nor  the  steve- 
dores are  employed  by  the  Federal  Government.  However,  there  an 
a  number  of  marine  engineers  who  are  employed  at  Pearl  Harbor 
I  would  not  make  any  statement  as  to  the  number,  but  so  far  as  theii 
depending  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  Territory  is  concerned,  yes,  sir 
we  feel  that  we  all  depend  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  Territory  foi 
our  living — the  stevedores  and  teamsters  as  well  as  the  rest  of  us. 

Mr.  Spiaw.  What  is  the  principal  industry  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  raising  of  sugar. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Are  any  of  these  three  unions  affiliated  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor?  You  may  have  stated  that,  but  I 
did  not  get  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  The  teamsters'  union  is  and  the  marine  engineers  are 
I  believe.     Are  they,  Mr.  Gompers  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Nationally,  yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Was  it  really  true,  as  you  stated  in  your  first  cablegrain, 
that  the  central  labor  and  affiliated  unions  all  vigorously  protest  this 
scheme  as  a  direct  blow  at  the  Americanization  program  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Absolutely  true,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  is  concerned. 
If  Mr.  Kobelio,  of  the  teamsters'  union,  had  sent  any  personal  informa- 
tion to  Mr.  Dillingham  that  had  not  been  reported  to  us,  I  do  not  con- 
sider that  that  was  our  fault  at  all.  We  were  speaking  absolutely 
from  what  we  believed  to  be  our  personal  knowledge. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  699 


Mr.  Shaw.  Drdes  the  indorsement  of  the  marine  engineers'  union 
change  your  answer  any  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  at  all,  no,  sir;  because  that  is  not  affiliated  with 
our  local  body  and  we  were  not  in  touch  with  them. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  stated  in  your  telegram  and  repeated  it  on  Friday, 
that  the  present  condition  of  the  sugar  industry  is  due,  among  other 
things,  to  excessive  capitalization  and  gross  mismanagement.  Now, 
I  would  like  to  know  what  you  know  about  this  subject.  What  is  the 
total  capital  stock  of  the  sugar  industry  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  it  not  $85,105,000? 

Mr.  Wright.  If  you  are  inquiring  for  statistics  upon  that  point  and 
are  in  possession  oi'  the  figures,  I  would  suggest  that  you  submit  the 
statement. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  have  some  figures  and  want  to  verify  them.  Do  you 
know  what  is  the  assessed  value  of  those  sugar  plantations  for  tax 
purposes  ?  My  figures  are  $117,535,200.  Is  that  valuation  greater  or 
less  than  the  capital  stock  valuation  ?  Is  the  assessed  tax  valuation 
greater  or  less  than  the  capital  stock  valuation  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know,  because  I  do  not  know  how  your 
figures  are  arrived  at. 

Mr.  Shaw.  It  is  not  a  question  of  my  figures,  but  I  am  asking  you 
whether  the  assessed  tax  valuation  is  greater  than  the  capital  stock 
valuation. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  are  not  prepared  to  answer. 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  if  the  Government  assessed  those  plantations  at 
$117,000,000  and  the  planters  admit  that  value  for  tax  purposes,  do 
you  not  think  that  is  a  pretty  fair  estimate  of  what  the  plantations 
are  worth;  and  do  you  not  think  that  the  plantations  are  not  over- 
capitalized when  you  know  that  the  capital  stock  valuation  is  only 
$85,000,000  'I 

Mr.  Wright.  I  can  not  answer  that,  because  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Wright  has  made  the  definite  statement  that 
those  plantations  were  overcapitalized,  and  I  want  to  know  upon  what 
he  bases  that  statement. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  what  I  am  trying  to  get  at. 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  I  based  that  statement  and  ail  other  statements  upon 
reports  that  were  made  to  our  central  labor  organization.  As  I  said 
the  other  day  in  the  discussion  of  this  question,  the  message  was 
never  intended  to  do  anything  else  than  to  embody  the  belief  and 
sentimants  of  the  labor  bodies. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  But  you  made  the  statement  that  they  were 
overcapitalized,  and  that  is  not  stated  as  a  matter  of  opinion,  but  as 
a  matter  of  fact. 

Mr.  Shaw.  The  figures  I  have  presented  were  submitted  by  the 
governor  of  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Wright.  In  the  meeting,  when  this  matter  came  up,  the  ques- 
tion of  the  value  of  the  plantations  was  discussed  at  some  length 
by  old-timers  there  who  were  in  a  position  to  know  much  more  than 
I  did,  and  it  was  in  conformity  to  their  opinion  and  not  to  mine  at 
all  that  this  statement  was  made.  If  the  figures  were  reported 
correctly  to  us,  the  development  of  the  plantations  has  been  a  series 


700  LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

and  succession  of  stock  dividends  and  stock  watering  processes,  or 
that  is  the  way  it  appeared  to  us,  in  which  the  capital  has  increased 
from  the  original  figure,  which  was  something  like  $800,000  in  the 
case  of  Ewa  plantation,  I  believe,  up  to  its  present  valuation  of 
several  million  dollars. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  the  figures  submitted  by  the  governor  show, 
based  on  taxation  figures  and  other  responsible  data,  that  the 
plantations  are  worth  a  great  deal  more  than  the  capitalized  value 
of  them,  would  you  accept  that  statement  or  would  you  prefer  to 
accept  the  statement  of  the  men  that  you  discussed  this  matter 
with  before  you  sent  your  wire  1 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  as  I  stated,  it  is  not  quite  clear  to  me  upon 
what  those  figures  were  based,  whether  that  valuation  figure  is- 
based  upon  total  tax  receipts,  figured  on  income,  or  whether  it  is. 
what  you  call  a  physical  valuation  of  the  property. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  is  very  plain.  The  territorial  property 
tax  is  assessed  by  the  tax  assessor  on  the  value  of  the  real  and 
personal  property  of  the  plantations. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Since  this  discussion  has  gotten  into  this  channel, 
w^ould  it  not  be  well  to  ascertain  the  actual  money  invested  in  these 
properties  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  We  will  determine  that  later,  that  is,  whether  we  can 
go  into  that.  There  have  been  statistics  showing  the  value,  and  the 
witness  says  that  was  their  discussion  and  he  does  not  have  informa- 
tion upon  which  to  base  an  answer. 

Mr.  Mead.  But  he  makes  the  direct  statement  that  there  has  been 
an  overcapitalization  of  the  Hawaiian  sugar  plantations. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  We  would  have  to  determine  as  to  the  amount  of 
money  invested  in  the  property. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  the  only  way  it  could  be  actually  determined. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  agree  with  you  at  all. 

Mr.  Free.  Then,  do  I  understand  that  the  cablegram  you  sent  was. 
based  upon  questions  of  hearsay  among  yourselves  and  not  after 
mature  deliberation  and  consideration  of  the  facts?  Is  that  true? 
In  other  words,  you  had  not  given  this  any  serious  consideration  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  we  had  given  it  very  serious  consideration. 

Mr.  Free.  Are  you  able  to  give  us  any  figures?  We  want  facts. 
We  do  not  care  for  what  somebody  thinks;  we  want  facts.  From 
what  you  said  the  other  day  you  apparently  got  together  and  made 
some  surmises  and  some  guesses.  I  do  not  want  to  waste  my  time 
on  this  kind  of  stuff,  I  want  some  facts.  I  want  to  base  my  judgment 
on  facts  and  not  on  surmises.  A  few  of  you  got  together  and  made 
some  guesses  and  surmises  and  then  shot  this  cablegram  through  as 
evidence.     That  is  about  what  happened,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  may  have  been  a  few  points  like  the  point  that 
had  just  been  brought  up,  and  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  secure  the 
actual  data  upon  which  to  base  an  assumption. 

Mr.  Free.  Even  now^  you  do  not  know  whether  there  is  a  labor 
shortage  in  the  islands,  do  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Whether  or  not  there  is  a  labor  shortage  in  the 
islands  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  According  to  our  statistics 

Mr.  Free  (interposing).  Your  guesses. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 


701 


Mr.  Wright.  No;  statistics. 

Mr.  Free.  Statistics  of  whom? 

Mr.  Wright.  According  to  the  statistics  that  had  been  gathered 
and  presented  to  our  central  body  by  our  committee. 

Mr.  Free.  Can  we  have  those  statistics  ?  They  are  what  we  want. 
Have  you  them  here  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  given  them  in  the  course  of  the  testimony, 
I  will  tabulate  them  if  it  is  desired. 

(Tabulated  statement  submitted  for  record :) 


Labor  statistics  compiled  from  data  collected  by  the  Honolulu  Central  Labor  Union  from 
individual  investigators,  official  survey  by  labor  organizations,  and  from  authentic 
documents  to  which  reference  is  made. 


May,  1920. 

May,  1921. 

Decrease. 

Total  Japanese  laborers   on  plantations,   skilled  and  unskilled, 
planters  and  contractors,  male  and  iemale 

1  19,  396 
1  12, 976 

2  18, 950 
3 11, 000 

446 

Total  FiUpino  laborers  on  plantations,  skilled  and  unskilled,  planters 
and  contractors 

1,976 

Japanese  left  plantations  since  December,  1919 

4  5, 650 
4  1, 130 

Japanese  left  territory  since  December,  1919 

Balance  remaining,  who  have  left  plantations  since  December, 
1919,  but  are  still  in  Territory. . .                         .                 

4  4, 520 

Filipinos  on  plantations  in  June.  1919.        

»  10,  354 
6  11,000 

Tilipinos  on  plantations  in  May,  1921 ... 

Increa'^e,  approximate  only 

646 

1  From  the  report  of  the  governor  of  Hawaii  to  the  vSecretary  of  the  Interior,  1920. 

2  From  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association,  1921. 

3  From  report  of  Filipino  Laborers'  Union,  verbally  and  by  memorandum  of  Pablo  Manlapit.  Approxi- 
mate. 

<  From  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association. 
*  From  Thrum's  Annual. 
6  From  Manlapit,  as  above. 

Present  shortage  on  plantations  as  to  unskilled  oriental  labor  (approximate) 3, 000 

Mr.  Hall's  statement  at  conference 2, 000 

Mr.  Dillingham's  estimate 6, 000 

Unemployed  Filipinos 1,  <X)0 

Japanese  who  have  left  the  plantations  since  1919  but  still  in  Territory 4, 520 

Unemployed  and  casual  other  nationalities , 2, 000 

Recruited  as  strikebreakers,  1920 6, 000 

Released  from  Federal  jobs  bj^  provision  of  rehabilitation  bill,  noncitizens 5, 000 

Mr,  Free.  I  have  been  here  every  minute  you  have  been  talking, 
and  you  have  not  given  figures  yet  as  to  the  shortage  of  labor. 

Mr.  Wright.  They  are  figures— — - 

Mr.  Free  (interposing).  The  other  day  you  mentioned  guesses, 
but  no  figures. 

Mr.  Wright.  What  are  statistics  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Facts  that  are  gathered. 

Mr.  Wright.  Gathered  how  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Why,  by  survey. 

Mr.  Wright.  By  a  survey  ?     That  is  what  we  want. 

Mr.  Free.  That  is  what  I  want.  I  want  facts;  I  do  not  care  for 
guesses. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  That  cablegram  was  not  shot  in  here  before  this 
committee  by  Mr.  Wright. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  state  for  your  information  that  that  message 
was  sent  to  Mr.  Wallace  and  not  to  this  committee. 

Mr.  Free.  But  Mr.  Wallace  introduced  it  as  a  part  of  the  opposi- 
tion to  this  bill.     As  I  understand  it,  your  estimate  of  the  labor 


702  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IX    HAWAII. 

shortage  there  is  a  guess;  your  estimate  of  the  assessed  valuation  or 
the  capitaUzation  of  the  plantations  is  a  guess,  and  I  think  we  are 
wasting  a  lot  of  time;  let  us  get  some  facts. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Shaw  is  asking  the  witness  what  he  knows  per- 
sonally which,  I  think,  is  very  proper,  and  the  witness  is  trying  to 
explain. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  say  you  have  been  in  Hawaii  for  about  four  years, 
and  you  think  you  have  learned  a  little  bit  about  the  management 
of  sugar  plantations.  In  what  way  do  you  consider  these  plantations 
grossly  mismanaged  ^ 

Mr.  Wright.  You  mean  personally — -my  own  personal  opinion  as 
to  the  way  in  which  the  plantations  are  mismanaged  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  think  the  entire  efforts  of  the  sugar  planters 
for  securing  the  class  of  labor  they  are  trying  to  secure  is  in  one 
sense  an  indication  of  mismanagement;  I  believe  the  planters  are 
mismanaging  in  the  direct  conduct  of  their  field  operations  in  that 
they  are  not  using  the  best  class  of  workmen  in  positions  where  they 
might  develop  and  improve  labor-saving  machinery;  I  believe  they 
are  mismanaging  in  that  they  are  not  economizing  in  cultivation  by 
a  more  extensive  use  of  the  paper-mulching  system;  I  believe  they 
mismanaged  very  seriously  at  the  time  of  the  plantation  strike  last 
year,  when  they  insisted  on  assuming  an  attitude  which  absolutely 
antagonized  their  employees,  and  when  they  refused  to  consider  the 
offers  of  compromise  and  adjustment  developed  through  the  efforts 
of  Mr.  Palmer,  of  the  Central  Union  Church,  and  a  group  of  repre- 
sentative citizens.  I  believe  that  if  that  attitude  had  been  changed 
at  that  time  the  planters  would  not  now  be  in  the  condition  they  find 
themselves;  that  is,  in  their  relations  with  their  employees. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  have  stated  what  you  believe  and  what  you 
actually  know  from  your  own  personal  knowledge  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  know  that  these  things  occurred,  certainly. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  know  they  occurred,  but  you  do  not  know  what 
effect  they  may  have  had  or  may  not  have  had  on  the  management 
of  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  On  the  management  of  the  plantations? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  Certainly,  I  know  the  attitude  of  the  managers  of  the 
plantations  and  the  management  of  the  plantation  industry. 

Mr.  Shaw.  And  you  present  these  facts  as  showing  that  the  plan- 
tations are  grossly  mismanaged  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  that  it  is  one  of  the  fundamental  evidences 
of  mismanagement  on  the  part  of  any  industry  when  it  finds  itself 
confronted  with  a  growing  and  spreading  dissatisfaction  or  discontent 
among  its  workers  and  takes  no  means  to  change  that  condition, 
refuses  offers  of  compromise  and  conciliation,  and  absolutely  main- 
tains an  autocratic  and  feudalistic  attitude.  It  is  not  a  modern 
attitude,  not  a  modern  industrial  attitude. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  mean  it  is  not  modern  in  reality  or  it  is  not 
modern  in  theory  ? 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  It  is  not  modern  in  theory.  Of  course,  in  reality  it 
is  taking  place. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  Mr.  Wright,  as  bearing  on  that  point,  do  you  not 
know  that  sugar  producers  all  over  the  world  think  the  Hawaiian 
sugar  industry  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  world  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  703 

Mr.  Wright.  One  of  the  best  from  what  point  of  view? 

Mr.  Shaw.  One  of  the  most  elficiently  managed. 

Mr.  Wright.  In  certain  lines,  yes;  in  the  line  of  extraction  espe- 
cially, but  so  far  as  the  field  work  is  concerned,  I  still  maintain  that 
the  plantations  in  Hawaii  are  not  properly  managed. 

Mr.  Shaw.  And  you  have  set  out  the  ways  in  which  they  are  not 
properly  managed  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  say  I  have  set  them  all  out,  no. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Now,  about  this  labor-saving  machinery.  Is  there  is 
existence  and  in  practical  use  labor-saving  machinery  that  could  be 
used  in  these  islands  which  is  not  used  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  is  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  can  not  say  it  is  not  used  because  it  is  being 
used  on  one  plantation  at  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Why  is  it  not  used  on  all  of  them  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  why  it  is  not  used. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  not  know  it  is  impossible  to  use  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  No. 

Mr.  vShaw.  Then  you  are  willing  to  make  the  statement  that  these 
machines  could  be  used  on  all  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  could  not  make  that  statement,  because  I  do 
not  know  all  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Then  what  is  your  thought  in  this  matter?  Is  it 
practicable  to  use  this  improved  machinery  that  the^^  are  not  using  ? 
Is  that  your  idea  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  that  is  not  altogether  my  idea.  My  idea  is  that 
they  have  been  absolutely  derelict  in  not  previously  developing 
these  machines  until  they  have  come  to  the  point  where  they  are 
absolutely  up  against  the  proposition  of  a  shortage  of  labor,  as  they 
claim,  whereas  if  these  machines  had  been  tried  previously  and 
developed  they  would  now  be  working  in  a  modern  machine  age. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  it  not  true  that  they  have  had  a  large  reward  offered 
for  the  man  who  would  develop  or  furnish  the  idea  which  would 
result  in  the  development  of  a  machine  to  do  this  work? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  claim  they  have  spent  considerable  money 
along  these  lines.  I  know  I  saw  three  machines;  one  of  them  was  in 
use  but  the  other  two  were  not. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  or  do  you  not  know  that  these  machines 
would  be  impracticable  upon  hilly,  rolling  land  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  imagine  there  are  some  acreages,  I  might  say  con- 
siderable acreages,  on  which  this  particular  t^^pe  of  machine  would 
not  be  practicable. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  there  any  other  type  of  machine  that  would  be 
practicable  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  are  types  of  machines  that  are  being  worked 
upon,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  in  a  desultory  way.  They  may  be  hurrying 
things  up  now;  I  do  not  know,  but  I  think  they  ought  to  by  all  means. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  mean  they  are  in  process  of  being  built  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  in  process  of  being  thought  about. 

Mr.  Shaw.  They  are  just  thinking  about  them  but  are  not  making 
efforts  to  build  them  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  is  a  type  that  has  been  suggested  for  a  long 
time,  the  conveyer  type.  I  do  not  know  personally  what  practical 
means  have  been  taken  to  work  it  out. 


704  LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  Interaational  Harvester  Co] 
has  never  been  able  to  solve  this  problem  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  that  the  International  Harvester  C( 
has  made  a  particular  study  of  the  conditions. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  do  not  know  that  they  have  either,  but  I  have  undei 
stood  that  they  think  it  is  their  business  to  study  these  conditionj 
in  all  countries.     Is  it  not  a  fact  that  a  considerable  number  of  th  " 
managers  of  sugar  plantations  in  other  parts  of  the  world  v/ere  first 
employed  in  the  management  of  Hawaiian  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  to  say,  they  have  brought  managers  from 
other  parts  of  the  world  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  to  say,  is  not  Hawaii  the  fountain  head  of 
knowledge  in  the  sugar  business,  where  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  the  Phil- 
ippines, and  other  places  go  to  get  experienced  men,  men  who  are 
well  versed  in  the  latest  methods  of  doing  this  work. 

Mr.  WrivIht.  Well,  I  think  there  is  an  interchange  among  all 
countries;  that  is  to  say,  they  go  from  Hawaii  to  Cuba  and  study 
Cuban  methods,  and  from  Cuba  to  Plawaii. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  not  Porto  Rico,  Cuba  and  the  Phillippines  come 
to  Hawaii  to  employ  experts  who  have  learned  the  business  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  true  of  the  Philippines,  because  I  know  the 
Philippine  Islands  are  just  starting  in  on  the  expansion  of  the  sugar 
industry,  and  they  are  dependent,  of  course,  upon  Hawaii  as  their 
natural  base. 

Mr.  vShaw.  Is  not  that  true  of  Porto  Rico  also  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is. 

Mr.  Shaw.  In  your  second  telegram  to  Mr,  Wallace,  which  was 
read  on  Friday,  you  retracted  your  original  charge  that  the  planters 
are  intentionally  limiting  production  and  planning  artificial  unem- 
ployment in  a  campaign  to  lower  wages.  That  is  so,  is  it  not  ?  Do 
you  not  think  they  are  planning  artificial  unemployment  in  a  cam- 
paign to  lower  wages  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  a  different  statement.  My  statement  was 
that  I  was  convinced  that  they  were  not  engaged  in  the  curtailment 
of  their  present  production.  As  to  what  is  being  done  as  to  their 
future  crop  is  a  matter  of  inference  and  not  a  matter  of  direct  knowl- 
edge. It  is  something  that  can  not  actually  be  shown,  but  it  is 
simply  a  tendency  in  all  industries,  in  times  like  these,  to  gradually 
close  down  until  some  readjustment  takes  place.  Whether  or  not 
this  is  being  intentionally  carried  out  by  the  planters,  I  could  not 
say,  but  it  seems  to  me  it  would  be  the  intelligent  thing  for  them  to  do. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Why  did  you  retract  your  previous  statement  in 
connection  with  that  charge  and  I  would  like  to  know  on  what 
grounds  you  made  such  a  serious  statement  in  the  first  place,  knowing 
it  would  be  presented  to  this  committee  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  not  keep  saying  that  I  knew  it  would  be  pre- 
sented to  this  committee,  because  I  did  not. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Well,  it  was  presented  to  the  committee. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Shaw.  It  is  here  for  our  consideration,  and  that  is  one  reason 
I  want  to  know  about  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  We  are  considering  it  now,  and  I  will  state  that  our 
reason  for  making  that  statement  was  this :     That  the  claim  was  being 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  705 

made  that  sugar  was  now  costing  to  produce  more  than  the  selling 
price  of  the  product,  and  that  there  was  an  oversupply  of  sugar; 
that  a  campaign  was  being  undertaken  in  Cuba  for  the  reduction  of 
acreages  and  future  output;  that  under  those  circumstances  it  was 
absolutely  natural  for  us,  with  the  amount  of  knowledge  we  had  at 
that  time,  to  believe  that  the  same  tendency  was  being  carried  out 
there  as  is  being  carried  out  in  all  other  industries,  the  tendency  to 
limit  output. 

That  was  the  charge  and  assertion  that  was  made  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  that  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  price  control.  But  the  thing 
was  finally  presented  to  us  in  this  way:  That  the  pecuharity  about 
the  present  sugar  crop,  the  present  sugar  crop  that  is  being  taken 
off  to-day,  is  that  the  bulk,  in  fact,  I  think  eight-tenths  or  nine-tenths 
of  the  cost  of  sugar  is  already  in  the  growing  crop,  and  in  order  to 
save  that  major  investment  it  is  only  natural  to  suppose  that  they 
would  take  off  the  crop  at  a  loss  rather  than  lose  wliat  is  invested. 
That  was  why  we  immediately  modified  that  statement;  just  as  soon 
as  it  was  presented  to  us  in  a  way  that  we  could  understand  and 
that  appeared  reasonable  to  us,  then  we  made  that  change.  That, 
however,  does  not  aft'ect  general  conditions  in  the  industry  so  far  as 
the  future  is  concerned. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  stated  in  substance,  I  believe,  that  it  is  a  ridiculous 
falsehood  to  say  that  the  Japanese  are  attempting  to  gain  control 
of  industry  in  the  Territory  and  that  the  strike  of  1920  was  purely 
economic  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  that  was  the  statement;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  On  February  28,  1920,  the  Nippu  Jiji  published  the 
following  statement : 

As  repeated  from  time  to  time,  the  dispute  between  the  planters  and  laborers  is  not 
a  question  between  capital  and  labor  alone.  It  is  a  question  wherein  the  entire  com- 
munity is  interested.  Furthermore,  in  places  like  Hawaii,  it  is  a  question  between 
aliens  and  Americans. 

On  February  8,  1920,  the  same  paper  said: 

The  labor  agitation  of  1 0  years  ago  was  strictly  between  individuals.  To-day  it  has 
taken  on  a  color  of  internationalism. 

Tsutsumi,  an  agitator  and  leader  among  the  Japanese  during  the 
strike,  made  the  following  remarks  in  public  speeches  at  various 
times : 

I  am  working  night  and  day  for  you  laborers  in  order  to  show  these  planters  that 
Japanism  will  always  be  successfuf  in  any  attempt  that  we  Japanese  make.  Now, 
bear  in  mind,  my  fellow  Japanese,  Japanism  is  the  only  thing  that  we  must  look  up 
to  in  carrying  on  this  strike.  When  the  weeds  grow  up  in  the  cane  fields  beyond 
control  and  the  planters  give  up  the  plantations,  we  will  go  in  and  take  possession  of 
same  and  will  conduct  the  plantations  ourselves.  Don't  worry,  A  Japanese  cruiser 
is  coming  to  take  you  home.  Why  deny  that  the  Japanese  Government  is  back  of 
the  labor  question?    Don't  deny  it.    It  will  surely  scare  the  Americans. 

Do  you  still  believe  that  the  strike  of  1920  was  purely  economic 
and  that  no  national  issues  were  involved  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  certainly  do.  That  thing  has  no  influence  on  me 
because  it  was  evidently  just  the  mou things  of  an  irresponsible  agi- 
tator. Of  course,  it  is  right  along  the  line  of  the  points  that  have 
been  emphasized  by  the  sugar  planters.  At  the  time  of  the  strike 
they  emphasized  the  nationalistic  character  of  the  movement  and 
tried  to  make  it  appear  to  the  public  that  it  was  being  engineered  by 
the  Japanese  Government  ana  all  kinds  of  things  like  that.     Those 

56754— 21— SEE  7.  pt  2 11 


706  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

statements  are  absurd  on  the  face  of  them,  that  a  Japanese  cruiser 
was  coming  there,  and  all  that  kind  of  thing.  But  those  things  do 
happen.     We  all  know  that. 

Mr.  Free.  You  understand  that  is  a  Japanese  statement  and  not 
an  American  statement. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  understand  that  is  a  quotation  from  Japanese. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  you  believe  the  Japanese  are  loyal  to  this  country 
as  against  Japan  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Oh,  that  is  a  very  broad  question.  I  believe  that 
some  of  them  are.  I  think  our  records  at  the  time  of  the  war  show 
that  there  were  a  lot  of  loyal  Japanese.  I  believe  they  were  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  subscriptions  to  liberty  loans  and  things 
like  that,  but  as  to  say  that  all  of  them  are,  I  would  say  no. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  you  not  believe  they  all  pledge  their  first  loyalty  to 
Japan  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  would  not  say  they  all  do.  Of  course,  I  havej 
no  use  for  the  Japs  any  more  than  the  rest  of  you  have,  but  I  know 
that  some  of  them  are  Americans,  and  probably  just  as  good  Ameri- 
cans as  lots  of  the  rest  of  us.  But  that  does  not  touch  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  this  strike  that  the  gentleman  just  brought  up.  That  point 
was  answered,  I  believe,  in  a  quotation  from  an  editorial  last  Friday, 
that  is,  I  turned  in  a  quotation  from  an  editorial  in  the  Honolulu 
Advertiser. 

Mr.  Raker.  May  I  ask  what  paper  published  this  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  articles  he  has  just  read  ?  He  says  it  was  in  the 
Jiji. 

Mr.  Raker.  A  Japanese  paper  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  a  Japanese  paper;  but  I  will  say  that  it  is  a 
Japanese  paper  that  I  do  not  know  much  about. 

Mr.  Mead.  It  was  and  is  the  official  organ  of  the  Japanese  Federa- 
tion. 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  it  is  not. 

Mr.  Mead.  It  was  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  that  it  was  at  that  time  either,  although 
it  may  have  been  supporting  the  Japanese  Federation. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Who  led  the  strike  we  are  talking  about — the  laborers 
or  some  agitators  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  strike  ?     Well,  now,  I  will  tell  you. 

Mr.  Free.  I  want  to  hear  the  testimony  on  that  strike,  but  it  is 
1  o'clock  and  I  must  leave.  Do  you  not  think  we  had  better  adjourn 
until  to-morrow  ?     You  have  quite  a  bit  more,  have  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes;  I  have  quite  a  bit  more. 

Mr.  Free.  I  have  another  engagement  which  I  must  fill;  but  I 
want  to  hear  this  very  much. 

Mr.  Raker  (in  the  chair) .  What  is  the  sense  of  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Might  I  be  allowed  to  answer  that  question  first 
from  a  quotation,  a  quotation  from  the  Honolulu  Advertiser  of  June 
28,  which  was  read  before  this  commitee  on  Friday? 

Mr.  Free.  That  is  the  same  one  you  read  Friday  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  right  at  this 
point  to  the  paragraph  which  states: 

As  to  the  strike  of  last  year  everyone  knows  that  it  was  not  nationalistic,  as  Wright 
puts  it.  And  Ms  stating  so  in  his  cablegram  was  for  no  reason  other  than  to  causei 
the  members  of  the  Immigration  Committee  to  think  they  are  being  misled  by  Walter 
Dillingham  and  the  other  members  of  the  labor  committee  now  in  Washington. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  707 

This  shows  how  that  thing  is  now  regarded  in  Honolulu  by  one  of 
the  white  dailies  that  is  published  by  Mr.  Thurston  and  is  supposed 
to  embod}^  the  sentiments  of  the  white  community.  That  is  a  posi- 
tive statement  that  everyone  knows  that  the  strike  was  not  nation- 
iastic.  Now,  if  the  matter  has  been  presented  here  as  being  nation- 
ilistic,  as  we  assumed,  then  I  have  a  right  to  express  what  this  paper 
states  is  the  sentiment  of  the  community  there  in  Honolulu,  to  the 
effect  that  it  was  not  nationalistic. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  you  still  think  it  was  not  nationalistic? 

Mr.  Wright.  Personally,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  believe  it 
ivas  economic;  in  fact,  I  will  say  that  so  far  as  the  strike  is  concerned 
Lt  was  a  bona  fide  economic  movement  of  the  plantation  laborers, 
md  I  call  your  attention  to  this  fact,  that  the  strike  was  not  started 
3y  the  Japanese.  The  strike  was  started  by  Filipinos.  The  Filipino 
abor  union  started  that  strike  and  the  Japanese  supported  them, 
rhat  does  not  look  to  me  like  a  nationalistic  proposition.  It  was 
surely  economic,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain. 

Mr.  Free.  Let  us  adjourn  untir  to-morrow. 

Mr.  Raker  (in  the  chair) .  The  committee  will  stand  in  recess  until 
:o-morrow  at  10  o'clock. 


House  of  Representatives, 
Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

Tuesday,  August  2,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
c.hairman)  presiding. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  GEORGE  W.  WRIGHT— Continued. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Wright,  I  regret  that  I  had  to  leave  the  hearing 
>resterday,  on  account  of  bills  on  the  Calendar  in  the  House,  and  there- 
ore,  I  did  not  hear  all  of  your  testimony.  In  the  course  of  the  hearing 
yesterday  did  you  discuss  to  any  extent  the  Japanese  labor  organiza- 
tion in  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  mentioned ;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  explain  it  to  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  believe  there  was  very  much  said  on  that 
;ubject. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  explain  anything  about  the  Filipino  labor 
)rganization  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Just  what  do  you  mean — as  to  the  form  ? 

The  Chairman.  It  will  be  of  a  great  deal  of  interest  to  know  from 
^ou,  who  are  familiar  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  the 
slands,  all  that  you  can  give  us  in  the  way  of  information,  without 
ny  questioning  you,  in  regard  to  those  two  organizations. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  he  just  incidentally 
•eferred  to  them.     He  has  not  explained  them  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  let  him  take  10  or  15  minutes  to  tell  us  all 
le  can  about  them. 

Mr.  Wright.  So  far  as  the  Filipino  organization  is  concerned,  I 
lave  met  personally  Mr.  Manlipit,  who  is,  or  claims  to  be,  one  of  the 
leads  of  the  organization,  and  he  has  given  me  statements  as  to  the 


y 


708  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

membership.     Sometime   ago   he   claimed   a  m^embership   of   about 
17,000.     Just  what  that  membership  is  to-day,  I  can  not  say. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  speaking  of  the  Fihpino  organization  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  of  the  Fihpino  organization. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  will  keep  them  separate  in  order  that  we  may  not 
get  mixed  up  on  them. 

Mr.  Wright.  Eleven  thousand,  I  believe,  he  gave  me  as  the  num- 
ber of  common  plantation  laborers,  and  the  other  6,000,  I  am  not  in 
a  position  to  place,  but  they  are  probably  laborers  engaged  in  the 
canneries  and  pineapple  fields  and  other  labor  work.  I  know  that 
there  are  Filipino  laborers  employed  at  Pearl  Harbor  and  there  are 
Filipino  laborers  employed  on  other  Government  work.  Whether 
they  have  been  let  out  or  not,  on  account  of  the  rehabilitation  bill,  I 
could  not  say,  but  I  do  not  believe  they  have  been  affected,  although 
it  may  be  that  they  have.  They  are  noncitizens  in  a  certain  sense. 
That  is  a  point  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  state,  but  that  is  the  way 
he  placed  his  17,000  membership.  As  to  the  form  of  the  organization, 
I  am  not  positively  familiar  with  it,  although  I  am  under  the  im- 
pression that  it  is  a  centralized  organization — that  is  to  say,  there  are 
different  groups  and  branches  on  the  different  islands  and  different 
plantations,  and  they  are  all  under  one  head  or  central  organization 
at  Honolulu.  The  organization  originated,  I  believe,  in  1919,  in  the 
fall  of  1919,  and  the  Filipinos  were  the  ones  who  precipitated  the  strike 
of  1920.  The  Filipinos  left  to  the  plantations,  and  some  three  weeks 
or  a  month  later — I  am  not  positive  as  to  the  exact  time — the  Japa- 
nese followed  them.  I  call  attention  to  that  particularly  before  this 
committee  to  show  that  the  strike  was  not  limited  to  one  nationality, 
or  was  not  nationalistic  in  the  sense  that  it  was  a  Japanese  national- 
istic movement. 

The  Filipinos  at  the  time  of  that  strike  were  considered  a  pretty 
strong  organization — that  is,  they  were  strong  in  numbers,  but  they 
were  weak  in  the  pocketbook.  They  stayed  out  on  the  strike  fori 
awhile,  and  some  of  them  came  to  to^vn  as  they  were  turned  off  from 
the  plantations,  and  they  established  Filipino  camps.  I  believe  there 
was  considerable  suffering.  In  fact,  I  mil  state  that  I  am  positive 
that  there  was  suffering  among  those  Filipino  refugees  from  the  plan- 
tations, and  the  Japanese  then,  or  about  the  time  their  organization 
decided  to  go  on  strike,  threw  in  or  joined  hands  with  the  Filipinos 
and  I  believe  rendered  them  some  assistance. 

Mr.  Raker.  Financial  assistance  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Financial  assistance  and  assistance  in  the  way  of 
providing  food  for  those  refugees  that  were  concentrated.  Then 
something  happened  to  the  Filipinos.  Nobody  knows  just  exactly! 
what  it  was.  There  was  a  report  that  bribery  had  been  offered,  and 
the  countercharge  that  it  had  been  solicited,  and  concentrated  efforts 
were  made  to  discredit  the  Filipino  leadership.  As  a  result  of  that, 
Filipino  resistance  was  broken,  and  I  believe  that  officially  the 
Filipinos  called  the  strike  off.  Many  of  them  went  back  to  the 
plantations. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  you  mean  by  charges  and  countercharges,  or 
charges  of  bribery  and  discrediting  the  Filipino  leadership  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  mean  charges  that  this  man,  Manlapit,  leader  of 
the  Filipinos,  was  offered  a  bribe  by  the  plantation  interests  to  leave 
Honolulu,  and  the  plantation  interests,  I  believe,  countered  with  the 


LABOR  PEOBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  709 

charge  that  Mr.  Manlapit  had  sohcited  the  bribe.  The  thing  was  a 
very  hard  matter  to  get  the  ins  and  outs  of,  because  it  never  came  out 
in  any  definite  settlement,  so  that  anyone  would  be  in  a  position  to 
know  exactly  what  took  place. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  became  of  Manlapit  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Manlapit  is  still  there.  Manlapit  is  a  lawyer  prac- 
!  ticing  in  Honolulu,  and  he  is  still  on  the  job  and  is  still  at  the  head 
[  of  the  Filipinos. 

Mr.  Irwin.  In  connection  with  that  matter,  Mr.  Wright,  is  not 
this  the  fact,  or  are  these  not  some  of  the  facts,  that  charges  vfere 
preferred  against  Mr.  Manlapit  as  an  attorney  arising  out  of  the  fact 
that  he  solicited  this  bribe;  that  the  circuit  court  disbarred  him;  and 
that  upon  appeal  to  the  supreme  court  the  disbarment  proceeding 
was  set  aside  upon  the  technical  ground  that  the  misconduct  did  not 
arise  in  connection  with  his  professional  activities  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  heard  that  charges  were  preferred,  but  I 
know  that  Mr.  Manlapit  is  still  practicing. 

Mr.  Irwin.  You  know  that  he  was  disbarred  by  the  circuit  court, 
do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  He  is  still  practicing  in  some  courts. 

Mr.  Irwin.  You  know  that  on  appeal  to  the  supreme  court  the  dis- 
barment was  set  aside  upon  the  technical  ground  that  the  miscon- 
duct was  not  connected  with  his  duties  as  an  attorney  '^ 

Mr.  Wright.  All  that  is  beside  the  question  in  thai 

Mr.  Irwin  (interposing) .  You  know  that  that  is  a  fact  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  I  know  that  is  the  fact  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Do  you  know  that  is  the  fact  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  do  not  know  them  to  be  absolute  facts. 
As  I  stated,  the  thing  was  so  involved  that,  so  far  as  we  were  con- 
cerned, it  never  came  to  a  definite  settlement  to  establish  the  truth 
one  way  or  the  other. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  were  the  charges  with  reference  to  bribery,  the 
offering  of  a  bribe,  or  receiving  a  bribe?  By  whom  were  the  bribes 
offered,  and  to  whom? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  involved  with  some  representative  or  attor- 
ney for  the  plantation  interests,  I  believe.  I  am  simply  developing 
this  as  outlined  in  the  course  of  the  strike. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  labor  papers  encourage  the  Filipino  strike  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  was  no  labor  paper  at  the  time. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  Filipinos  have  newspapers  of  their  own  in 
the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  they  do;  yes,  sir.  I  have  seen  copies  of  them 
and  saw  them,  at  that  time. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  Filipino  labor  leaders  make  overtures 
to  your  organization  for  amalgamation  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  At  that  time;  no,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  ask  you  for  assistance  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  officially,  or  not  as  an  organization,  but  I  believe 
that  assistance  was  given  them  as  individuals. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  referred  in  your  statement  to  ^^  point  of 
contact,"  in  an  effort  to  help  solve  the  situation,  did  you  mean  that 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  representatives  might  act  as  a 
control  or  guide  for  the  Filipino  association  and  the  Japanese  labor 
association  ? 


710  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  when  I  used  the  term  '^ point  of  contact/' 
I  was  referring  to  the  point  of  contact  between  the  plantation 
interests  and  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  organization  in  the 
Territory  with  a  view  to  acting  as  mediator. 

The  Chairman.  Would  acting  as  the  mediator  bring  you  in  contact 
with  the  Filipino  association  and  the  Japanese  association? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  would  bring  us  in  contact  with  those  associations  in 
an  effort  to  secure  an  understanding  which  would  keep  them  on  the 
plantations.     That  was  our  purpose. 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  you  would  be  the  mediator  or 
business  agent  for  the  Japanese  association  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  the  business  agent  at  all  in  the  sense  that  that 
word  is  used,  but  simply  as  a  mediator  or  conciliator  between  the 
employes  and  the  employers. 

The  Chairman.  Has  not  the  Federal  Government  mediators  and 
conciliators  to  do  that  very  work  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  you  mean  in  the  Territory  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  think  not. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  never  seen  one  there  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir.  On  certain  occasions  they  have  appointed, 
residents  or  resident  employees  of  the  Federal  Government  as  con- 
ciliators. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  work  with  any  success  in  this  recent 
strike  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  In  the  machinists  strike  in  1919  their  efforts  were 
very  successful,  I  believe,  in  bringing  about  an  adjustment. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  machinists  strike  on  the  Government 
work? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  It  was  outside  of  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Does  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  fraternalize 
and  harmonize  with  the  Filipino  Federation  of  Labor  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Fraternalize  and  harmonize  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  as  associations. 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  you  mean  whether  there  is  any  connection  be- 
tween them,  or  any  official  connection  ? 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  get  along  well  together  as  labor  associa- 
tions ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  would  not  be  in  a  position  to  state  positively.  I 
can  state,  however,  that  there  is  no  official  connection  between  the 
two  organizations. 

The  Chairman.  So  far  as  you  know,  do  the  Japanese  plantation 
laborers  and  the  Filipino  plantation  laborers  get  along  well  together  ?  i 

Mr.  Wright.  On  the  plantations  ? 

The  Chairman.  Anywhere.  Is  there  any  feeling  between  those 
races  ?     That  is  what  I  want  to  get  at. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  think  there  is. 

The  Chairman.  Was  there  some  years  ago  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  may  have  been.  I  will  state  that  immediately 
after  the  strike  I  believe  there  was  a  certain  feeling  between  them 
based  upon  the  economic  ground  that  they  had  not  supported  each 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  711 

other,  each  side  charging  that  the  other  side  haci  not  supported  them 
as  they  had  reason  to  expect  they  would  be  supported. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  Japanese  seem  to  be  resentful  when  addi- 
tional Filipinos  are  brought  into  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  can  not  say  that  they  are  resentful. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  Japanese  say  anything  about  this  proposal 
to  bring  in  other  orientals,  as  outlined  in  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Japanese  themselves  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  that  they  have  gone  on  record  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  not  heard  any  of  them  say  anything 
about  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  think  they  are  simply  laying  off. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  mean  by  ''laying  off  "  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  are  simply  letting  matters  go  and  are  awaiting 
developments. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  Japanese  new^spapers  have  anything  to  say 
about  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  some.  There  is  only  one  Japanese  news- 
paper that  has  anything  in  English  in  it. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  make  any  effort  to  keep  up  with  trans- 
lations of  the  Japanese  newspapers  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  no  effort  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  important  to  do  that.  Did  you  see  those 
advertisements  in  Japanese  newspapers  with  pictures  of  Japanese 
strikers  who  had  returned  to  work  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Did  I  see  them  personally — no,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  see  the  Japanese  advertisement  where 
it  was  announced  that  they  would  be  denounced  in  their  home  towns 
in  Japan  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Was  it  talked  about  in  the  labor  unions  at  all? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  believe  it  was  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  mean  that  it  was  nothing  to  you  that  the 
punishment  of  Japanese  strike  breakers  was  to  be  punishment  in 
Japan  ?     Do  you  mean  to  say  that  that  was  nothing  to  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  not  brought  to  our  attention  particularly, 
although  the  fact  was  developed  in  the  daily  newspapers 

The  Chairman  (interposing) .  That  was  printed  in  English  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  printed  in  the  English  newspapers  as  a  charge 
against  the  Japanese  that  they  were  using  various  methods  that  were 
not  considered  lawful  in  holding  their  members  in  line. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  see  or  hear  anything  of  it  yourself  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Personally,  no. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  the  advertisements  and  translations  here. 
The  punishment  for  violating  the  agreements  of  the  Japanese  Labor 
Association  was  a  punishment  in  Japan,  besides  ostracism  among  their 
own  people  in  the  islands.     Are  you  pretty  friendly  with  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  have  practically  no  acquaintances  among  the 
Japanese,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  schoolboys  who  are 
schoolmates  of  my  sons  in  high  school. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  sons  in  high  school  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  two. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  own  property  in  the  islands  ? 


712  LABOE   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  No. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  pay  any  taxes  over  there  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Only  personal  taxes. 

The  Chairman.  And  the  Federal  income  tax  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  pay  the  Federal  income  tax  because  my 
income  is  not  sufficiently  high  to  enable  me  to  pay  that  tax;  that  is 
to  say,  the  exemptions  take  me  out  of  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  not  stated,  but  will  you  state  now,  the 
cause  of  the  Filipino  strike,  if  you  know  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  cause  of  the  Filipino  strike,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  ascertain,  was  the  refusal  of  the  sugar  planters  to  enter  into 
any  form  of  discussion  in  the  matter  of  wage  adjustment. 

Mr.  Raker.  Could  there  be  any  difference  between  the  Filipinos 
organizing  a  labor  union  and  striking  for  better  conditions  and  better 
wages  than  there  would  be  for  citizens  living  in  continental  United 
States  organizing  unions  and  striking  for  better  wages  or  better  living 
conditions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Absolutely  no  difference;  it  is  purely  an  economic 
question,  and  that  is  what  we  have  insisted  all  along. 
*  Mr.  Raker.  Outside  of  the  economic  question,  the  Filipinos  are 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  I  am  hanging  to  the  Filipinos  now. 

The  Chairman.  If  that  is  true,  why  is  it  your  organization  did  not 
combine  with  the  Japanese  and  Filipinos  and  support  them,  advance 
mone}^  to  them,  lend  encouragement  to  them,  and  give  your  intel- 
lectual assistance  to  the  strike  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  How  did  it  come  about  at  that  time  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  We  were  not  sufficiently  strong. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  have  done  it  if  you  had  been  strong 
enough  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  had  no  central  labor  council  at  that  time  that 
was  functioning  eifectivety. 

The  Chairman.  But  you  would  have  done  it  if  you  had  been  strong 
enough — is  that  a  fair  statement  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  can  not  say  we  would. 

The  Chairman.  You  would,  personally? 

Mr.  Wrght.  Personally,  I  would  have  made  a  study  of  it  at  the 
time  before  I  determined  on  my  personal  action.  I  will  state,  how- 
ever, for  the  committee,  that  these  strikers  were  considered  by  the 
white  organizations  as  being  bona  fide  economic  strikers,  and  it 
would  have  been  considered  among  us  to  be  virtually  strike  breaking 
or  '^scabbing,"  as  we  call  it,  for  one  of  our  organizations  to  go  and 
take  the  places  of  these  men  who  were  striking.  That  is  purely  a 
case  of  class  psychology. 

The  Chairman.  You  seem  to  know  very  little  about  any  efforts  of 
the  Filipinos  and  Japanese  to  consolidate  for  .a  strike,  and  that  is 
what  I  am  trying  to  get  at,  whether  they  did  do  it  or  might  do  it  in 
the  future. 

Mr.  Wright.  Whether  they  did  do  it  in  the  past  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes.     Of  course,  that  is  the  main  question. 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  it  was  evident  that  there  was  a  consolidation 
of  interests.  At  the  time  the  Japanese  went  out  on  strike  the  Filipinos 
were  already  out,  and  when  the  Japanese  went  out  there  was  that 
much  of  a  consolidation  of  interests  that  they  were  both  on  strike 


LABOK   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  7l3 

at  the  same  time.  However,  they  submitted  their  demands,  as  I 
understand,  separately;  they  did  not  combine  in  the  submission  of  a 
request  for  a  conference  with  the  sugar  phxnters,  but  that  was  taken 
up  separately. 

The  Chairman.  Then  as  a  result  of  all  that  the  Filipino  labor 
organization  in  Hawaii  has  an  application  here,  properly  indorsed, 
for  affiliation  with  the  American  Federation,  and  the  Japanese  asso- 
ciation has  not.     Is  that  the  way  it  is  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  has  not. 

The  Chairman.  Why  is  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  do  not  know  why. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  correct  statement  about  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  As  to  the  reason  ? 

The  Chairman.  No.  Has  the  Filipino  association  made  an  appli- 
cation, through  your  association,  for  affiliation  with  the  American 
Federation  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  has. 

The  Chairman.  And  that  application  has  been  indorsed  by  your 
association  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Has  the  Japanese  association  made  a  similar  appli- 
cation to  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  has  not. 

The  Chairman.  It  has  never  applied  to  you  at  all  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  since  the  strike.  As  I  stated  Friday,  there  may 
have  been,  in  fact  I  believe  there  was  some  movement  on  foot  at  the 
time  of  the  strike,  but  I  was  not  in  sufficiently  close  touch  with  the 
labor  council  and  the  affairs  of  organized  labor  to  know  definitely. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  not  change  their  name  and  undertake  to 
change  their  constitution  and  swing  around  so  that  they  w^ould  be  in 
order  for  that  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  they  did;  I  think  their  name  was  changed  to 
the  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association.  Formerly  it  was  the  Japanese 
Federation  of  Labor  and  the  charge  was  made  locally  by  the  planta- 
tion interests  that  the  federation  was  a  purely  nationalistic  organ- 
ization. 

The  Chairman.  That  charge  was  made  by  your  federation? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  that  was  a  charge  made  by  the  plantation 
interests,  I  say,  to  the  effect  that  the  Japanese  federation  was  a 
purely  nationalistic  organization  and  was  working  for  the  Japanese 
alone  as  Japanese  and,  as  I  understand  in  order  to  disprove  that  or, 
rather,  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  feeling,  they  changed  their 
name  and  changed  their  constitution  to  conform  more  closely  to  the 
aims  and  ideals  of  the  American  labor  movement. 

The  Chairman.  Now  we  are  getting  at  it  a  little  bit.  Then  you 
claim  that  it  was  not  a  nationalistic  organization  at  any  time  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  said  the  strike  was  not  a  nationalistic  strike. 

The  Chairman.  Is  the  Japanese  laborers'  organization  a  national- 
istic association  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  A  nationalistic  association  at  the  present  time  ?  I 
do  not  believe  it  is.     That  is  only  my  personal  opinion,  however. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  here  as  a  witness  and  that  is  exactly 
what  we  what  to  get.     You  think  it  is  not. 


714  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  before  I  make  that  statement  I  would  like  to 
understand  just  what  you  mean  by  ^'nationalistic." 

The  Chairman.  Well,  if  it  is  an  association  that  is  Japanese,  has 
the  support  of  the  other  Japanese  in  the  Islands,  has  a  punishment 
for  the  violation  of  its  agreements,  a  part  of  which  is  in  Japan,  and 
has  threats  in  its  constitution  or  by-laws  running  to  Japan,  would 
you  not  say  it  was  along  the  line  of  a  nationalistic  organization  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  under  the  old  form  of  organization  and  I  can 
not  say  as  to  that,  but  the  fact  that  it  includes  only  Japanese  I  do 
not  believe  is  sufficient  to  make  it  a  purely  nationalistic  organization 
in  the  sense  that  its  aims,  ideals,  and  objects  are  along  nationalistic 
lines  any  more  than  I  would  consider  that  the  hod-carriers'  union, 
which  is  composed,  I  believe,  almost  entirely  of  Portuguese,  is  a  na- 
tionalistic organization. 

The  Chairman.  Does  that  union  belong  to  your  central  federation  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  The  Portuguese  union  belongs  to  your  federation  ? 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  Oh,  yes.     We  might  have  an  organization 

The  Chairman.  Just  wait  a  minute.  I  do  not  mean  to  interrupt 
you,  but  the  Portuguese  association  is  made  up  of  citizens  or  those 
eligible  to  citizenship. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  That  changes  the  aspect  of  it  a  little  bit.  Now, 
are  there  any  Japanese  barbers  in  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  there  are  quite  a  number  of  Japanese  barbers. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  organized? 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  I  believe  they  have  an  association;  yes. 

The  Chairman.  A  Japanese  organization? 

Mr.  Wright.  A  Japanese  barbers'  association. 

The  Chairman.  Outside  of  your  organization?  They  are  not 
affiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Barbers,  are  they? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  they  are  not.  Just  a  moment,  before  I  forget 
it,  on  that  question  of  the  racial  construction  of  an  organization. 
We  have  the  Hui  Poola  or  Stevedores'  Association,  which,  I  believe, 
is  made  up  entirely  of  Hawaiians. 

The  Chairman.  They  are  American  citizens,  are  they  not  ?  They 
are  not  aliens,  are  they  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  are  American  citizens,  but  I  bring  that  up  as  a 
racial  proposition.  They  are  of  a  different  race,  but  I  would  not  con- 
sider that  a  racial  organization. 

The  Chairman.  Are  they  affiliated  with  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  are  not,  no;  they  are  a  different  kind  of 
organization;  they  are  more  of  an  association. 

The  Chairman.  A  society? 

Mr.  Wright.  A  society;  yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  Japanese  societies  there,  too,  have  you 
not? 

Mr.  Wright.  Japanese  societies,  yes,  and  a  Japanese  chamber  of 
commerce. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  Japanese  belong  to  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  believe  they  do. 

The  Chairman.  They  do  not  fraternalize  quite  that  far  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  AIL  715 

Mr.  Wright.  They  have  their  different  business  interests;  but  it 
seems  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  character  of  an  organization  is 
determined  more  by  its  object  than  by  its  actual  construction. 

The  Chairman.  We  are  trying  to  think  along  different  lines.  I 
was  trying  to  get  at  the  solidarity  movement  of  races  and  a  possible 
combination  of  races  that  are  not  American  races.  I  do  not  quite 
mean  that,  but  I  mean  white  races,  not  Caucasians,  and  I  was  trying 
to  look  at  that  phase  of  it  as  to  the  future  control  of  the  islands.  You 
have  quite  a  number  of  Chinese  there  now,  have  you  not — 20,000  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  beheve  25,000  or  26,000  Chinese. 

The  Chairman.  How  many  on  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  how  many  Chinese  on  the  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  it  has  been  shown  here  that  there  are  about 
1,700.  You  have  that  many  Chinese  and  you  have  a  large  number  of 
Japanese,  who  have  attempted  to  organize,  and  then  you  have 
Filipinos  who  have  attempted  to  organize.  Now,  there  are  three 
races  outside  of  your  Federation  of  Labor,  and  I  was  just  trying  to 
see  if  we  should  not  look  ahead  and  see  what  might  happen  under  a 
consolidation  of  those  races,  and  whether  you  would  be  able  to 
maintain  a  point  of  contact  and  control  them  at  all.  I  have  put 
it  just  as  plainly  as  I  can. 

Mr.  Wright.  If  it  is  along  that  line  that  you  are  trying  to  develop 
information  I  will  state  that,  of  course,  it  is  a  good  deal  a  matter 
of  theory  and  possibilities.  No  one  is  in  a  position  to  state  absolutely 
as  a  fact  that  such  an  association  or  drawing  together  could  take  place. 
However,  if  it  could  take  place  there  ought  to  be  no  question  but 
what  the  intelligence  and  initiative  of  the  white  or  Caucasian  elements 
would  dominate  intellectually,  but  it  would  have  to  be  under  some 
such  arrangement  as  that.  There  could  be  no  conceivable  consolida- 
tion without  a  unification  of  interests;  in  other  words,  they  would  have 
to  conform  to  our  ideals,  to  our  standards,  and  to  our  constitution  and 
by-laws  in  order  to  affiliate  or  to  secure  our  cooperation. 

The  Chairman.  You  say  that  when  this  strike  was  coming  on  your 
association,  your  central  labor  body,  did  not  look  into  the  matter  of 
these  advertisements  at  all,  did  not  look  into  the  matter  of  the  con- 
stitution at  all,  did  not  look  into  the  Japanese  phase  of  it  at  all, 
and  you  say  that  in  your  opinion  it  was  not  a  Japanese  solidarity 
organization  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  you  are  misquoting  me. 

The  Chairman.  If  I  am  I  do  not  want  to. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  stated  that  at  that  time  the  labor  movement,  so 
far  as  we  were  concerned,  was  in  its  infancy;  it  was  only  a  matter  of 
about  a  year  that  we  had  been  organized  at  all,  and  we  had  been  busy 
with  our  own  strike  and  our  own  troubles,  and  then  when  this  planta- 
tion strike  came  on  we  had  not  at  that  time  sufficient  solidarity  our- 
selves or  sufficient  unity  to  make  a  concerted  study,  a  definite  study, 
of  the  Japanese  or  Filipino  organizations,  but  since  that  time  the 
Japanese  organization,  as  you  have  stated,  has  changed  its  constitu- 
tion in  an  attempt,  I  believe,  to  conform  more  closely  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  American  organization. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  drop  that  phase  of  it.  Leaving  out  labor 
organizations  of  all  kinds,  did  not  these  strikes  occur  because  the 
laborers  had  been  receiving  large  bonuses  as  a  result  of  high  prices 
for  sugar  and  they  saw  for  a  certainty  that  the  bonus  would  drop  to  a 


716  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

smaller  figure  and  that  led  them  to  strike  in  an  effort  to  get  an  ad- 
justment ?     Is  not  that  about  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  I  do  not  know  just  exactly  what  relation  the 
bonus  had  to  that,  but  it  is  quite  likely  the}^  foresaw,  as  we  did,  a  drop 
in  the  price  of  sugar,  and  figured  that  if  they  were  to  lose  their  bonus 
they  would  have  nothing  left,  because  the  base  wage  at  that  time  was 
about  77  cents  a  day,  and  unless  that  base  wage  could  be  raised  the 
loss  of  the  bonus  would  mean  practically  the  loss  of  everything. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  the  bonus  amount  to  at  the  highest 
price  of  sugar  ?     Did  you  ever  hear  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  I  have  heard  all  kinds  of  statements,  but  I  have 
not  the  bonus  schedule.     It  is  a  rather  complicated  proposition. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  think  it  amounted  to  for  a  day 
laborer  on  the  plantations? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  day  laborers  made  as  high  as  200  per  cent  of 
their  base  wage. 

The  Chairman.  Two  hundred  per  cent  a  day  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  would  not  be  very  high. 

The  Chairman.  What  would  it  be  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  To  find  out  you  would  have  to  multiply  77  cents  a 
day  by  200  per  cent. 

Mr.  Wright.  Of  course,  at  the  extreme  peak  of  the  sugar  prices 
the  bonus  may  have  been  higher.  These  gentlemen  ought  to  have 
definite  statistics. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  the  statistics,  but  I  wanted  to  know 
whether  you  had  general  knowledge  of  them.  You  were  watching 
this  strike,  but  I  do  not  Ivnow  whether  you  have  said  you  were  in 
sympathy  with  it  or  not,  and  I  just  wondered  whether  you  knew  what 
the  wages  of  the  plantation  laborers  were  at  about  that  time. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  know  they  were  getting  high  wages  at  the  time 
sugar  was  high. 

The  Chairman.  Were  they  getting  as  much  as  $4  a  day  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  contractors  might  have  been,  or  something  like 
that. 

The  Chairman.  And  they  had  their  houses  and  other  things 
furnished.     What  is  the  average  house  rent  in  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  rentals  over  there,  for  a  decent  house  for  an 
American  to  live  in,  run  about  S40  or  $50. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  have  to  pay  for  car  fare  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  car  fare  in  Honolulu  is  still  5  cents.  That  is 
practically  the  only  thing  that  has  not  been  raised. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  have  to  pay  for  ice  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  price  of  ice  has  been  raised  since  the  first  of  the 
year.     We  pay  10  cents  a  day  for  ice. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  we  are  supposed  to  get  7  pounds — 7  or  7^ 
pounds. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  there  any  American  Japanese  in  these  organiza- 
tions, American  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know,  definitely. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  are  a  lot  of  young  men  there  from  14  to  25  or 
even  40  years  of  age  who  were  born  in  Hawaii,  and  some  were  born 
in  the  United  States  and  have  gone  to  Hawaii.  I  want  to  know 
whether  or  not  any  of  these  Japanese,  who  are  American  citizens, 
belong  to  any  of  these  Japanese  labor  organizations,  if  you  know  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL  7 17 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  that  I  have  personal  knowledge  of. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that  I  may  intelligently  ask  Mr.  Wright  a  few 
questions,  may  I  ask  Mr.  Gompers  a  couple  of  questions  '^ 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Gompers,  does  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
permit  Negroes  to  affiliate  with  that  organization? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Does  it  permit  any  alien  race,  that  possesses  the  quali- 
fications as  named  by  one  of  your  gentlemen  the  other  day,  to  become 
a  part  of  the  unions '? 

Mr.  Gompers.  All  except  Chinese  and  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  But  the  Japanese  are  members  of  certain  unions 
in  Seattle,  are  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  1  would  like  to  answer  this  question  first,  if  I  may. 
The  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  on  repeated  occasions  de- 
clared the  necessity  for  the  organization  of  workers,  of  all  wage 
earners,  without  regard  to  nationality,  sex,  race,  or  political  affilia- 
tions of  any  character,  and  yet  at  the  first  convention  of  the  Federa- 
tion in  1881  it  declared  for  Chinese  exclusion  and  has  carried  along 
that  policy  all  through.  It  helped  to  prevail  upon  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  for  the  enactment  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  law 
and  for  the  renewal  of  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
China  by  which  that  principle  has  been  internationally  maintained. 
In  regard  to  the  Japanese,  it  has  declared  against  the  affiliation  of  the 
Mongolian  race  with  the  American  labor  movement.  I  may  say,  if 
I  am  permitted,  that  we  have  had  applications  from  Japanese  workers 
in  the  United  States  for  a  charter  from  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  but  the  Federation  has  declined  to  issue  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  it  be  impertinent  upon  my  part  if  I  asked  you 
upon  what  theory,  after  having  answered  the  question  as  you  have, 
that  all  aliens  can  join  the  Federation  if  they  have  the  qualifications — 
what  are  the  words  ?     If  they  are  workers  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Wage  earners. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  sober  and  industrious. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Well,  the  machinists  have  that  in  a  part  of  their 
constitution  or  their  obligation,  but  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
assumes  all  workers  to  be  sober  and  industrious. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  they  are  in  the  United  States  legally  and  lawfully, 
upon  what  theory  do  you  exclude  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese  from 
the  organization  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  The  Chinese  are  excluded  hj  law,  and  we  believe 
that  the  intermingling  of  the  Mongolian  races  is  prejudicial  not  only 
to  the  economic  interests  of  the  working  people  but  to  the  institutions 
of  our  Republic  and  against  our  progress  in  civilization.  I  would  also 
like  to  say  this  in  connection  with  a  subject  which  was  discussed 
yesterday;  that  is,  why  machinery  of  a  proper  type  and  character  has 
not  been  applied  to  the  sugar  plantations.  The  fact  is  that  it  is  a 
universal  law  of  industry  that  wherever  men  are  cheap  labor-saving 
devices,  tools,  and  machinery  are  checked  and  held  back,  and  that 
does  not  apply  to  China,  it  does  not  apply  to  Japan,  it  does  not  apply 
to  India,  it  does  not  apply  alone  to  any  other  country,  but  applies  to 
the  conditions  in  our  own  country.     Wherever  workers  and  wage 


718  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

earners  are  cheap  it  has  retarded  or  prevented  the  introduction  of  the 
highest  types  of  machinery  and  tools  of  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  While  your  views  have  been  expressed,  there  is  no 
opportunity  now  for  reiterating  my  (^wn,  and  I  will  not  do  so  in  the 
questions  I  will  propound  to  this  witness;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
when  the  Government  of  the  United  ^States  permits  Chinese  and 
Japanese  to  be  in  the  United  States,  they  ought  to  have  the  right 
to  be  treated  as  human  beings  and  should  receive  a  fair  wage  for 
their  work '? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Indeed;  and  I  might  say  this,  that  whenever  there 
has  been  a  movement  on  the  part  of  any  of  those  races  for  their 
economic  betterment,  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  given 
them  its  moral  support. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  instead  of  trying  to  discriminate 
against  them  while  we  have  them  here,  the  thing  to  do  is  to  exclude 
them  from  our  country  so  as  to  avoid  this  complication  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  I  will  forego  any  further  examination  now. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  If  I  may  have  a  moment,  I  will  say  this,  that  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  has  endeavored  by  every  means  within 
,  its  power  or  influence  to  organize  the  colored  workmen  in  the  United 
/  States  or  any  of  its  possessions.  It  does  not  recognize  social  equality, 
^  but  it  does  recognize  the  identity  of  interest  of  colored  workers  with 
those  of  the  Caucasian  race.  There  are  some  organizations  affiliated 
with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  that  discriminate  against  col- 
ored workers  becoming  members  of  their  organizations.  In  principle, 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  discouraged  that  thought  and 
idea,  and  has,  on  the  other  hand,  endeavored  to  use  its  influence  with 
the  organizations  in  order  that  they  would  eliminate  whatever  dis- 
criminatory provisions  there  were  in  their  laws  and  constitutions. 
,  As  a  recent  instance  of  that,  I  call  attention  to  this  fact,  that  we 
have  about  75  or  80  local  unions  of  colored  workers  in  the  freight- 
handling  department  of  railroads,  including  station  porters,  com- 
posed completely  of  colored  workmen.  We  have  a  national  organi- 
zation affiliated  with  the  Federation  called  the  Brotherhood  of 
Freight  Handlers,  Shipphig  Clerks,  Station  Porters,  etc.,  but  that 
organization  does  not  admit  unions  of  colored  workers  or  colored 
workers  as  individuals.  At  our  last  convention  at  Denver,  which 
closed  a  few  weeks  ago,  we  adopted  a  resolution  directing  that  ever}^ 
effort  should  be  made  by  this  national  organization  to  admit  those 
colored  men,  and  upon  the  floor  it  was  declared  that  every  effort 
would  be  made  before  the  convention  to  be  held  in  1922,  and  that 
organization  has  requested  that  such  efforts  be  made,  to  break  down 
that  bar,  and  they  have  declared  that  unions  of  colored  workers 
should  be  admitted.  They  have  declared  that  in  the  meantime 
every  effort  should  be  made  by  the  brotherhood,  by  those  colored 
local  unions,  and  b}^  the  president  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  to  see  to  it  that  in  the  interim  between  our  convention  and  the 
brotherhood's  convention,  when  the  question  is  to  be  decided,  the 
injustice  done  to  those  colored  freight  handlers  should  be  rectified; 
the  injustice  being  that  the  Railroad  Labor  Board  has  adjudged  and 
decided  upon  a  basic  hour  wage  for  that  character  of  work  performed 
by  those  colored  workmen  and  by  the  white  workmen  who  are  doing 
the  same  class  of  work,  and  the  railroads  arbitrarily  and  in  conflict 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  719 

with  the  decision,  and  in  viohition  of  the  decision  of  the  Railroad 
Wage  Lahor  Board,  has  reduced  the  wages  of  those  coh)red  workmen 
10  cents  per  hour. 

At  a  recent  conference  called  by  me,  at  which  the  brotherhood 
was  represented  and  at  which  all  these  colored  local  unions  were 
represented,  we  reached  an  agreement  by  which  there  will  be  coopera- 
tion in  order  to  have  restored  the  rates  of  wages  instead  of  those 
arbitrarily  and  unlawfully  imposed  by  the  railroad  companies  upon 
those  men.  That  is  an  indication  of  the  character  of  work  that  we 
are  doing  upon  that  line. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  May  I  ask  Mr.  Gompers  a  question  ? 

The  Chairman.  Certainly. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Gompers,  I  was  very  much  interested  in 
your  statement  in  regard  to  the  question  of  introducing  labor-saving 
machinery  on  the  sugar  plantations.  I  have  understood  that  the 
Painters'  Union  of  San  Francisco  endeavored  to  secure  legislation 
in  the  State  of  California  which  would  prevent  the  use  of  paint- 
spraying  machinery.     Do  you  know  anything  about  that  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  do  not  know,  and  it  may  be  true.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  Lancastershire,  England,  textile  workers  broke  the  first 
textile  machines  that  were  placed  in  the  factories,  because  they  were 
under  the  impression  that  if  they  would  destroy  those  ma<ihines  they 
would  save  their  jobs. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  was  the  revolution  of  1700? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes,  sir.  They  failed  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that 
when  they  broke  the  machines  there  were  possibly  blue  prints 
available,  and  that  even  if  they  destroyed  them  the  man  who 
invented  the  machines  was  living,  and  he  could  with  the  assistance 
of  others  produce  other  machines.  While  here  and  there  there  may 
be  small  groups  who  have  antagonized  the  introduction  of  machinery, 
generally  speaking,  and  I  might  say  that  it  is  almost  unanimously  so, 
we  say  ^' Bring  in  your  machinery  as  much  as  you  can."  But  as  a 
result  of  that  the  hours  of  labor  should  be  reduced,  so  that  the 
introduction  of  machinery  shall  not  entirely  wipe  out  the  wage 
earner. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  was  demonstrated  in  that  revolution  in 
England,  which  showed  that  skilled  artisans  were  necessary  in  the 
handling  of  machinery. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  have  read  of  one  instance  in  Egypt  with  much 
interest  where  the  water  carriers  protested  against  the  laying  of  mains 
and  pipes  because  it  would  take  away  their  jobs.  It  is  simply  a 
matter  of  the  concept  of  self-protection. 

Mr.  Raker.  Was  not  that  same  sort  of  protest  made  against  the 
English  Government  when  they  took  Jerusalem?  When  they  took 
that  country,  they  put  in  water  pipes  and  mains,  and,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  the  water  carriers  protested  against  the  putting  in  of  the 
pipes,  so  that  they  could  have  the  work  of  carrying  the  water. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Gompers,  I  do  not  want  to  misquote  you, 
but  my  impression  was  very  definitely  obtained  last  Friday,  I  think 
it  was,  that  you  stated  in  effect  that  cane  in  Porto  Rico  was  loaded 
by  machinery.     Was  that  correct  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Quite  correct;  I  have  seen  it. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  was  very  much  surprised  at  that  fact,  because 
my  experience  in  the  sugar  country  is  not  limited  to  a  few  years  but 


720  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAIL 

represents  practically  all  the  years  I  have  been  in  business,  and  1 
have  taken  a  very  considerable  interest  in  the  matter  of  labor-saving 
machinery.  I  made  inquiries  in  New  York  to  find  out  just  what  labor- 
saving  machinery  has  been  developed,  and  I  have  this  morning  two 
letters  sent  to  me  through  the  American  Factors  (Ltd.)j  of  Wall 
Street,  New  York,  which  bear  on  this  subject.  The  first  letter  is 
from  the  Cape  Cruz  Co.,  which  operates  one  of  the  most  successful 
plantations  in  Cuba,  producing  this  year  about  125,000  bags  of 
sugar,  weighing  125  pounds  to  the  bag,  which  would  be  slightl}^  over 
20,000  tons.  There  is  a  paragraph  in  this  letter  from  Mr.  Charles 
Welch,  that  I  would  like  to  read.  After  stating  that  they  have 
stumps  on  their  plantations  which  have  made  it  difficult  to  operate 
any  machines  there,  the  letter  ends  as  follows : 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  not  know  of  an}^  mechanical  cane  cutter  or  mechanical 
cane  loader  that  has  proved  efficient  and  economical.  With  the  high  rates  of  wages 
that  have  been  prevailing  in  Cuba  from  the  start  of  the  war  until  this  year,  and  the  diffi- 
cult}^ in  getting  any  kind  of  labor,  there  never  was  a  time  when  there  was  more  neces- 
sitv  for  such  machines. 

We  have  been  following  up  the  matter  of  these  mechanical  means  of  harvesting  the 
crop  for  the  last  20  years,  and  while  from  time  to  time  reports  come  out  that  the 
problen  has  at  last  been  solved,  and  that  such  and  such  a  make  of  machine  is  operating 
successfully,  we  never  hear  that  any  machine  has  been  generally  or  even  largely  put 
to  use,  or  even  manfactured.  If  there  is  any  extens-ive  use  of  any  cane  harvester  or 
cane  loader  in  Cuba  or  Porto  Rico,  we  must  confess  that  we  do  not  know  of  it,  and 
we  shall  be  very  much  surprised  to  hear  of  it.  We  do  know  that  attempts  to  solve 
this  problem  of  cutting  cane  by  mechanical  means  are  constantly  being  made,  and 
there  is  usually  an  experimental  machine  being  tried  out  at  some  place  in  Cuba, 
Porto  Rico,  Louisiana,  or  Hawaii.  We  hope,  some  day  that  a  practical  and  efficient 
machine  will  be  found. 

That  is  from  Cuba.  I  have  also  a  letter  from  Mr.  John  Farr, 
vice  president  of  the  Central  Aguirre  Sugar  Co.,  as  follows: 

In  reply  to  your  inquiry,  we  beg  to  say  that  our  cane  at  Aguirre,  in  Porto  Rico,  is 
loaded  into  carts  and  cars  entirely  by  hand  labor. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  You  have  one  from  Porto  Rico  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  This  second  one  refers  to  Porto  Rico. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  want  to  say  that  if  what  I  said  on  Friday  or  the 
other  day  conveyed  that  idea,  it  was  not  intended,  or  I  did  not  intend 
to  convey  the  idea  that  the  sugar  cane  was  cut  by  machinery  or  in 
any  other  way  than  by  the  machette.  If  I  conveyed  any  such  idea 
as  that,  I  did  not  intend  that  it  should  be  so  conveyed.  In  the  second 
place,  as  to  the  bringing  of  the  cane  to  the  carts,  I  did  not  intend  to 
€onvey  the  idea  that  that  was  done  by  machinery.  What  I  intended 
to  say  was  that  when  the  cane  was  placed  in  the  carts,  there  were 
chains  under  each  end  of  the  length  of  cane,  and  then  something 
else,  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  a  chain  or  not,  but  those  carts  or 
steam  cars  were  hauled  from  the  field  to  the  grinding  place,  and  the 
cane  was  there  hauled  up  at  one  time  and  dropped  into  a  hopper, 
where  the  cane  is  ground  or  crushed  and  the  extract  taken  from  it. 
I  think  there  was  one  gentleman  sitting  at  this  table  at  the  time 
who  made  the  remark  that  they  were  hauled  by  oxcarts.  I  think 
I  said  that  was  true  on  the  smaller  plantations,  but  that  so  far  as 
the  larger  plantations  of  Porto  Rico  were  concerned,  the  method 
that  I  described  was  in  vogue  50  years  ago. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  question  under  consideration  at  that  time 
was  the  question  of  packing  cane  in  bundles  and  carrying  them  by  a 
duck  board  onto  the  cars,  and  Judge  Raker  introduced  some  compli- 


^fT 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  721 


mentary  reference  to  the  antiquated  methods  pursued  in  Hawaii. 
You  then  interjected  the  statement  that  in  Porto  Rico  cane  was 
loaded  onto  cars  by  this  general  method  that  you  have  described. 
Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  all  of  the  cane  in  Porto  Rico  is  loaded  on 
oxcarts  by  hand,  and  that  was  the  difficult  operation  which  was 
being  criticized  by  Mr.  Wright. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  If  I  conveyed  that  idea,  it  was  unfortunate. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  was  not  quite  clear.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  all 
that  you  described  in  the  matter  of  unloading  cane  has  been  done 
in  Hawaii  ever  since  I  can  remember,  and  by  an  even  more  advanced 
method  than  the  one  you  described,  because  by  the  method  we 
employ  one  man  can  unload  more  cane  than  250  men  could  by  hand. 
Those  improved  methods  are  improved  on  in  Hawaii,  and  the  point 
that  was  raised  was  one  that  I  was  anxious  to  find  out,  because  if 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  successful  mechanical  loader  we  want  to 
know  it. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  want  to  say  that  Mr.  Gompers's  idea,  as  he  has  ex- 
plained it,  is  right — that  is  when  the  cane  is  loaded  on  the  big  cars 
to  go  to  the  mill,  it  is  put  in  slings,  or  in  chain  slings,  and  it  is  lifted 
out  and  dropped  into  a  conveyor  that  takes  it  to  the  crusher.  Now, 
in  Hawaii  we  do  not  have  any  such  antiquated  method  as  that,  but 
we  have  cars  so  equipped  that  when  they  get  to  the  crusher  they  are 
dumped  at  one  operation.  There  is  only  one  handling  of  the  cane 
from  the  time  it  is  loaded  in  the  cars  until  it  gets  to  the  mill,  and 
when  it  gets  to  the  mill  it  is  dumped  right  over  by  a  contrivance  de- 
signed for  that  purpose. 

The  Chairman.  I  presume  that  plantations  of  any  size  anywhere 
with  the  competition  as  close  as  it  is,  would  make  use  of  every  device 
that  has  been  perfected,  just  as  is  done  in  other  industries. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  May  I  ask  Mr.  Wright  a  question,  or  will  you  put 
it  for  me  ? 

The  Chairman.  Ask  it  directly. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  Mr.  Wright,  when  you  spoke  of  the  wages  paid  to 
the  Japanese  and  the  bonus,  just  what  did  you  mean  ?  That  question 
was  asked  of  you  b}^  some  member  of  the  committee,  I  do  not  recall 
whom,  as  to  the  wages,  being  77  cents  with  a  bonus  of  three  times 
that  amount.  You  were  further  asked  whether  some  of  them  were 
not  paid  S4  per  day,  and  you  answered  by  saying  that  those  were  not 
wages  but  were  payments  to  contractors.  Will  you  explain  what 
^ou  meant  by  the  term  ^'contractors?" 

Mr.  Wright.  I  did  not  state  definitely  that  that  was  the  case,  but 
that  probably  those  were  wages  received  by  contractors,  because  by 
no  possible  computation  of  77  cents  could  you  get  an  increase  to 
H,  or  it  could  not  be  increased  to  $4  by  the  percentage  of  bonus  that 
was  given. 

The  Chairman.  I  used  $4  as  an  illustration.  I  was  trying  to  get 
tiis  estimate  of  what  a  man  would  get  with  the  bonus. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  Mr.  Wright  answered  that  that  might  be  paid  to  the 
3ontr actors,  and  I  would  like  to  have  him  explain  what  he  had  in 
mind  by  the  term  '^  contractors. " 

Mr.  Wright.  As  I  understand  it,  there  are  two  different  methods^— 
that  is  to  say,  there  is  the  method  of  hiring  the  laborer  to  work  for 
30  much  per  day  as  a  base  wage,  and  paying  him  for  the  actual  time 
that  he  puts  in,  and  there  is  another  method  of  letting  out  certain 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 12 


722  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

areas  under  contract  for  the  cultivation  and  raising  of  the  cane;  and 
those  areas  are  usually  let  out,  or  they  have  been  in  the  past,  to 
groups  of  workers  as  little  companies,  contracting  with  the  plantation 
owners,  to  care  for  the  cultivation  and  irrigation  of  the  cane.  Wlien 
those  contracts  are  all  filled,  the  cane  is  harvested  and  weighed.  I 
believe  the  contracts  go  on  the  basis  of  the  tonnage  of  cane  produced. 
When  that  cane  is  weighed  and  ground  and  the  purity  of  the  juice 
is  ascertained,  the  contractor  eventually  is  paid  a  certain  amount 
per  ton  for  clean  cane  of  a  certain  purity  that  is  produced  on  the 
acreage  of  that  little  group.  In  that  way,  under  favorable  condi- 
tions, some  of  the  contractors  are  able  to  earn  considerably  more  than 
by  the  method  of  common  day  labor.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of 
the  contractors  were  able  to  earn  very  little,  if  anything,  for  the 
reason  that  the  losses  due  to  unavoidable  causes  had  to  be  sustained 
by  the  contractors.  The  plantation  owner  was  clear,  so  far  as  that 
was  concerned.  If  the  contractor  has  good  luck  and  if  everything 
turns  out  all  right,  he  will  make  a  little  more  than  he  could  by  work-i 
ing  by  the  day. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Those  contractors  provide  certain  employees,  or  da 
they  pay  the  wages  of  certain  employees  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  men  themselves  under  this  system  I  have  de- 
scribed are  the  contractors.  They  are  a  group  of  men.  They  usually 
choose  some  one,  I  think,  to  represent  them. 

Mr.  Rainey.  Do  the  contractors  have  laborers  under  them  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Sometimes  it  becomes  necessary  for  them  to  hire 
additional  laborers,  but  sometimes  tha)^  handle  it  themselves. 

Mr.  Kainey.  The  contractors  pay  those  laborers  when  it  is  neces- 
sary to  employ  them  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  so. 

Mr.  Rainey.  You  mean  to  say  that  the  contractors  would  not 
necessarily  employ  laborers,  but,  of  course,  when  they  do,  the  con- 
tractors pay  the  laborers  themselves,  do  they  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  I  presumed  they  do. 

Mr.  Free.  They  are  Japanese,  are  they  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  necessarily  Japanese  or  Filipinos. 

Mr.  Free.  As  I  understand  it,  a  group  of  them  get  together  and 
take  a  contract  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  or  that  is  the  system  I  have  in  mind.  Of 
course,  there  may  be  variations  of  it. 

Mr.  Free.  They  divide  the  profits  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Whatever  profits  are  made  from  the  contract,  they 
divide. 

The  Chairman.  The  Japanese  beg  for  those  contracts,  do  they  not  1 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  not  any  more. 

The  Chairman.  They  used  to. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  they  used  to,  and  when  sugar  was  high  they 
were  able  to  make  considerable  that  way,  but  I  am  informed  that  at 
the  present  time  the  Japanese  have  been  unable  to  make  the  con 
tracting  end  of  it  pay,  and  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Japanese 
and  Filipinos  are  not  now  contracting  to  the  great  extent  that  they 
did  previously. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  say  '^previously"  you  mean  since 
about  the  time  you  went  to  the  islands  and  had  knowledge  of  the! 
thing  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  723 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  know  anything  about  this  prior  to 
that  time  ? 

Mr.  WRTonT.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  one  question  in  the  interest  of  expediting  and 
the  saving  of  time:  We  have  been  conducting  these  hearings  for 
three  weeks,  and  it  would  greatly  expedite  the  hearing  if  they  would 
bring  one  of  those  contracts  here  and  submit  it  to  the  committee. 
We  have  gone  into  that  question  at  great  length,  asking  what  these 
men  would  get  and  what  would  be  the  basic  wage. 

(The  following  sample  contract  asked  for  by  Judge  Raker  is  here- 
with submitted  by  Mr.  Wright:) 

Cane  Contract. 

This  agreement,  made  and  entered  into  this  9th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1921,  by  and 
between  the  Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.),  a  corporation  organized  and  existing  under  and 
by  virtue  of  the  law  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  party  of  first  part,  hereinafter  called 
the  "company,"  and  the  several  contractors  subscribing  their  names  hereto,  parties 
of  the  second  part,  hereinafter  called  the  "contractors," 

Witnesseth,  that  the  said  company  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  promises  and 
agreements  to  be  kept  by  the  said  contractors,  hereby  covenants  and  agrees  as  follows, 
to  wit: 

1.  To  permit  the  said  contractors  to  enter  into  and  occupy  for  the  purpose  of  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar  cane,  on  the  system  hereinafter  set  forth,  that  section  of  land  described 
in  the  company's  maps  as  field  No.  20,  covering  in  all  about  158.50  acres,  now  planted 
with  sugar  cane  by  the  said  company,  and  standing  debited  therefor  on  the  books  of 
the  company  with  the  sum  of  1483.79. 

2.  To  loan  and  advance  for  the  term  of  said  contract,  for  the  living  expenses  of  said 
contractors,  money  at  the  rate  of  $26  for  men  and  $19.50  for  women  per  month  of  26 
days'  service  of  10  hours  each  day,  performed  by  each  of  said  contractors,  while  said 
contractors  faithfully  perform  the  terms,  conditions,  and  covenants  herein  set  forth 
by  them  to  be  kept  and  performed.  Any  work  on  Sundays  to  be  computed  at  the 
rate  of  time  and  a  half. 

3.  To  furnish  without  charge  lodgings  sufficient  for  contractors'  use  and  to  keep  the 
same  in  ordinary  repair,  on  contractors'  careful  and  proper  use  thereof. 

4.  To  furnish  fuel  fol:-  the  domestic  use  of  the  contractors,  to  be  cut  and  gathered  by 
the  contractors  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  company  shall  designate. 

5.  To  furnish  tools,  in  the  first  instance,  for  irrigating  purposes. 

6.  To  furnish  water  in  main  plantation  ditches  for  irrigation  purposes. 

7.  To  furnish  such  fertilizer  as  the  said  company  may  deem  necessary  to  be  used  on 
the  said  premises. 

8.  To  pay  within  one  month  after  the  termination  of  this  contract  the  sum  of  $1.12 
for  each  ton  of  2,000  pounds  of  clean  cane,  grown  and  cultivated  as  herein  set  forth, 
on  said  premises,  and  should  said  contractors  also  cut  and  load  said  cane  by  direction 
of  the  company,  then  the  further  sum  of  46  cents  per  ton  of  2,000  pounds  of  clean  cane 
grown,  cultivated,  and  cut  on  said  premises  and  loaded  on  railroad  cars  or  other  means 
of  transportation,  and  each  of  said  contractors  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  as  his  share 
for  all  services  by  said  contractors  done  and  performed  hereunder,  such  proportionate 
part  as  his  labor  bears  to  the  entire  amount  of  labor  and  services  rendered  on  said 
clean  cane  to  be  determined  by  the  weight  thereof  as  delivered  at  the  mill  of  said 
company. 

And  the  contractors,  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  promises  and  agreements  to 
be  kept  and  performed  by  the  said  company  as  herein  set  forth,  do  hereby  covenant, 
promise,  and  agree  to  and  with  the  said  company  as  follows,  to  wit: 

I.  That  they  will  cultivate  thoroughly  and  well  and  properly  irrigate  the  cane 
growing  and  to  be  grown  during  the  term  hereof  on  the  section  of  land  mentioned 
herein  until  said  cane  shall  be  matured  and  ripe,  and  until  the  said  cane  shall  be  cut 
and  harvested;  the  said  term  of  cultivation,  however,  shall  not  exceed  the  term  of 
18  months  from  the  date  of  beginning  work  under  this  contract,  to  wit,  July  15,  1920. 

II.  To  conduct  to  and  throughout  the  cane  fields  the  water  furnished  by  said  com- 
pany, and  there  carefully  and  economically  to  use  the  same  for  the  purpose  of  irrigating 
said  cane. 


724  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

in.  To  clean  and  strip  the  said  cane  along  the  side  of  all  roads  and  railroads  for  a 
distance  of  30  feet,  and  along  both  sides  of  all  main  ditches,  level  ditches,  and  water 
courses  for  a  space  of  5  feet. 

IV.  To  keep  the  edge  of  said  premises,  the  field  itself,  and  all  roads  and  ditches 
on  said  premises,  clean  and  free  from  weeds,  and  to  keep  at  all  times  all  water  courses 
clean  and  free  from  leaves. 

V.  To  carefully  apply  such  fertilizers  as  may  be  furnished  for  said  premises  in  the 
manner  directed  by  the  said  company. 

VI.  To  keep  in  repair  or  replace  all  tools  and  ladders  furnished  by  the  company 
to  the  contractors,  and  to  return  the  same  at  the  termination  of  this  contract. 

VII.  To  permit  said  company  to  deduct  and  said  company  is  hereby  authorized 
and  empowered  to  deduct  from  the  amount  due  the  contractors,  under  the  terms 
hereof,  all  loans  and  advances  made  to  the  said  contractors  for  living  expenses. 

VIII.  To  permit  said  company  to  deduct,  and  the  said  company  is  hereby  authorized 
and  empowered  to  deduct,  from  the  amount  due  the  contractors,  under  the  terms 
hereof,  the  sum  debited  against  said  premises  on  books  of  the  company  at  the  time  ! 
of  the  execution  of  this  contract,  and  the  actual  cost  of  all  labor  procured  and  furnished 
by  the  company  under  the  terms  hereof,  in  order  to  well  and  properly  cultivate  and 
irrigate  said  cane,  when  said  labor  shall  have  been  procured  and  furnished  by  the  ! 
company. 

IX.  To  cut  and  load  on  cars  or  place  in  flumes  or  other  sufficient  means  of  transpor- 
tation furnished  by  the  company  the  sugar  cane  grown  on  said  section  of  land  when- 
ever said  company  shall  direct  contractors  so  to  do. 

It  is  mutually  agreed  by  and  between  the  parties  hereto  as  follows,  to  wit; 

A.  That  all  work,  labor,  and  service  to  be  performed  by  the  contractors  under  this 
agreement  shall  be  subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  company  in  all  cases;  that  the 
company  shall  have  the  right  at  any  and  all  times  to  direct  in  what  manner  the  same 
shall  be  performed  and  employ  extra  labor  to  do  any  of  the  work  herein  specified;  that 
the  cost  of  the  employment  of  such  labor  shall  be  charged  to  and  deducted  from 
the  contractors'  share. 

B.  That  the  right  is  hereby  reserved  to  the  company  to  enter  upon  said  premises,  or 
any  part  thereof,  at  any  and  all  times  for  any  purposes. 

G.  That  the  company  shall  have  the  right,  in  its  discretion,  to  burn  off  the  field  to 
facilitate  harvesting,  before  cutting  the  cane,  but  any  field  so  burned  shall  be  cut  and 
ground  with  the  least  possible  delay. 

D.  That  this  agreement  may  be  terminated  at  any  time  by  the  company  for  failure" 
on  the  part  of  the  contractors  to  carry  out  any  of  the  terms  hereof,  or  upon  such  inter- 
ference by  the  said  contractors  with  the  work  on  said  premises  as  shall  prevent  the 
proper  and  efficient  cultivating  or  harvesting  of  said  cane;  and  by  the  contractors  upon 
giving  two  months"  notice  to  the  company.  When  this  agreement  shall  have  been 
thus  terminated  the  contractors  shall  be  entitled  to  wages  at  the  rate  of  $20  to  Novem- 
ber 1,  1920,  and  $30  from  November  1,  1920,  for  men  and  $15  to  November  1,  1920, 
and  $22.50  from  November  1,  1920,  for  women  par  month  of  26  days  labor  actually 
performed,  less  all  advances  made  under  the  provisions  hereof. 

E.  No  contractor  or  contractors  shall  have  the  right  to  transfer  or  assign  his  share  to 
any  other  without  the  written  consent  of  the  company,  and  in  case  of  any  such  transfer 
it  shall  not  be  recognized,  and  all  settlements  shall  be  made  with  the  original  con- 
tractor, his  heirs  or  legal  representatives  in  case  of  death. 
Ns  F,  The  contractors  shall  agree  on  the  appointment  of  a  representative  who  shall 
have  the  right  to  inspect  the  weighing  of  cane  grov/n  on  said  premises,  and  the  clean- 
ing and  reweighing  of  the  cane  and  refuse  from  all  sample  cars  hereinafter  referred  to. 

G.  The  company  shall  in  no  way  be  held  liable  for  damages  to  said  crop  or  any 
portion  thereof  by  fire,  storm,  or  unavoidable  delays  in  the  mill,  pumps,  or  for  delays 
caused  by  strikes  of  workmen  on  plantation,  or  from  any  accidents  or  delays  which 
are  beyond  the  control  of  the  company. 

H.  in  case  of  the  death  of  a  contractor  during  the  term  of  this  agreement,  the  estate 
of  said  contractor  shall  be  entitled  to  immediate  settlement  at  the  rate  of  $20  to  Novem- 
ber 1,  1920,  and  $30  from  November  1,  1920,  for  men  and  $15  to  November  ],  1920, 
and  $22.50  from  November  1,  1920,  for  women  per  month  of  26  days  of  labor  actually 
performed,  deducting  advances  as  aforesaid,  or  settlement  may  then  be  given  by  said 
contractor  hereunder.  In  case  of  accident  to  or  sickness  of  said  contractor,  whereby 
said  contractor  is  prevented  from  performing  the  labor  under  this  agreement,  said 
contractor  may,  with  the  consent  of  the  company,  supply  the  labor  in  place  of  his  own, 
failing  to  do  which  the  company  may  supply  labor  in  place  of  said  contractor,  and 
receive  and  deduct  such  proportion  of  the  entire  amount  due  said  contractor  as  the 
labor  substituted  by  the  company  and  performed  in  the  place  of  said  contractor  shall 
bear  to  the  entire  amount  of  labor  performed  hereunder  and  according  to  the  terms 
hereof. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  725 

I.  It  is  agr{?ed  that  for  tho  purpose  of  this  contract,  the  term  "clean  cano  "  shall 
3e  understood  to  be  the  actual  net  weight  of  the  cane  after  all  refuse,  including  green 
md  dry  leaves,  dead  and  rotten  cane,  shall  have  been  removed  from  the  said  cane, 
md  to  ascertain  this  an  average  sample  car  shall  be  cleaned  and  weighed  each  day 
it  the  expense  of  the  company,  and  the  percentage  of  refuse  from  such  sample  car 
jhall  be  accepted  as  the  basis  for  the  deduction  to  be  made  from  the  gross  weight  of 
ill  cane  from  the  said  premises  weighed  each  day  at  the  mill  of  the  company. 

J.  This  agreement,  in  so  far  as  cultivation  is  concerned,  shall  terminate  and  be 
considered  at  an  end  18  months  from  the  date  of  beginning  work  under  this  contract; 
md  in  so  far  as  harvesting  is  concerned,  it  shall  terminate  and  be  at  an  end  when  the 
ast  cane  upon  the  field  shall  have  been  placed  upon  cars  and  weighed.  Settlement 
?hall  be  made  not  later  than  one  month  thereafter.  It  is  also  agreed  that  should  the 
company  desire  it,  the  contractors  shall  perform  any  necessary  work  in  the  field 
lereinbefore  mentioned  before  the  field  is  harvested  and  after  the  termination  of 
iheir  contract  for  cultivation,  and  receive  remuneration  therefor  at  ruling  rates  of 
Day  for  the  work  they  may  be  called  upon  to  perform. 

K.  It  is  agreed  that  in  all  cases  where  the  company  is  concerned  its  manager,  or 
iuch  person  as  by  him  may  be  designated,  shall  be  its  representative  and  shall  be  so 
•ecognized  and  treated  by  the  contractors. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  parties  hereto  have  caused  these  presents  to  be  duly 
jxecuted  in  duplicate  ,  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 

Oahu  Sugar  Co.  (Ltd.), 
,  J.  B.  Thomson. 

Interpreted  and  explained  by:  (Signature  of  contractors.) 

Witnessed  by:  ^ 


FIELD   NO.    20,    CROP   1922, 

Attached  to  and  made  a  part  of  field  contract  No.  20,  crop  1922 
Ditchman,  Y.  Kusunoki. 

2004.  Jose  Cariclo. 

2005.  Francisco  Talito. 
2010.  Belyno  Manatad. 

2015.  Juan  Buiocbuloc. 

2016.  Victoriano  Laoc. 

2017.  Vidal  Laoran. 


12018.  J.  Aihara. 

12019.  K.  Mashisaki. 
5515.  Sigmido  Joscoid. 
5776.  Sebastian  Gilandone. 
5782.  Fremo  Bagundol. 

22001.  M.  Kusuneki. 


Field  No.  20;  crop  1922;  kind  of  cane,  Lahaina;  acres,  158.50;  price,  $1,20 
lumber  of  men, ;  begun  work,  July  15,  1920. 

Mr.  Mead.  Mr.  Wright,  you  stated  that  the  contractors  were  paid 
ipon  the  final  adjustment;  and  that  that  adjustment  was  made 
ipon  the  basis  of  the  purity  of  the  juice.  You  stated  that  the  settle- 
nent  with  the  contractors  was  made  upon  the  basis  of  the  purity  of 
ihe  juice,  and  I  want  to  know  from  you  what  proportion  of  the 
planters  make  contracts  on  that  basis  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  what  proportion.  I  have  said  that 
t  was  sometimes  made  upon  the  basis  of  the  tonnage  of  the  cane 
md  sometimes  upon  the  basis  of  the  purity  of  the  juice. 

Mr.  Mead.  Referring  to  this  proposition  of  the  purity  of  the  juice, 
IS  a  matter  of  fact,  are  not  those  contracts  based  along  these  lines 
mtirely  with  homesteaders,  and  not  with  plantation  contractors  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  may  be,  in  a  different  form. 

Mr.  Mead.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  those  contracts  are  made  with, 
lomesteaders,  instead  of  with  plantation  workers  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  know  that  it  is. 

Mr.  Free.  What  is  the  basic  wage  now? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  that  it  is  about  $30  for  26  days  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  hours  per  day  ? 


726  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  that  varies  on  the  different  plantations. 
Whether  there  is  an  arrangement  to  take  care  of  that,  I  do  not  know, 
but  it  is  not  an  8-hour  basis.  It  is  either  a  9-hour,  10-hour,  or  12- 
hour  basis.  I  tell  you  there  is  a  system  there  that  is  rather  difficult 
to  understand,  aird  it  is  called  there  ukupau — that  is  to  say,  a  man 
will  be  given  a  certain  amount  of  work  to  do,  and  when  he  finishes 
that  work  he  is  through  for  the  day.  He  can  then  go  home,  whether 
it  takes  him  7,  8,  9,  10,  or  12  hours  to  do  it.  That  is  a  matter  that  is 
up  to  him.  That  is  one  of  the  systems  that  is  used.  Our  attention 
was  called  to  certain  people  who  were  working  on  the  ukupau  system, 
and  when  they  got  through  with  their  task,  they  would  go  home. 
Then  there  is  the  straight  day  labor.  I  think  that  some  of  it  is  on 
the  9-hour  basis,  and  some  of  it  on  the  10-hour  basis. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Who  sets  the  stunt  for  a  day's  work  or  the  task  for 
a  day's  work  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  boss. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Have  the  plantation  workers  any  voice  in  deter- 
mining what  that  task  or  stunt  for  a  day's  work  shall  be  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  plantation  workers  or  laborers  have  no  voice 
in  determining  anything  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  Mead.  But  if  they  do  not  want  to  do  that  they  can  do  straight 
day  work  ? 
;    Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

P  Mr.  Mead.  They   do   that  because   they   can   get   through  more 
quickly  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  By  breaking  their  necks  they  get  through  more 
quickly. 

Mr.  Mead.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  anyone  breaking  his  neck  to  get 
through  on  the  plantations?  I  have  been  there  for  20  years,  and  I 
did  not  see  any  work  that  was  harder  than  you  and  I  have  to  do. 

Mr.  Shaw\  Mr.  Wright,  yesterday,  when  we  adjourned,  we  were 
discussing  the  Japanese  strike.  That  strike  was  from  January  27 
to  July  12,  1920;  is  that  correct? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  not  the  exact  dates. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Who  was  instrumental  in  calling  that  strike  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  strike  was  decided  upon  b}^  a  conference  of  men 
representing  groups  of  laborers  all  over  the  island. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  mean  representatives  of  groups  or  representa- 
tives of  labor  unions  or  associations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  whether  you  call  it  a  union  or  association,  they 
were  employees  of  the  plantations  organized  into  centralized  groups 
or  centralized  bodies. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Were  all  of  the  employees  of  the  plantations  so  organ- 
ized ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  believe  that  they  were.  The  fact  that  all  of 
the  employees  did  not  go  out  is  evidence  that  there  were  some  who 
were  not  organized  that  way. 

Mr.  SHAW^  What  was  the  occasion  of  the  strike  ?  What  did  the 
strikers  want,  and  what  did  they  ask  for,  or  what  were  their  demands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  we  have  covered  that  ground  previously, 
Mr.  Chairman. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  do  not  recall  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Without  any  objection,  I  suggest  that  you  answer  the 
question. 


LABOR  PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  727 

Mr.  Wright.  Will  you  repeat  your  question  ? 

Mr.  SiiAW.  I  asked  what  was  the  cause  of  the  strike. 

Mr.  Wright.  The  cause  of  the  strike  was  the  refusal  of  the  planta- 
tion managers  to  enter  into  any  sort  of  conference  with  the  employees 
or  the  representatives  of  the  employees. 

Mr.  Free.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  no  demand  was  made  upon  the 
planters  for  a  conference  before  the  strike  was  called,  and  is  it  not  a 
fact  that  they  struck  before  they  made  any  demands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No.  It  is  a  fact  of  record,  I  believe,  that  two 
letters  were  written  to  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association 
previous  to  the  calling  of  the  strike. 

Mr.  Free.  By  whom? 

Mr.  Wright.  To  the  first  letter 

Mr.  Free  (interposing) .  By  whom  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  By  the  representatives  of  the  organized  employees. 

Mr.  Free.  Do  you  know  who  they  were? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  their  names,  no. 

The  Chairman.  Were  they  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  were  Filipino  representations  made  and  there 
were  also  Japanese  representations  made.  The  matters  were  taken 
up  separately. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Were  they  laborers  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  So  far  as  I  know  they  were  laborers. 

Mr.  Free.  Have  you  those  letters  with  you  or  copies  of  them? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  no  copies,  no. 

Mr.  Free.  Could  you  get  them? 

Mr.  Wright.  Those  copies  are  in  the  possession  of  the  sugar 
planters. 

The  Chairman.  Were  the  letters  in  English? 

Mr.  YfRiGHT.  Unquestionably. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  what  the  contents  were? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  can  secure  that  information,  I  believe,  for  you, 
but  I  do  not  have  it  with  me. 

Mr.  Free.  Will  you  do  that,  Mr.  Wright? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  I  will  do  it. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  lollows :) 

General  Outline  op  Demands  made  on  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters  Asso- 
ciation BY  Resolution  of  Body  of  Representatives  op  Japanese  Plantation 
Laborers  and  Presented  to  the  Planters  by  Letter  on  or  about  the  4th 
.  Day  of  December,  1919,  by  a  Committee  Consisting  of  One  Representative 
prom  Each  Island. 

1.  Increase  basic  wage  from  77  cents  a  day  to  $1.25  a  day  for  men  and  from  58  cents 
to  95  cents  a  day  for  women,  with  proportionate  increase  for  higher  ratings. 

2.  Changes  in  the  bonus  system  so  that  employees  might  be  able  to  claim  the  bonus 
as  of  right  instead  of  as  a  gratuity  in  courts  of  law. 

3.  Establishing  15  days  a  month  for  men  and  10  days  for  women  as  the  minimum 
working  month  for  bonus  purposes,  and  providing  that  contractors  employed  by 
plantations  as  laborers  be  allowed  bonus  regardless  of  the  number  of  days  worked. 

4.  Payment  of  75  per  cent  of  the  bonus  each  month  and  25  per  cent  at  the  end  of 
the  bonus  year,  with  provision  for  the  payment  of  the  bonus  due  for  a  less  period 
when  the  employee  shall  leave  the  plantation  either  of  his  own  accord  or  by  reason 
of  being  discharged. 

5.  Establishment  of  an  eight-hour  day. 

6.  Women  workers  to  be  allowed  two  weeks  before  and  six  weeks  after  childbirth 
as  leave  of  absence  with  ordinary  pay. 

7.  Double  time  for  Sundays,  legal  holidays,  or  overtime  work. 


728  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

8.  Change  in  the  cane  contract  system  to  provide  for  a  division  after  deducting 
marketing  expenses,  of  60  per  cent  to  the  contractor  and  40  per  cent  to  the  companies 
of  the  gross  vahie  of  the  sugar,  under  a  contract  similar  to  that  of  the  homesteaders. 

9.  Increase  in  the  price  paid  to  growers  corresponding  to  the  increase  in  base  pay 
and  bonus  provided  for  laborers. 

10.  Improvement  in  the  sanitary  and  housing  conditions  and  provision  for  recrea- 
tion and  amusement. 

(This  is  not  a  literal  presentation  of  the  formal  resolution  or  the  letter  by  which 
it  was  transmitted,  but  is  in  substance  the  correct  expression  of  the  demands  that  ! 
were  made.) 

Mr.  Shaw,  Where  was  this  strike  called  ?     Where  did  it  start  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  started  on  the  plantations  on  Oahu,  the  island 
of  Oahu.  That  is  the  island  on  which  Honolulu  is  situated,  and 
whether  it  was  simultaneous  on  all  the  plantations,  or  whether  it  was 
a  successive  development,  I  can  not  state  positively,  but  I  am  under 
the  impression  that  i  t  was  all  practically  consummated  within  two 
or  three  days.  I  believe  some  effort  was  made  on  certain  of  the 
plantations  by  the  employees  in  their  individual  groups  to  secure  an 
adjustment  with  the  plantation  management,  and  I  am  informed 
that  those  representations  and  those  requests  were  also  turned  down. 
In  other  words,  the  two  organizations,  as  centralized  bodies,  took  the 
matter  up  with  the  planters  and  endeavored  to  secure  a  general 
adjustment.  Then,  failing  in  that,  prior  to  the  calling  of  the  strike 
individual  groups  on  the  different  plantations  made  representations 
to  their  local  management,  presenting  practically  the  same  requests 
that  had  been  made  to  the  association,  but  these  requests  were  also 
turned  down.  Having  failed  in  the  two  requests  made  to  the  plant- 
ers and  the  local  attempts  at  adjustment,  a  conference  was  held  and 
a  strike  called  on  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Did  you  approve  of  the  strike  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  it  is  a  difficult  question  to  answer.  Do  3-ou 
mean,  did  I  approve  it  at  that  time  % 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  will  state  that  at  that  time  I  did  not  give  the  mat- 
ter sufficient  study  to  have  determined  absolutely,  but  within   a  I 
month,  I  feel  I  can  state  to  this  committee,  the  strike,  in  my  opinion^ 
was  justified. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  mean  that  within  a  month  after  it  started  you 
decided  it  was  all  right  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Very  shortly  after  it  started,  after  I  found  out  what 
had  been  done. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  did  not  have  anything  to  do  with  starting  it  % 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  in  fact,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  was  very  busy 
myself;  I  was  working  and  was  not  giving  the  labor  situation  the 
thought  and  study  that  I  did  later. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Did  you  have  anything  to  do  with  the  strike  \  Did  you 
decide  it  was  the  thing  to  do  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Personally  I  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it. 

Mr.  Free.  Did  the  labor  organizations  {  The  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  the  central  labor  council,  or  any  of  these  different  unions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  they  took  no  official  action. 

The  Chairivian.  Did  the}^  discuss  it  at  the  central  labor  council 
meetings  % 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  it  was  discussed,  but  I  was  not  at  that  time 
a  delegate,  and,  as  I  stated  at  the  first  hearing,  there  was  some  talk 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.     .  729 

of  what  was  then  the  Japanese  Federation  making  an  apphcation  for 
affihation  or  cooperation,  but  nothing  came  of  it. 

The  Chairman.  Was  Mr.  Tyson  pretty  active  at  that  time  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  think  Mr.  Tyson's  time  dming  that  period  was 
pretty  well  taken  up  with  his  activities  in  behalf  of  the  electrical 
workers. 

The  Chairman.  The  machinists  struck,  then  the  electrical  workers 
struck,  and  then  the  plantation  men  struck,  and  I  believe  the  Jap- 
anese fishermen  struck  in  along  there  somewhere,  did  they  not  ? 

^Ir.  Wright.  I  do  not  know.  That  is  not  really  a  labor  organiza- 
tion and  I  do  not  think  you  would  call  that  a  strike.  It  was  just  that 
they  would  not  catch  fish  any  more. 

Mr.  SiLvw.  If  the  labor  unions  did  not  have  anything  to  do  with 
this  strike,  who  was  at  the  bottom  of  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  You  misunderstood  what  I  said.  The  labor  unions 
of  the  employees  on  the  plantations  were  the  ones  who  went  on  strike, 
and  when  you  asked  me  about  the  unions  you  asked  me  about  those 
affiliated  with  the  American  Federation. 

Mr.  wShaw.  And  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Nothing,  except  to  see  to  it  or  endeavor  to  see  to  it 
that  their  members  did  not  do  any  strike  breaking.  That  was  taken 
up  in  some  of  the  organizations;  it  was  taken  up  in  the  machinists^ 
organization,  I  know,  and  a  resolution  was  passed,  I  believe,  declaring 
that  any  member  taking  the  place  of  a  striker  on  a  plantation  would 
be  considered  as  a  strike  breaker. 

Mr.  Free.  Let  me  understand.  You  say  that  resolution  was 
passed  by  your  unions  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  say  that  matter  was  brought  up  in  our  organiza- 
tion. 

Mr.  Free.  And  a  resolution  adopted  declaring  that  anybody  who 
took  the  place  of  one  of  these  strikers  would  be  considered  a  ''scab'' 
or  strike  breaker  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Were  not  the  Japanese  back  of  this  strike  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Back  of  the  strike  '( 

Mr.  Shaw.  Was  it  not  a  Japanese  movement  I 

^Ir.  Wright.  No;  I  can  say  that  it  was  not  a  Japanese  movement: 
it  was  a  labor  movement,  a  movement  of  the  laborers  on  the  planta- 
tions. The  Filipinos  were  the  ones  that  came  out  first  and  the 
Japanese  came  out  afterwards.  The  demands,  as  I  say,  were  sub- 
mitted separately,  and  I  believe  the  Japanese  had  a  request  to  the 
sugar  planters  pending  when  the  Filipinos  went  out.  The  Filipinos 
tried  to  secure  an  adjustment  but  failed  and  they  went  out,  and  as 
soon  as  the  Japanese  found  their  efforts  failing  they  went  out  too. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  was  the  result  of  the  strike  I 

Mr.  Free.  Pardon  me  just  a  minute  to  clear  up  something.  Is  it 
not  a  fact  that  those  first  demands  were  not  made  by  the  laborers 
at  all  but  by  newspaper  men,  Japanese  newspaper  men  who  were  not 
workers  ? 

]VIr.  Wright.  No;  I  tliink  that  is  not  a  fact.  I  think  it  is  a  fact 
that  those  requests  or  demands,  as  you  call  them,  originated  vrith.  the 
laborers  themselves  on  the  plantations  through  their  democratic 
action  in  choosing  representatives  to  a  general  conference  in  which 
the  resolutions  were  finally  drav,^i  up.     AYhethcr  the  representatives 


730  .  •     LABOR   PE(3BLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

chosen  were  people  connected  with  the  newspapers  or  not  I  can  not 
say,  but  the  chances  are  they  picked  the  best  brains  they  could  find. 

Mr.  Free.  Yesterday  you  read  from  a  newspaper  in  English? 

Mr.  Wright.  T  read  from  what  ? 

Mr.  Free.  From  the  Advertiser.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  during  this 
whole  strike  that  paper  editorially  claimed  this  was  a  nationalistic 
issue  and  not  an  economic  one  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  can  not  say  that  that  paper  claimed  it  editorially, 
but  I  know  that  articles  which  appeared  in  the  papers  tried  to  develop 
something  like  that. 

Mr.  Free.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  entire  American  press  of  Hawaii 
during  that  period  claimed  it  was  nationalistic  and  not  economic,  all 
the  papers,  unless  it  happened  to  be  your  labor  paper  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  had  no  paper  at  that  time.  As  I  say,  an  effort 
was  made 

Mr.  Free  (interposing) .  Please  answer  the  question  I  asked.  Is  it 
not  a  fact  that  in  their  news  columns  and  editorially  all  of  the  papers 
in  Hawaii,  all  American  papers,  stated  and  claimed  that  this  strike 
was  a  nationalistic  movement  for  control  of  the  islands  and  that  it 
was  a  question  of  the  preservation  of  Americanism  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  that  they  claimed  that  editorially,  but 
I  know  the  papers  contained  articles  day  after  day  trying  to  develop 
that  as  a  fact. 

Mr.  Free.  You  quoted  a  paper  yesterday,  the  Advertiser,  to  the 
effect  that  it  was  not  nationalistic  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  I  have  not  the  papers  now,  but  I  have  seen  them  from 
time  to  time,  the  papers  that  were  issued  during  that  time,  and  that 
paper  claimed  absolutely  that  it  was  a  nationalistic  issue,  and  in  very 
vehement  language,  too.     That  is  a  fact,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  at  that  time,  and  for  the  evident  purpose  of 
discrediting  the  strikers. 

Mr.  Free.  I  can  hardly  get  your  attitude.  You  said  a  minute  ago 
that  your  union  opposed  this  language  bill  that  was  introduced  in 
the  legislature  there  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  You  misunderstood  me  entirely.  We  made  no 
opposition  to  the  language  school  bill. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  support  the  language  school  bill? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  took  no  official  action  on  it  whatever,  but  we 
were  in  favor  of  it. 

The  Chairman.  You  were  in  favor  of  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Were  you  there  when  the  first  agitation  began  in 
regard  to  American  teachers  in  the  schools  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  was  at  the  special  session. 

The  Chairman.  Two  or  three  years  ago  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  I  was  there  at  that  time. 

The  Chairman.  Were  you  interested  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  interested  simply  in  following  it  as  it  appeared 
in  the  papers. 

The  Chairman.  Did  your  unions  take  any  part  in  the  effort  to  get 
alien  labor  off  of  the  Federal  works  ?  Did  the  labor  unions  of 
Honolulu  ever  do  anything  in  connection  with  the  effort  to  get  alien 
laborers  off  of  the  Federal  works  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  AIL  731 

Mr.  Wright.  They  have  mude  efforts  all  along  to  prevent  the 
employment  of  noncitizens  on  Federal  works,  in  fact,  at  practically 
every  meeting  of  our  labor  organization,  of  our  central  body,  there  are 
reports  from  the  delegates  that  Japanese  are  employed  on  such-and- 
such  a  job,  and  the  matter  has  been  taken  up  by  our  central  body 
with  Mr.  Davis,  I  believe,  Secretary  of  Labor,  and  I  recollect  that 
a  communication  was  received  from  him  stating  that  he  had  no 
jurisdiction  over  the  Federal  work  being  done  by  the  Army,  but  that 
if  we  would  notify  him  as  to  contracts  about  to  be  given  or  jobs 
about  to  be  started  he  would  see  whether  anything  could  be  done 
at  this  end  to  prevent  the  employment  of  noncitizens. 

The  Chairman.  Did  these  discussions  v/ith  reference  to  alien 
labor  being  employed  on  Federal  works  cause  any  feeling  in  the  meet- 
ings? 

Mr.  Wright.  ^^Tiy,  yes;  they  caused  this  much  feeling,  that  the 
aliens  and  noncitizens  were  crowding  themselves  up  into  work  that 
we  felt  they  ought  to  be  excluded  from,  and  severe  criticisms  were 
made  of  different  contracting  firms  for  their  disposition  to  employ 
noncitizens  and  orientals  in  preference  to  citizens.  The  feeling  was 
that  this  was  solely  a  matter  of  wages  and  that  they  were  able  to 
secure  cheaper  workmen  by  employing  orientals. 

The  Chairman.  Does  that  lead  to  bad  feeling  against  the  Japanese 
in  the  streets  of  the  town  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Why,  I  can  not  really  say  that  it  does  lead  to  bad  ^ 
feeling  in  that  way;  it  is  simply  a  feeling  that  the  Japanese  are  not 
to  be  blamed  so  much  as  the  men  who  employ  the  Japanese.  I 
believe  I  voice  the  sentiment  of  organized  labor  in  Hawaii  when  I 
state  that  organized  labor  blames  more  the  employers,  who  debate 
the  standards  of  living  by  the  employment  of  orientals  in  these 
skilled  and  semiskilled  trades,  than  it  does  the  orientals  themselves, 
because  it  believes  that  if  these  jobs  were  filled  by  citizens  then  those 
orientals  would  be  kept  on  the  plantations,  where  they  were  orig- 
inally brought  in  to  do  their  work,  and  that,  I  state  again,  is  the 
position  of  organized  labor  and  what  we  are  striving  for. 

The  Chairman.  Organized  labor  does  not  object  to  the  orientalsy 
there  now  as  long  as  they  stay  on  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Just  as  long  as  they  are  kept  there.  y 

The  Chairman.  I  understood  you  say  a  while  ago  that  organized 
labor  does  not  object  to  Filipinos  coming  into  the  islands. 

Mr.  Wright.  Coming  into  the  organizations  ? 

The  Chairman.  No.  W^e  have  gotten  it  pretty  straight  that 
organized  labor  does  not  want  orientals  on  the  Federal  works,  crowd- 
ing out  the  skilled  labor  and  crowding  wages  down,  I  suppose,  but 
they  want  them  put  back  on  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  back  on  the  plantations. 

The  Chairman.  They  do  not  object  if  they  stay  there,  but  they  do 
not  want  any  more  of  them,  I  take  it. 

Mr.  Wright.  No  more  of  them. 

The  Chairman.  How  about  Filipinos  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Filipinos,  in  one  sense,  are  in  the  same  class 
with  those  who  should  be  on  the  plantations;  those  that  are  on  the 
plantations  should  be  kept  there,  but  as  far  as  bringing  more  Filipinos 
in,  organized  labor  takes  this  position,  that  if,  as  a  last  resort,  it  is 
found  to  be  necessary  to  bring  in  additional  workers,  additional  laborers 


732  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

for  the  plantations,  then,  it  believes,  the  Filipino  is  the  one  who 
should  be  brought  in,  rather  than  to  bring  in  Chinese  or  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  not  have  any  objection  to  the  Porto 
Ricans?  Organized  labor  would  have  no  objection  to  the  Porto 
Ricans  being  brought  in  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  what  is  the  status  of  the  Porto  Ricans?  The 
same  as  that  of  Filipinos  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Irrespective  of  their  status,  what  would  be  your 
answer  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  could  not  answer  that  question  for  organized  labor, 
because  it  has  never  been  acted  upon. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  matter  with  the  Porto  Rican?  Is  there 
anything  wrong  with  him  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  so  far  as  the  plantations  are  concerned,  the 
Porto  Rican  is  a  desirable  laborer,  but  he  is  in  the  same  status,  I 
believe,  as  the  Filipino,  and  I  imagine  organized  labor  would  have  no 
more  objection  to  Porto  Ricans  than  to  Filipinos  from  an  economic 
point  of  view. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  You  stated  a  little  while  ago  that  the  Federal 
Government  allowed  aliens  to  work  in  positions  under  contract  or 
under  the  Federal  Government. 

Mr.  Wright.  On  Federal  work  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  especially  in  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Do  you  know  whether  the  Territorial  govern- 
ment has  a  law  prohibiting  aliens  from  working  on  any  work  that 
the  Territorial  government  gives  out  ? 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  Yes;  there  is  a  law  prohibiting  the  employment  of 
noncitizens  on  Territorial  work. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Then  you  will  admit  that  the  Territory  is 
doing  something  to  get  the  right  kind  of  labor  for  those  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Absolutely,  yes. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  And  the  Federal  Government  is  not? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Federal  Government  has  through  the  passage 
of  the  Hawaiian  rehabilitation  bill. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  bill  was  passed  because  the  people  of 
Hawaii  knocked  at  the  doors  of  Congress  and  asked  Congress  to  do 
something  toward  Americanizing  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Wright.  That  was  through  the  passage  of  this  rehabilitation 
bill. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Did  the  American  labor  »  organizations, 
which  attacked  this  bill  when  it  was  before  Congress,  appear  before 
Congress  to  help  pass  that  bill  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  labor  organizations  did  not  attack  that  reha- 
bilitation bill. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Because  it  was  not  important  enough  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  was  important  enough,  yes;  and  as  I  stated 
yesterday,  although  they  absolutely  indorse  the  idea  of  employing 
only  citizens  on  Federal  work,  yet  the  disadvantages  of  that  bill 
absolutely  outweighed,  in  their  minds,  the  advantages. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  were  the  disadvantages  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  disadvantages,  as  the  common  working  people 
regarded  them,  were  the  elimination  of  the  1,000-acre  clause  and  the 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  733 

ujiviug  up  of  the  valuable  cane  lands,  which  efforts  had  been  made  to 
homestead— the  giving  up  of  these  lands  to  the  plantations. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Do  you  not  know  that  there  was  a  provision 
in  that  bill  to  turn  back  these  lands  to  the  plantations  so  that  they 
could  be  rented  under  a  lease  and  that  the  money  derived  therefrom 
was  to  help  the  Hawaiians  rehabilitate  themselves,  and  that  if  the  bill 
did  not  provide  that,  the  Hawaiians  would  not  have  had  any  money 
with  which  to  rehabilitate  themselves  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  took  no  official  action  on  that  bill. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  This  is  the  point  I  want  to  make:  If  it  is  of 
such  importance  for  the  labor  unions  to  come  here  at  this  time,  why 
was  it  not  of  as  much  importance  for  the  labor  unions  to  come  at  that 
time  and  back  up  the  Delegate  who  was  working  for  the  benefit  of 
the  laboring  men  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Because  the  bill  we  were  asked  to  work  for  contained 
something  we  absolutely  could  not  indorse,  and  for  that  reason  we 
took  no  part,  no  official  part,  in  the  fight,  because  the  advantage  we 
might  have  gained  was  outweighed  by  an  equal  disadvantage. 

The  Chairman.  You  live  in  Hawaii,  and  you  have  stated  you  are 
interested  in  the  future  of  the  islands.  Were  these  homesteads 
falling  into  the  hands  of  Japanese  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Some  of  the  homesteads  were  taken  up  by  the 
Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  In  about  the  proportion  of  the  Japanese  popula- 
tion? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  even  know  that  it  was  in  as  high  a  propor- 
tion as  that;  in  fact,  I  do  not  think  it  was.  You  understand  that  the 
method  of  alloting  those  homesteads  is  by  lottery. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  familiar  with  that;  and  then  there  is  the 
selling-out  privilege.  Now,  what  about  Hawaiian  pineapple  planta- 
tions ?     Are  the  Japanese  getting  those  to  any  extent  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  not  gone  into  pineapples  to  any  great  extent, 
but  I  have  been  informed  that  the  Japanese  are  cultivating  new  lands 
for  pineapples  and  are  developing  the  pineapple  industry.  Whether 
it  is  under  leasehold  or  how  it  is  arranged  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  pineapple  industry  was 
developed  as  a  homestead  proposition  for  citizens  some  years  ago, 
and  big  efforts  were  made  to  attract  American  homesteaders  to  the 
islands.  That  went  along  for  a  few  years,  but  now  the  Japanese 
are  edging  in  on  the  pineapple  industry  exactly  the  same  as  they  are 
on  the  fruit  ranches,  and  so  on,  in  California.  I  was  wondering 
whether  you  were  pretty  familiar  with  that. 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  from  a  personal  study. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  take  it  for  granted,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  no  eJapanese 
could  get  any  of  these  homestead  lands  unless  he  were  an  American 
citizen. 

Mr.  Wright.  Certainly  not;  he  can  not  get  homestead  lands  unless 
he  is  on  an  absolute  political  equality. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  imagine  the  rehabilitation  bill  does  not  eliminate 
an  American  citizen  from  having  the  same  rights  as  anyone  else  in 
the  islands. 

Mr.  Wright.  Absolutely  not. 

The  Chairman.  There  are  a  lot  of  Japanese  American  citizens  in 
California  and  they  seem,  to  make  as  much  trouble  as  the  others. 


734  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Wright,  do  you  know  Pablo  Manlapit,  the  president 
of  the  FiMpino  Labor  Union  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  He  is  the  one  to  whom  I  referred. 

Mr.  Free.  He  is  the  man  that  made  the  request  of  the  Filipinos 
upon  the  planters  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  He  is  the  man;  yes,  sir.  He  is  the  man  who  was  the 
representative  or  head  of  the  Filipinos.  He  is  the  man  who  made 
the  request  on  the  sugar  planters. 

Mr.  Free.  He  represented  the  Filipinos  in  that  strike? 

Mr.  Wright.  He  was  the  head  of  their  board  of  directors. 

Mr.  Free.  He  was  the  president  of  the  Filipino  Labor  Union, 
was  he  not,  and  could  speak  for  the  Filipinos  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  You  would  take  any  statement  that  he  would  make  as 
president  of  the  Filipino  Labor  Union  of  Hawaii  as  speaking  for  the 
striking  Filipinos,  would  you  not  1 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  would  not. 

Mr.  Free.  Why  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Because  he  might  have  made  the  statement  per- 
sonally, and  not  authoritatively. 

Mr.  Free.  If  the  statement  was  signed  by  the  local  president  of 
the  Filipino  Labor  Union,  it  would  be  taken  as  the  statement  of  the 
union,  would  it  not  1 

Mr.  Wright.  It  would  be  taken  either  as  the  actual  statement  of 
the  organization,  or  as  an  expression  of  policy  on  his  part,  or  as  an 
expression  of  his  personal  opinion,  which  might  not  have  been 
indorsed. 

Mr.  Free.  He  was  active  in  the  strike,  representing  the  Filipinos  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  he  was. 

Mr.  Free.  I  would  like  to  insert  in  the  record  an  article  that 
appears  in  the  Honolulu  Pacific  Commercial  Advertiser,  of  Honolulu, 
of  the  issue  of  Tuesday,  February  10,  1920.  I  will  simply  read  a 
part  of  the  article,  but  would  like  to  have  all  of  it  inserted  in  the 
record. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 

Admit  Defeat  or  Call  Island- Wide  Walkout  Japanese  Only  Course. 

return  of  filipinos  to  work  places  nipponese  in  serious  plight agitators 

from  other  islands  arrive — -hand  of  tokyo  is  seen — manlapit  charges  con- 
SPIRACY. 

Placed  in  a  critical  position  by  the  collapse  of  the  Filipino  cane- workers  strike  and 
accused  by  the  Filipino  leaders  of  deserting  them,  the  Federation  of  Japanese  Labor 
in  Hawaii  had  just  two  alternatives  before  it,  according  to  those  close  to  the  local 
situation — either  it  must  give  up  the  fight  and  acknowledge  itself  beaten,  or  throw 
strategy  and  caution  to  the  winds  and  make  a  last  desperate  bid  for  victory  by  attempt- 
ing to  enforce  the  all-island  strike  call  authorized  a  week  ago  last  Sunday  and,  for 
some  reason  unknown,  not  made  effective. 

For  two  days  the  officials  of  the  federation  have  been  in  almost  continuous  session, 
but  they  have  not  given  out  a  word  as  to  their  intentions.  Last  night,  however, 
Secretary  1.  Goto  made  a  definite  statement  to  the  effect  that  the  Fihpino  defection 
would  have  little  or  no  effect  on  the  Japanese  plans,  adding,  however,  significantly 
and  with  much  emphasis,  that  it  would,  on  the  contrary,  "aid  the  Japanese  strikers 
in  making  their  determination  firmer." 

This  was  taken  by  many  Japanese  as  meaning  that  the  federation  was  about  to  take 
the  more  radical  course. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  evidences  that  the  Japanese  leaders  are  pretty  badly 
scared.     Messages  have  been  sent  to  outljdng  islands  to  sound  out  the  sentiment  of 


LABOE  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  735 

workers  there  and  to  stimulate  strike  contributions,  which  have  been  coming  in  very 
slowly.  Besides  the  two  commissioners  from  Hawaii  who  arrived  Saturday  other 
leaders  have  been  summoned  for  conference. 

SEE    japan's    hand. 

The  hand  of  the  Imperial  .Japanese  Government  is  again  seen  in  the  summoning  by 
the  federation  for  conference  of  a  man  named  Tsumi,  a  Japanese  leader  in  Hawaii, 
who  claimed  on  his  arrival  here  recently  that  he  had  been  sent  to  Hawaii  by  the 
Japanese  Government  to  look  into  the  labor  situation  of  the  islands  as  affecting  the 
Japanese.     He  is  said  to  have  been  a  Japanese  language  school  principal  at  Hilo. 

Close  connection  between  the  Japanese  language  schools  and  the  Japanese  con- 
spiracy to  control  industry  in  Hawaii  is  seen  in  the  actions  of  E.  Matsumora.  principal 
of  the  Haleiwa  Japanese  school.  According  to  Attorney  Frank  Thompson,  this  man 
came  to  him  before  the  strike  and  offered  to  aid  the  planters  against  the  agitators, 
declaring  that  the  strike  was  being  called  so  that  a  few  agitators  might  profit  financially 
by  it.  Now  he  is  reported  as  making  speeches  to  the  strikers,  inciting  them  to  further 
resistance  and  declaring  that  they  can  not  be  put  off  the  plantations.  He  is  also  the 
person  who  offered  to  open  his  school  building  to  strikers. 

MANY   FILIPINOS    BACK. 

Reports  from  the  various  plantations  last  night  indicated  that  about  two-thirds  oi 
the  Filipino  strikers  returned  to  work  yesterday,  the  proportions  differing  on  the 
various  plantations.  Pablo  Manlapit  made  the  rounds  yesterday  informing  his 
followers  of  the  ending  of  the  strike  and  it  is  expected  that  there  will  be  an  almost 
complete  return  to-day,  many  Filipinos  remaining  away  from  work  yesterday  becuase 
they  had  not  yet  received  the  official  order  to  return. 

Charges  that  failure  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  to  carry  out  their  agreement  to  back 
the  Filipinos  were  hurled  at  the  former  by  Manlapit  and  his  associates  yesterday 
while  the  Japanese  declared  that  their  fight  would  not  be  affected. 

"The  calling  off  of  the  strike  of  the  Filipino  workers  on  the  six  plantations  on 
Oahu  by  the  Filipino  organization  will  have  little  or  no  effect  on  the  Japanese  cane 
workers  who  are  now  out  on  strike  for  higher  wages  and  other  improvements  in  working 
conditions  on  the  sugar  estates  in  the  islands,"  declared  I.  Goto,  secretary  of  the 
Federation  of  Japanese  Labor  in  Hawaii,  yesterday  afternoon.  *'The  action  of  the 
Filipino  leaders  in  calling  off  the  strike  will,  on  the  contrary,  aid  the  Japanese  strikers 
in  making  their  determination  firmer.     We  are  in  the  fight  and  will  fight  to  the  finish. ' ' 

The  action  taken  by  the  Filipino  labor  organization  through  Pablo  Manlapit,  presi- 
dent, in  calling  off  the  strike  of  the  Filipino  cane  workers  "temporarily"  is  being 
viewed  with  little  concern,  according  to  federation  officials  who,  after  a  silence  of  two 
days  were  rather  talkative  yesterday.  They  said  that  the  latest  development  in  the 
strike  situation  was  not  the  collapse  of  the  Filipino  strike  but  the  collapse  of  the  Fili- 
pino labor  body. 

The  Nipu  Jiji,  one  of  the  Japanese  papers,  agrees  mth  the  federation  officials  in 
their  view  of  the  termination  of  the  Filipino  strike.  "The  majority  of  the  Filipino 
laborers  who  are  out  are  decidedly  in  favor  of  continuing  the  strike,"  the  Japanese 
paper  says,  "they  are  preparing  to  get  out  of  the  plantation  quarters.  The  Federation 
of  Japanese  Labor  has  decided  to  aid  these  strikers  in  every  possible  way." 

The  Hawaii  Hochi  sees  danger  of  the  failure  of  the  strike  in  the  action  taken  by  the 
Filipino  leaders.  The  paper  says  that  the  Japanese  strikers  must  now  choose  whether 
they  continue  the  strike  alone  or  take  the  lead  of  the  Filipino  strikers  and  call  off  the 
strike. 

Pablo  Manlapit  issued  an  official  statement  yesterday  giving  his  side  of  the  dispute 
with  the  Japanese  federation  and  charging  them  with  a  consjjiracy  to  cripple  the 
industries  of  Hawaii  so  that  they  may  be  taken  over  by  an  "unscrupulous  alien  race." 
He  calls  on  the  Filipinos  "as  Americans"  to  help  the  people  of  Hawaii  to  break  the 
strangle  hold  the  Japanese  community  is  trying  to  obtain.  Manlapit' s  statement  is 
as  follows: 

"The  above  oflicial  order  of  February  8  calling  off  the  strike  of  the  Filipino  planta- 
tion laborers,  was  issued  by  me  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  to  that  effect  unanimously 
passed  by  the  board  of  directors  and  unanimously  approved  in  a  subsequent  meeting 
by  your  representatives.     It  was  deemed  necessary  because  of  the  following  reasons: 

CHARGES    OP   CONSPIRACY. 

"Wlien  the  representatives  of  the  union  decided  to  strike  they  believed  the  state- 
ments of  the  representatives  of  the  Japanese  Labor  Federation,  that  it  was  an  indus- 
trial strike  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  laborers'  wages,  and  they  also  believed  that 


736  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

the  Japanese  federation  would  carry  out  its  often-repeated  promise  to  support  the 
Filipinos  during  the  time  they  were  on  a  strike  and  until  Japanese  funds  could  be 
secured.  I  now  believe  that  instead  of  being  an  industrial  strike  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  wages,  that  the  real  object  of  the  Japanese  in  declaring  a  strike  is  to  cripple 
the  industries  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  in  the  hope  that  they  may  be  taken  over  by 
an  unscrupulous  alien  race.  As  Americans  we  can  not  be  parties  to  any  such  a  pro- 
gram, and  it  becomes  our  dutv  as  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  help  the  people 
of  Hawaii  to  break  the  strangle  hold  which  the  Japanese  community  is  trying  to  obtain 
upon  it. 

"When  this  question  of  Japanese  control  first  came  to  our  minds,  I  wrote  Aguilan, 
director  of  labor  at  Manila,  and  received  a  cable  from  him  saying  that  he  did  not  con- 
sider a  strike  advisable. 

"Because  of  the  bad  faith,  of  the  Japanese  in  failing  to  support  us  as  they  promised 
before  we  struck  and  because  of  their  neglect  in  carrying  out  their  agreement  to  pro- 
vide houses  and  food  for  our  people,  those  of  you  whio  were  evicted  from  the  planta- 
tions were  huddled  together  without  food  or  covering  in  such  places  as  we  could 
temporarily  find,  a  condition  which  the  government  of  the  Territory  and  the  president 
of  the  board  of  health  said  was  a  menace  to  the  public  health  of  the  Territory  and  would 
not  be  tolerated,  and  for  that  reason,  too,  in  order  that  our  people  might  not  suffer,  I 
deemed  it  imperatively  necessary  to  ask,  and  I  do  ask,  all  Filipinos  to  return  to  work. 

"Pablo  Manlapit, 
''President  Filipino  Labor  Union  of  Hawaii. 

"February  9,  1920." 

Juan  B.  Sarminento,  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Filipino  organization,  declared 
yesterday  that  failure  on  the  part  of  the  Federation  of  Japanese  Labor  to  make  good 
its  promise  and  support  the  Filipino  strikers  was  largely  responsible  for  the  early  end 
of  the  strike.  He  said  that  when  Pablo  Manlapit,  president  of  the  Filipino  labor 
organization,  met  with  the  Federation  officials  prior  to  calling  a  strike  of  the  Filipino 
laborers  on  January  19  last,  Manlapit  was  assured  by  the  Japanese  that  the  federation 
would  give  the  Filipinos  every  assistance  in  case  the  latter  walked  out.  This  promise, 
Sarminento  said,  has  not  been  fulfilled,  thus  forcing  the  Filipino  leaders  to  call  off 
the  strike. 

A  sudden  change  in  the  strike  situation  so  far  as  it  concerns  Filipinos,  took  place 
last  Saturday  night,  when  380  striking  Filipinos  and  their  families  were  brought  to 
the  city  from  Puuloa,  a  part  of  the  Honolulu  plantation,  by  Manlapit.  These  strikers 
were  taken  to  the  Filipino  Club  on  Smith  Street  to  be  housed,  but  owing  to  the  number 
many  of  them  were  compelled  to  sleep  on  the  sidewalk. 

SEEK  JAPANESE    HELP. 

Admitting  that  the  Filipino  labor  body  was  almost  powerless  in  aiding  the  strikers 
because  of  lack  of  money,  Pablo  Manlapit  called  at  the  Federation  of_ Japanese  Labor 
asking  for  help.  K.  Miyazawa,  one  of  the  secretaries  at  the  federation,  was  invited 
by  Manlapit  to  go  over  to  the  Filipino  Club  to  see  the  strikers  in  a  helpless  condition. 

Miyazawa,  according  to  Manlapit,  agreed  to  accompany  him  tothe  Filipino  Club 
but  refused  to  give  substantial  aid  to  the  Filipino  strikers.  He  is  said  to  have  declared 
that  it  was  entirely  up  to  the  Filipino  leaders  to  take  all  necessary  measures,  asserting 
that  the  federation  had  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  the  Filipino  strikers.  It  was 
this  attitude  of  the  federation  that  caused  the  Filipino  leaders  to  reconsider  their 
action  regarding  the  strike,  Manlapit  said. 

The  editorial  suggestion  by  the  Advertiser,  that  some  action  should  be  taken  to 
control  the  foreign-language  press  in  Hawaii,  is  being  vigorously  contested  by  the 
Nippu  Jiji.  The  Japanese  paper  brands  the  suggestion  as  "one  of  the  most  desperate 
suggestions  ever  made  in  Hawaii  since  the  English  press  began  to  exist,"  and  said  that 
the  Jiji  editor  was  regretful  "to  have  such  suggestion  made,  for  the  sake  of  Hawaii's 
honor  and  for  the  sake  of  Americanism  as  well." 

The  Hawaii  Hochi  declares  that  the  planters  are  using  "Americnism"  as  a  tool  in 
crushing  the  strike  of  the  Japanese  laborers.  The  paper  said  that  "when  the  rest  of 
the  community  comes  to  know  the  wily  trick  of  the  planters  the  latter  then  will  find 
that  they  have  made  a  sad  mistake." 

The  first  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  finance,  campaign  negotiation,  and  corre- 
spondence committee  of  the  Strike  Supporters'  Association  was  held  last  night  at  the 
Japanese  language  school  on  Nuu-anu  Street.  The  association  was  organized  last  week 
by  representatives  of  various  associations  and  institutions  in  the  Japanese  colony_  here. 
It  was  decided  at  last  night's  meeting  to  aid  the  strikers  who  are  already  in  the  city  by 
raising  a  large  fund  through  popular  subscription  from  among  the  Honolulu  Japanese. 


LABOB  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  737 

The  mass  meeting  which  is  proposed  for  the  discussion  of  the  situation  is  not  being 
pressed  from  any  suggestion  of  the  sugar  planters,  who  have  had  no  connection  with  the 
idea,  ])ut  is  urged  by  citizens  who  feel  that  the  present  crisis  is  no  mere  capital  and 
labor  dispute  but  due  to  a  deep-laid  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  alien  interests  to  control 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii  and  its  industries. 

In  accord  with  the  suggestion  of  the  Japanese  paper  that  a  pro-Japanese  propaganda 
in  English  be  launched,  the  Honolulu  Japanese  Merchant's  Association  has  issued  a 
series  of  resolutions  declaring  that  the  present  dispute  is  purely  an  industrial  one  and 
does  not  involve  any  race  question.  The  resolution  calls  on  both  sides  to  negotiate  a 
prompt  settlement. 

Mr.  Free.  Now,  Manlapit  is  a  man  who  would  be  in  pretty  good 
position,  being  one  of  the  strikers  and  representing  the  FiHpinos,  to 
express  his  views  as  to  the  nature  of  the  strike. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir.  If  I  may  make  a  statement,,  I  will  say  that 
to  me  it  sounds  very  much  like  an  inspired  statement. 

Mr.  Free.  I  think  it  is  inspired  by  good  Americanism. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  not.  I  think  it  is  inspired  by  resentment  and 
dissatisfaction  over  the  failure  of  the  Japanese  to  support  the  Fili- 
pinos in  the  way  that  they  should  have  been  supported  and  this 
view  is  sustained  by  Sarminento's  statement. 

Mr.  Free.  You  are  on  pretty  friendly  terms  with  the  Japanese, 
are  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  On  good  terms  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  on  particularly  good  terms  or  bad  terms. 

Mr.  Free.  You  talk  over  their  problems  with  them? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  Of  course,  we  must  have  misunderstood  each  other  a 
while  ago  when  I  asked  you  about  the  language  bill.  What  I  meant 
to  refer  to  was  the  foreign  language  press  bill.  As  I  understand  it, 
that  is  a  bill  that  provides  that  in  case  certain  un-American  state- 
ments were  made  in  foreign-language  papers,  then  translations 
would  have  to  be  had  of  the  articles  in  the  papers.  Those  are  about 
the  terms  of  the  bill,  are  they  not,  in  a  rough  way  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  was  the  original  press  bill,  I  believe.  It  was 
modified  and  redrafted  by  Mr.  Warren,  who,  I  believe,  is  attorney 
for  the  sugar  planters,  and  the  final  form  in  which  it  came  before 
the  House  was  such  that  labor  could  not  conscientiously  indorse  it. 

Mr.  Free.  Why?     The  first  section  of  the  bill  provides  that — 

Any  person  who  shall  print,  sell,  distribute,  or  circulate,  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 
any  written  or  printed  article  or  matter,  in  any  form  or  language  wliicli  shall  advocate 
or  incite  or  be  intended  to  advocate  or  incite  the  commission  of  any  act  of  violence, 
such  as  sabotage,  incendiarism,  sedition,  anarchy,  rioting,  or  breach  of  the  peace,  or 
which  shall  indirectly  advocate  or  incite  or  be  intended  to  advocate  or  incite  the  use 
or  exercise  of  force,  fear,  intimidation,  threats,  ostracism,  or  blackmail,  for  the  purpose 
of  restraining  or  coercing  or  intimidating  any  person  from  freely  engaging  in  lawful 
business  or  employment  or  the  enjoyment  of  rights  of  liberty  or  property,  or  which 
by  deliberate  misrepresentation  sliali  be  designed  and  intended  to  create  or  have  the 
effect  of  creating  distrust  or  dissension  between  peoples  of  different  races  or  between 
citizens  and  aliens,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  tiie  first  conviction 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  |1,000  or  imprisoned  not  more  than  one 
year,  and  upon  a  second  conviction  for  again  violating  this  section  within  five  years 
of  the  first  conviction,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  |5,000  or  by  im- 
prisonment of  not  more  than  one  year  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Section  2  provides  that — 

Any  person  or  persons  who  shall  publish  in  a  foreign  language  any  newspaper  or 
prints  of  like  nature  for  the  dissemination  of  news  or  information,  shall  file  a  full  and 
true  copy  of  each  and  every  such  newspaper  or  print  in  the  ofhce  of  the  attorney 
general  of  the  Territory  forthwith  upon  the  publication  thereof. 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 13 


738  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Section  3  provides — 

Whenever  any  person  shall  print,  issue,  or  publish,  in  a  foreign  language  in  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii,  any  book,  paper,  pamphlet,  bulletin,  circular,  handbill,  dodger, 
or  other  form  of  written  or  printed  matter  or  article  not  included  in  section  2  of  this 
act,  which  shall  relate  or  refer  to  the  Government  or  any  law  of  the  United  States  or 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  or  to  any  principle  of 
government,  or  the  administration  of  law,  or  rights  of  persons  or  property,  or  to  any 
racial,  industrial  or  class  question  or  conditions,  or  to  any  of  the  matters  mentiotied 
in  section  1  of  this  act,  such  person  shall  in  each  case  include  therein  a  statement  of  the 
name  or  names  and  places  of  residence  or  business  of  the  author  or  authors  thereof, 
and  of  the  publisher  or  publishers  of  the  same,  and  shall  also  file  a  full  and  true  copy 
thereof  in  the  office  of  the  attorney  general  of  the  Territory,  a  true  and  correct  English 
translation  thereof,  under  the  oath  of  its  author  or  publisher. 

I  understand  that  your  organization  opposed  that  bill  ? 
Mr.  WRtGHT.  Yes,  sir;  absolutely. 

Mr.  Free.  I  have  not  read  the  entire  bill,  but  would  like  to  have 
all  of  the  bill  appear  in  the  record. 

(The  remaining  sections  of  the  bill  are  as  follows:) 

Sec.  4.  If  any  person  shall  be  convicted  of  publishing  or  circulating  any  article  or 
matter  of  a  nature  contrary  to  any  provisions  of  section  1  of  this  act,  and  such  person 
shall  thereafter  publish  or  circulate  in  the  manner  described  in  section  2  of  this  act 
any  article  or  matter  in  any  foreign  language  which  shall  relate  to  or  refer  to  the  Gov- 
ernment or  any  law  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  or  any  political 
subdivision  thereof,  or  to  any  principle  of  government,  or  the  administration  of  law, 
or  the  rights  of  persons  or  property,  or  to  any  racial,  industrial  or  class  question  or 
conditions,  or  to  any  of  the  matters  mentioned  in  section  1  of  this  act,  he  shall  file 
with  each  such  article  a  true  and  correct  English  translation  thereof,  under  oath. 

Sec.  5.  Any  person  required  under  either  section  3  or  section  4  of  this  act  to  file  a 
true  and  sworn  English  translation  of  any  article  or  matter  published  in  a  foreign 
language  who  shall  knowingly  file  a  false  or  incorrect  translation  of  such  article  or 
matter,  or  any  person  who  knowing  that  the  translation  made  by  him  of  such  article 
or  matter  is  to  be  so  filed,  shall  knowingly  make  a  false  or  incorrect  translation  of  such 
article  or  matter  for  the  purpose  of  the  same  being  so  filed,  shall  be  guilty  of  perjury 
and  be  punished  as  by  law  provided  in  the  case  of  perjury. 

Sec.  6.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  attorney  general  of  the  Territory  to  examine 
the  matter  so  required  to  be  filed  in  his  office  to  such  extent  as  to  him  shall  seem 
reasonably  necessary  or  ad\'isable  to  determine  the  nature  or  effect  thereof,  and 
to  prosecute  ail  offenses  under  this  act  which  shall  come  or  be  brought  to  his  attention,, 
and  any  such  offenses  may  also  be  prosecuted  by  any  county  or  city  and  county 
attorney. 

Sec  7.  It  shall  not  be  necessary  for  matter  filed  in  the  office  of  the  attorney  general 
under  this  act  to  be  preserved  for  more  than  one  year,  and  the  attorney  general  may 
thereafter  at  any  time,  in  his  discretion,  destroy  or  otherwise  dispose  of  the  same. 

Sec.  8.  Ail  matters  filed  in  the  office  of  the  attorney  general  under  either  of  sections 
2,  3,  or  4,  of  this  act  shall  be  open  for  public  inspection. 

Sec.  9.  Any  person  (other  than  a  corporation)  who  shall  be  convicted  of  a  violation 
of  any  provisions  of  this  act  for  which  a  penalty  is  not  otherwise  provided  in  this  act 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  $1,000  or  by  imprisonment  for  not  more 
than  one  year,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment,  in  the  discretion  of  t]:)e  court. 

If  any  provision  of  this  act  shall  be  violated  by  any  corporation,  such  corporation 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  in  a  sum  not  more  than  double  the  amount  of  the  fine 
which  could  be  imposed  under  the  preceding  terms  of  this  section  upon  an  individual 
for  a  like  violation. 

Sec.  10.  Definitions:  The  word  "person"  as  used  in  this  act  shall  also  include  any 
persons,  company,  association,  or  corporation,  or  the  officers,  agents,  or  employes, 
of  such  corporation,  except  where  such  meaning  is  expressly  excluded. 

Any  language  other  than  English  and  Hawaiian  shall  be  deemed  to  be  a  foreign 
language  within  the  meaning  of  this  act. 

SbcTiI.  If  any  section,  subsection,  sentence,  clause,  or  phrase  of  this  act  is  for 
any  reason  held  to  be  invalid  or  unconstitutional,  such  decision  shall  not  affect  the 
validity  of  the  remaining  portions  of  the  act. 

Sec  12.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  approval. 

Approved  this  27th  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1921. 

C.  J.  McCarthy, 
Governor  oj  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 


i 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HA  WAIL  739 

Mr.  Free.  Why  is  your  organization  opposed  to  that  bill? 

Mr.  Wright.  Inasmuch  as  you  have  phiced  the  entire  text  of  the 
bill  in  the  record ^  I  would  like  to  submit  for  the  record  copies  of  the 
statements  in  the  Labor  Review  which  contain  in  full  our  objections 
to  the  bill. 

The  Chairman.  I   believe   that   matter   has   been   placed   in   the 
-record. 

Mr.  W^RIGHT.  If  that  matter  has  been  placed  in  the  record,  there 
is  no  use  going  into  the  matter  any  further. 

Mr.  Free.  I  am  asking  you  for  your  reasons.  You  are  the  wit- 
ness before  the  committee,  and  I  am  asking  you  why  your  organiza- 
tion opposed  this  bill. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  says  that  it  is  explained  fully  in  those  statements. 

Mr.  Free.  He  has  not  explained  them.     Did  he  write  them? 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  write  the  articles  explaining  the  reasons 
for  opposition  to  the  bill  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  I  wrote  some  of  the  articles  and  editorials 
that  the  Labor  Review  produced.  All  of  it  is  in  that  copy  of  the 
paper;  and  also  in  that  copy  of  the  paper,  or  the  next  copy,  is  the 
substitute  bill  proposed  by  labor  and  submitted  to  the  House  com- 
mittee which  had  the  bill  under  consideration,  which  was  labor's 
proposal  for  an  effective  press  control  bill,  but  which  was  not  accepted 
or  reported  out. 

Mr.  Free.  In  other  words,  your  organization  opposed  this  bill 
that  would  keep  all  papers  being  published  in  a  foreign  language — -^ 

Mr.  Wright  (interposing).  Not  at  all. 

Mr.  Free  (continuing) .  From  destroying  Americanism  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  opposed  that  bill  upon  the  ground  that  it  was 
aimed,  through  the  language  used,  directly  at  labor  organizations, 
providing  a  weapon  which  could  be  used  against  us  and  prevent  any 
possible  form  of  propaganda  or  organization  or  agitation  in  times  of 
industrial  disputes.  You  say  that  a  copy  of  that  paper  has  been 
placed  in  the  record,  and  if  so,  all  of  it  is  a  matter  of  record  now. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  it  is  in  the  record.  Mr.  Wallace  read  one 
clipping. 

Mr.  Wallace.  It  did  not  apply  to  that  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  We  had  a  long  discussion  about  the  press -control 
bill. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  had  better  let  Mr.  Wright  get  both  articles. 
•  The  Chairman.  I  do  not  think  it  is  directly  at  issue. 

Mr.  Wright.  If  it  is  not  in  issue,  then  the  whole  matter  should  be 
stricken  from  the  record. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  assume  that  the  legislature  settled  it  out 
there,  and  we  all  know  that  in  that  community  of  255,000  people, 
divided  among  four  islands,  interest  in  all  these  matters  must  be 
intense,  and  they  are  settled  out  there.  In  my  opinion,  that  is  some- 
what aside  from  the  problems  that  we  have  here.  The  Japanese 
newspapers  now  print  English  translations,  do  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  do  not.  The  bill  will  have  absolutely  no  effect 
upon  the  Japanese  newspapers  as  to  their  furnishing  translations. 

The  Chairman.  They  do  not  do  that? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  they  do  not  do  that.  They  do  not  have  to 
do  it  under  the  terms  of  the  bill. 


740  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  if  the  Japanese  newspapers  have  had  some- 
thing offensive  to  say  about  3^ou  in  the  last  few  days,  you  would  not 
know  it  unless  we  showed  it  to  you  or  your  friends  showed  it  to  you 
when  you  got  home  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Probably  not. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Inasmuch  as  this  bill  has  been  read  into  the  record, 
is  it  not  your  opinion,  sir,  that  the  position  or  the  justification  for  the 
position  of  labor  in  Hawaii  should  also  go  into  the  record  ? 

The  Chairman.  I  have  no  objection  if  anybody  wants  it  in,  but  I 
am  not  going  to  give  blanket  authority  to  insert  newspaper  articles  j 
as  they  please  in  the  record. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  the  articles  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  are  here.     I  ask  that  they  be  inserted  in  the  ! 
record.  ■ 

(The  articles  referred  to  are  as  follows  ) 


[From  Labor  Re\iew  of  April  26.] 
labor's  argument  against  amended  press  control  bill. 


To  the  House  of  Representatives,  Per  favor  of  the  Minority  Members  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Judiciary. 

This  bill,  as  amended  by  the  majority  recommendation  of  the  Judiciary  Committee, 
still  contains  the  objectionable  features  to  which  such  emphatic  objection  was  made 
at  the  public  hearing  before  the  committee. 

In  its  amended  form  the  true  intention  of  the  bill  becomes  still  more  apparent,  for 
it  fails  absolutely  to  place  any  additional  restraint  upon  foreign-language  newspapers. 
There  is  no  translation  required  of  any  subject  matter  appearing  in  such  papers,  the 
only  regulation  being  the  filing  of  a  copy  of  each  issue. 

Under  the  penalizing  section  even  unintentional  neglect  or  failure  to  file  such  a 
copy  is  punished  with  exactly  the  same  penalty  as  is  the  first  violation  of  section  1, 
which  in  itself  constitutes  an  excessive  and  unjust  punishment  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  seriousness  of  the  offense.  One  who  merely  fails  to  file  a  copy  with  the  Attorney 
General  is  as  guilty  under  the  provisions  of  this  law  as  one  who  m.aliciously  stirs  up 
riot  and  anarchy. 

In  section  1  the  language  of  the  text  from  line  7  to  line  12,  inclusive,  as  appears  in  the 
typewritten  report  of  the  majority  of  the  committee  on  page  2,  is  capable  of  so  great 
a  variation  of  interpretations  as  to  make  it  practically  unlawful  to  carry  on  any  indus- 
trial dispute,  especiall}^  if  the  question  of  a  strike  is  involved,  for  the  ideas  of  fear, 
force,  intimidation,  threat,  or  ostracism  could  be  attributed  to  form  of  address,  advice, 
or  instruction  designed  to  develop  solidarity  among  the  workers  and  encourage  them 
to  hold  firm  for  their  rights. 

These  are  all  loose  words,  Avliich  should  have  no  place  in  tJie  law,  for  there  are  many 
kinds  of  force  aside  from  brute  violence — the  force  of  conscience,  moral  suasion,  of 
example,  of  circumstance,  and  the  compelling  force  of  right  and  justice.  Under  the- 
proposed  law  none  of  these  forces  could  be  appealed  to  for  the  settlement  of  a  dispute. 
The  same  holds  true  of  fear;  there  is  the  fear  of  merited  censure,  of  poverty,  of  losing  a 
job,  even  the  fear  of  God  is  outlawed  by  this  act.  And  what  is  intimidation  except 
causing  one  to  be  afraid?  And  is  there  not  such  a  thing  as  being  afraid  to  do  a  wrong  act? 
There  are  other  kinds  of  threats  beside  the  threat  of  phvsical  injury  or  personal  harm; 
one  might  be  threatened  with  just  retribution  or  with  the  exposure  of  some  question- 
able practice,  or  even  with  punishment  under  the  law:  and  are  such  threats  to  be  made 
unlawful?  It  is  an  absurdity.  And  the  idea  of  ostracism  is  identified  with  all  kinds 
of  evil  doings  which  have  always  been  regarded  as  justifying  the  cutting  off  of  an 
offender  from  cordial  relations  with  his  own  fellows.  In  industrial  disputes  one  who 
betrays  his  own  fellows  or  spies  upon  them  justly  merits. ostracism,  in  much  the  same 
way  as  a  traitor  or  a  spy  against  his  country  would  be  ostracized  from  the  society  of  all 
decent  people  in  the  case  of  international  disputes. 

In  the  clause  immediately  following,  on  line  10,  the  amended  text  makes  the  law 
appl}^  to  only  one  side  of  an  industrial  dispute,  to  activities  tending  to  prevent  men 
from  engaging  in  certain  employment;  it  does  not  restrain  the  employer  from  using  any 
or  all  of  these  tactics  to  induce  men  to  continue  in  their  jobs.     Is  that  a  square  deal? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN^   HAWAII.  741 

In  conclusion  M^e  urge  that  the  minority  report  be  accepted  and  the  bill  tabled, 
and  in  doing  so  we  can  sav  that  we  are  taking  a  stand  for  the  honor  of  Hawaii,  upon 
whose  great  seal  are  inscribed  the  greatest  argument  against  such  bills  as  this: 
"Ua  man  ke  ea  o  ka  aina  i  ka  pono." 

George  W.  Wright, 
President  Central  Labor  Council. 


[The  Labor  Review  of  Hawaii.] 
THAT   POOR    OLD    PRESS    BILL. 

It  is  rather  amusing  to  those  of  us  who  have  seriously  studied  the  provisions  of  the 
press  gag  bill  in  its  amended  form  as  it  finally  passed  the  house  and  was  honored  by 
the  governor's  signature  to  find  it  still  defended  by  certain  elements  in  this  commu- 
nity which,  however  prejudiced  and  reactionary  they  may  be,  we  had  given  credit 
for  the  possession  of  some  slight  degree  of  intelligence. 

As  pointed  out  by  the  attorney  general  the  bill  carries  no  appropriation  for  its 
enforcement  as  a  regulatory  measure.  It  does  not  provide  in  any  way  for  the  transla- 
tion of  any  matter  appearing  in  any  foreign-language  newspaper,  unless  that  paper 
shall  have  been  previously  convicted  of  violating  this  particular  law.  It  does,  how-, 
ever,  require  translations  from  periodicals  and  magazines  printed  in  a  foreign  language 
whenever  they  treat  of  political,  economic,  or  industrial  questions,  and  the  effect  of 
this  provision  is  to  practically  close  the  columns  of  these  conservative  publications  to 
the  discussion  of  such  subjects,  leaving  the  unregulated  newspapers  as  the  sole  medium 
for  the  exchange  of  ideas  and  the  spread  of  propaganda  which  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  act  to  restrict. 

The  law  provides  the  same  penalty  for  the  failure  to  file  even  a  single  copy  of  an 
innocent  paper  as  it  does  for  the  open  preaching  of  anarchy  and  sedition  or  the  incite- 
ment to  riot  and  violence,  thus  inflicting  a  punishment  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
offense. 

_  Section  1,  around  which  the  principal  discussion  has  centered,  is  so  transparently 
aimed  at  the  suppression  of  labor  activities  in  the  case  of  industrial  disputes  that  the 
advocates  of  the  bill  merely  render  themselves  ridiculous  by  denying  it.  And  the 
law  is  directly  worded  so  as  to  punish  those  who  try  to  keep  men  from  working  during 
an  industrial  dispute  or  strike,  while  it  allows  employers  to  use  all  kinds  of  threats, 
of  force,  fear,  intimidation,  etc.,  to  coerce  mQn  into  staying  on  the  job. 

However,  the  press  gag  act  has  become  a  law,  and  the  fact  does  not  worry  us  in  the 
least.  It  will  take  its  place  with  the  other  fool  laws  which  our  legislatures  have  passed, 
and  will  presently  be  forgotten,  very  much  as  the  Rice  criminal  s>Tidicalism  law  was 
forgotten.  So  far  as  we  are  concerned  we  shall  continue  to  teach  the  truth  as  we  see 
it  and  to  advocate  the  things  which  we  believe  are  just  and  proper  means  to  the 
securing  of  the  ends  we  have  in  view,  basing  our  defense  and  our  justification  upon 
that  underlying  principle  of  American  law  which  distinguishes  between  right  and 
wrong,  justice  and  injustice,  in  the  interpretation  of  words  and  phrases  which  have 
too  broad  and  general  a  meaning,  and  relying  upon  the  honesty,  fair-mindedness,  and 
common  sense  of  the  average  American  jury. 


LEGISL.VTIVE    COMMITTEE    OFFERS    SUBSTITUTE    PRESS    BILL — SUGGESTIONS    OF    ORGAN- 
IZED   LABOR    TO    JUDICIARY    COMMITTEE    OF    HOUSE. 

In  an  effort  to  bring  about  a  settlement  of  the  press-bill  dispute  and  demonstrate 
the  constructive  policy  of  the  Central  Labor  Council  the  legislative  committee  pre- 
sented to  the  judiciary  committee  of  the  house  the  following  suggestions  for  the  control 
of  the  foreign-language  press : 

Hon.  LoRRiN  Andrews, 

Chairraan  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  House  of  Bepresentaiives, 

Territory  of  Haivaii. 

Gentlemen:  At  the  public  hearing  before  your  committee  on  Monday  night,  April 
18,  1921,  the  representatives  of  organized  labor  were  requested  to  make  some  "con- 
structive criticisms  or  suggestions"  relative  to  senate  bill  111.  We  felt  at  the  time 
that  the  criticisms  we  had  offered  were  sufficiently  constructive  to  condemn  the 
measure  in  its  entirety,  and  we  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  the  argument 
against  the  bill  presented  by  the  Central  Labor  Council  to  the  house  and  made  public 


742  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

in  the  afternoon  paper  just  prior  to  the  hearing  there  was  the  suggestion  for  an  "honest 
law  which  would  simply  provide  that  'no  person  shall  write,  print,  publish,  or  circulate 
any  matter  which  openly  advocates,  incites,  or  encourages  the  violation  of  a  law  or 
the  commission  of  a  crime.'"  This,  of  course,  would  require  some  elaboration  and 
the  addition  of  the  penalizing  clause,  but  it  would  be  a  very  simple  law  and  one 
that  could  not  easily  be  misconstrued. 

It  seems,  however,  that  such  a  law  alone  would  not  be  acceptable  to  the  gentlemen 
who  represent  the  American  Legion,  who  believe  that  the  Japanese  press  requires 
some  additional  measure  of  control.  Might  we  be  permitted,  then,  to  suggest  the  fol- 
lowing solution: 

Let  there  be  passed  "An  act  creating  a  territorial  bureau  of  translations  under  the 
supervision  of  a  commissioner  of  foreign  languages,  defming  the  duties  and  providing 
an  appropriation  for  the  carrying  on  of  the  work  of  the  said  bureau." 

The  work  of  this  bureau  should  be  the  examination  of  the  subject  matter  of  all 
foreign  language  publications  of  local  origin  or  otherwise  as  might  seem  advisable 
and  the  translation  into  "American"  of  all  articles,  editorials,  etc.,  relating  to  the 
subjects  referred  to  in  section  3  of  the  present  bill  (S.  111).  Such  translations  should 
be  filed  at  once  with  the  attorney  general  and  be  open  to  public  inspection  for  a  year 
from  the  date  of  filing. 

If  the  defenders  of  the  original  bill  are  as  sincere  in  their  desire  to  Americanize 
the  Territory  as  their  protestations  would  have  us  believe  and  as  sincerely  desirous  of 
avoiding  anything  "creating  distrust  is  dissension  between  peoples  of  different  races 
or  between  citizens  and  aliens,"  as  the  text  of  the  Warren  bill  assumes,  then  they 
could  have  no  valid  objection  to  the  enactment  of  such  a  law  and  should  be  satisfied 
with  the  reasonable  restraint  which  it  would  exert  upon  any  foreign  language  pub- 
lication which  might  otherwise  overstep  the  bounds  of  propriety  in  discussing  political, 
social,  or  economic  questions. 

Such  a  bureau  might  be  considered  as  an  educational  factor  in  the  development  of 
harmonious  relations  between  the  various  racial  elements  in  the  Territory,  or  it  might 
be  regarded  as  a  detective  bureau  authorized  under  the  general  police  powers  of  the 
Territory.  In  any  case  it  would  relieve  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association 
of  the  expense  of  hiring  expert  translators  and  reviewing  the  contents  of  the  Japanese 
press,  an  expense  which,  in  all  justice,  ought  to  be  borne  by  the  public  at  large, 
which  benefits  in  the  end  from  the  activities  of  such  an  institution  as  the  bureau  of 
translations  would  become. 

Trusting  that  our  suggestions  will  be  given  due  consideration  and  that  a  solution 
will  be  found 'Which  will  not  impose  unjust  or  unreasonable  restraint  upon  any  press, 
we  have  the  honor  to  remain. 
Very  sincerely,  yours, 

Legislative  Committee  of  the  Central  Labor  Council. 

Note. — ^We  might  point  out  that  authorized  translations  under  the  seal  of  the 
bureau  would  form  the  evidence  upon  which  to  prosecute  the  publishers  of  matter 
already  prohibited  by  law,  as,  for  example,  libel,  blackmail,  incendiarism,  criminal 
syndicalism,  etc. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Wright,  I  want  to  ask  you  if  you  visited  any 
Japanese  before  you  came  on  here  from  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  I  have  seen  Japanese  with  regard  to  in- 
formation that  I  was  instructed  by  the  labor  council  to  secure,  if 
possible. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  secure  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  secured  some  information;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  present  it  to  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Some  of  it  I  have  given  to  the  committee.  That  is 
information  in  regard  to  the  number  of  Japanese  who  had  left  the 
plantations  and  the  number  of  those  who  had  left  the  islands. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  tell  them  that  you  were  coming  on  here  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  knew  that  we  were  coming  on;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  It  was  a  matter  of  general  knowledge,  was  it  ? 
Did  you  tell  any  of  them  particularly  about  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  not,  but  I  am  not  positive.  Yes,  sir;  I  did 
have  a  conversation  with  one  Jap,  or  a  part  Jap,  who  is  the  editor 
of  a  Japanese  paper. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  AIL  743 

The  Chairman.  Who  was  he? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  was  Fred  Makino.     He  met  me  on  the  street. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  3^ou  talk  about? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  we  talked  mostly  about  this  coolie  proposition. 
I  will  state  that  I  made  every  effort  possible  to  get  the  different  view- 
points.    In  making  this  effort,  I  came  in  contact  with  some  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  interest  them  in  your  viewpoint? 

Mr.  W^RiGHT.  I  did  not  make  any  particular  effort  to  interest  them 
in  my  viewpoint,  but  I  wanted  their  viewpoint. 

The  C1LA.1RMAN.  Were  they  interested  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Some  of  them  were  and  some  of  them  were  not. 

The  Chairman.  How  about  this  editor? 

Mr.  Wright.  This  editor  was  interested. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  he  say? 

Mr.  Wright.  He  said,  as  near  as  I  can  recollect,  that  he  did  not 
believe  that  Chinese  coolies  were  required  at  all  for  the  reason  that, 
although  the  plantations  were  short  to  a  certain  extent,  he  believed 
that  other  means  could  be  secured  without  bringing  in  Chinese 
coolies. 

The  Chairman.  Did  he  talk  to  you  about  another  strike  ? 

Mr.  W^right.  No,  sir;  he  did  not. 

The  Chairman.  Did  he  say  anything  about  the  advisability  of 
your  coming  on  here  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  recollect  that  he  did.  I  believe  at  the  time  I 
spoke  to  him  it  had  been  decided  on.  I  met  him  casually  on  the 
street. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  Japanese  association  discuss  the  matter 
of  your  coming  on  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  may  have  discussed  it. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  whether  they  did  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Among  themselves — I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  offer  you  any  support  in  any  way,  or 
financial  support  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ? 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  offer  you  any  financial  suppport  for 
the  expenses  of  the  trip  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  some  Japanese  put  up  at  least  $500 
for  the  expenses  of  either  yourself  or  your  associate,  Mr.  Chilton  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  say  that  they  had  offered  me  no  support.  Now, 
I  will  make  this  thing  absolutely  clear  to  this  committee,  because 
there  are  certain  things  in  connection  with 

Mr.  Free  (interposing) .  Let  us  have  an  answer,  yes  or  no,  to  the 
question,  and  then  you  may  explain.  Is  it  a  fact  that  the  Japanese 
are  paying  for  a  part  of  the  expenses  of  either  you  or  Mr.  Chilton^ 
or  both  of  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  As  I  told  you,  personally  I  do  not  know.  Money 
has  been  raised  from  individual  contributors  who  absolutely  do  not 
want  to  go  on  record.  Money  has  been  contributed  in  that  way  in 
confidence,  and  w^e  are  not  at  liberty  to  divulge  the  names  of  the  con- 
tributors. As  to  that,  we  do  not  consider  that  it  is  anybody's  busi- 
ness as  to  who  did  or  who  did  not  contribute. 

Mr.  Free.  We  consider  it  our  business.  I  will  tell  you  right  now 
that  I  consider  it  my  business,  as  a  member  of  this  committee,   to 


744  >  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

know  whether  Japanese  contributed  to  the  expense  of  your  coming 
here. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  might  say  this,  that  money  was  collected.  Part 
of  it  was  collected  by  committes  delegated  by  the  Central  Labor 
Council  to  make  collections  and  the  central  labor  body  went  on  record 
as  requiring  officially  for  the  record  only  contributions  from  bona 
fide  labor  organizations ;  but  they  gave  permission  to  the  committee- 
men who  had  the  work  in  charge  to  collect  funds  from  whatever 
source  they  saw  fit,  and  a  certain  member  of  this  committee  made 
it  a  point,  I  believe,  to  interest  himself  among  the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Free.  That  was  your  associate,  Mr.  Chilton  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Papke. 

The  Chairman.  Who  were  the  members  of  the  committet;  who 
solicited  those  funds  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  A  gentleman  by  tiie  name  of  Pasco. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  his  first  name? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know.  Pasco  is  the  representative  of  the 
street  car  employees;  and  there  was  Clarence  Ruh;  another  was 
Vickery,  and  another  was  Webb  Johnson.  I  believe  that  Charles 
Herring  was  furnished  with  a  list,  and  also  Henry  Papke.  If  there 
are  any  others,  Mr.  Chilton  can  give  the  names. 

The  Chairman.  Did  those  lists  that  were  furnished  have  the  names 
of  the  people  who  were  to  be  seen? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  they  were  simply  blank  lists. 

The  Chairman.  Subscription  lists? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir;  subscription  blanks. 

The  Chairman.  They  were  passed  around  or  carried  into  the 
Japanese  quarter? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  heard  that  this  man  Papke  made  a  special  effort 
to  do  so. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  object  to  that  in  any  way? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  can  not  say  that  I  did;  no,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  then  and  do  not  now? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  How  much  did  he  get  from  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  records  of  the  Central  Labor  Council  show? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  records  will  show  what  money  has  been  collected 

The  Chairman.  Including  the  names  that  were  not  to  be  given  out  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Probably  not. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  some  names  would  not  appear.  Why  do 
they  want  to  keep  that  quiet  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  mil  tell  you  why.  It  is  because  they  do  not  dare 
to  let  it  be  known  that  they  are  taking  an  active  part  in  opposition 
to  this  measure. 

The  Chairman.  Why? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  local  people  there  in  Honolulu  do  not  dare  to 
come  out  actively  in  the  open  in  opposition  to  it  for  fear  of  incurring 
the  enmity  and  displeasure  of  the  Hawaii  Sugar  Planters'  Association 
and  of  the  chamber  of  commerce.  People  have  requested  that  their 
names  shall  not  appear,  and,  for  the  same  reason,  no  one  will  sign 
statements  or  vouchers  as  to  data  collected. 

The  Chairman.  As  to  information  collected  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes^  sir. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  745 

The  Chairman.  Does  not  the  same  situation  exist  with  regard  to 
the  feeUng  concerning  the  Japanese  population — that  is,  that  you  do 
not  dare  come  out  and  say  what  you  feel?  Is  not  that  the  same 
situation  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  are  you  not  afraid  all  the  time  to  say 
anything  for  fear  of  the  sugar  planters,  the  chamber  of  commerce, 
or  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  to  a  certain  extent  that  is  true.  I  would  not 
say,  however,  that  we  are  afraid  of  the  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  not  afraid  of  them  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  am  not  afraid  of  them,  because  they  have 
no  power  to  affect  us  economically. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  express  any  fear  of  their  control  of  the 
islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  have  no  fear  as  to  their  control  of  the 
islands,  because  I  believe  that  the  Americanization  program  in  the 
islands  has  developed  far  enough  so  that  the  Japanese  menace  can 
be  controlled  provided  nothing  is  done  to  aggravate  it  by  the  intro- 
duction of  another  complication,  such  as  this  admission  of  Chinese 
coolies. 

The  Chairman.  Every  time  this  committee,  or  any  other  com- 
mittee, discusses  the  Japanese  question,  or  any  phase  of  it,  is  it  not 
a  fact  that  it  creates  some  agitation,  and  do  they  not  resent  it  in  the 
papers  and  elsewhere  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Do  you  mean  whether  the  Japanese  resent  it  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  presume  they  do. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  not  print  in  their  papers  right  there  in 
Honolulu,  week  in  and  week  out,  statements  to  the  effect  that  if  they 
will  be  patient  they  will  have  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  do  not  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  You  would  believe  official  translations  if  I  showed 
them  to  you,  would  you  not  ?  How  much  money  did  the  Japanese 
contribute  to  your  expense  fund  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  say. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Free.  You  know,  however,  that  they  did  contribute  to  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  know  they  contributed  to  it. 

Mr.  Free.  You  know  that  Mr.  Chilton  solicited  funds  from  them 
himself,  do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  You  can  ask  Mr.  Chilton  ? 

Mr.  Free.  May  I  ask  that  question  of  Mr.  Chilton?  Mr.  Chilton, 
is  it  a  fact  that  you  solicited  funds  among  the  Japanese  for  the 
expenses  of  this  trip  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  a  moment:  I  have  sat  quietly  here,  but  I  now 
wish  to  make  a  statement.  When  we  started  in  with  this  examina- 
tion, I  was  prevented  from  asking  this  commission  a  number  of  ques- 
tions bearing  upon  absolutely  vital  matters.  We  have  a  record  here, 
but  those  facts  do  not  appear  in  it,  because  of  the  fear  that  it  might 
create  trouble  of  some  sort  that  would  affect  them  when  they  went 
home.  I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  have  not  been 
permitted  to  find  out  from  this  commission  anything  with  regard  to 
these  matters,  but  this  gentleman 

Mr.  Irwin  (interposing) .  That  is  absolutely  incorrect. 


746  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  a  moment,  if  you  please,  I  am  making  a  state- 
ment. This  gentleman,  because  he  represents  organized  labor,  is 
grilled  as  though  he  were  a  criminal.  That  is  done  because  he  appears 
here  against  this  resolution,  which  would  foist  upon  that  Territory, 
which  is  a  part  of  this  country,  a  condition  of  slavery  and  involun- 
tary servitude.  I  say  that  representatives  of  American  labor,  or  any 
other  representatives,  would  not  be  doing  their  duty,  but  would  be 
derelict  in  their  duty  as  citizens,  if  they  did  not  come  here  and  oppose 
this  proposition.  I  have  no  objection  to  your  finding  out  all  that  you 
are  entitled  to  know,  but  I  ask  for  the  same  opportunity  of  examina- 
tion when  it  comes  to  these  other  gentlemen. 

The  Chairman.  This  witness  in  his  first  cablegram,  which  is  a  part 
of  the  record,  and  since  then,  has  undertaken  to  make  charges  that 
would  tend  to  discredit  the  members  of  this  commission.  He  made 
those  charges,  and  for  that  reason  we  have  the  right  to  examine  him 
as  far  as  we  please.  In  view  of  the  references  that  have  been  made 
to  the  Japanese 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  I  think  we  should  go  into  the  matter 
from  all  sides.  The  only  thing  I  suggest  is  that  we  may  have  full 
opportunity  to  examine  all  of  the  witnesses. 

Mr.  Free.  For  the  purpose  of  further  examining  Mr.  Wright,  I 
want  to  ask  Mr.  Chilton  one  question. 

The  Chairman.  You  may  proceed. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Chilton,  is  it  a  fact  that  before  leaving  Honolulu 
you  did  solicit  funds  from  Japanese  or  Japanese  organizations  for  the 
purpose  of  financing  this  trip  or  partly  financing  it  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  did. 

Mr.  Free.  Did  you  secure  some  funds  froin  them? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  was  told  by  one  of  the  business  men  there  that  I 
should  go  and  see  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Mr.  Free.  Just  answer  the  question;  did  you  get  some  funds  from 
them  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  will  make  this  answer  in  full,  so  as  to  make  it 
clear 

Mr.  Free  (interposing).  No;  answer  the  question,  yes  or  no;  and 
then  explain. 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  was  told  by  a  Japanese  merchant  there  that  I 
should  see  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  that  the}^  would 
be  only  too  willing  to  contribute.  Two  or  three  days  before  we  left 
I  went  do^\Ti  to  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  saw  their 
secretary,  Mr.  Onodera,  and  told  him  that  I  had  been  sent  down  there 
by  a  Japanese  merchant.  Mr.  Onodera  said,  '^You  come  back  this 
afternoon  about  4  o'clock,  and  I  will  let  you  know.  I  must  see  the 
contribution  committee."  At  4  o'clock  I  went  back  there  and  saw 
Mr.  Onodera,  and  he  said,  ^'The  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce  does 
not  dare  make  any  contribution  toward  the  financing  of  this  trip,  as 
they  are  afraid  of  the  Honolulu  Chamber  of  Commerce."  That  is  the 
American  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Fie  told  me  that  if  I  would  go  to 
the  different  stores  they  would  subscribe,  and  that  all  I  had  to  do 
was  to  ask  the  storekeepers  or  proprietors  or  managers  to  get  in 
telephone  communication  with  him  and  that  he  would  O.  K.  the 
proposition.  I  did  not  go  around  to  an}^  of  those  stores  or  get  a 
single  cent. 

Mr.  Free.  But  they  have  since  contributed  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  747 

Mr.  Chilton.  1  do  not  know  that  tlK\y  have  since  contributed. 

The  Chairman.  Is  Mr.  Onodera  an  American  citizen? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  is  or  not.  I  do  not  be- 
heve  he  is. 

The  Chairman.  Is  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce  made  up 
of  American  citizens  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  think  there  is  a  single  American  citizen  in 
it.  They  would  not  w^ant  to  be  on  record  as  contributing  to  a  fund 
to  send  witnesses  to  influence  American  legislation  one  way  or  the 
other. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  wdiat  they  said,  but  they  were  willing 
enough  to  have  you  go  around  to  the  difl^erent  stores  and  get  funds  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  which  I  did  not  do. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  do  it  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  only  place  I  went  was  to  the  Japanese  Chamber 
of  Commerce. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  secure  contributions  from  them? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Japanese  contributed  funds. 

The  Chairman.  To  you,  personally? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  know  that  as  treasurer  of  the  central  labor  council. 

Mr.  Free.  How  much  did  you  collect? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  say. 

Mr.  Free.  Why  not  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Because  I  am  not. 

The  Chairman.  Do  vou  know^  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  As  much  as  $400  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  More  than  that,  but  I  can  not  say  exactly. 

The  Chairman.  Six  hundred  dollars  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  More  than  that  even.     A  little  over  $1,500,  I  think. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  the  treasurer  of  the  central  labor  council  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  How  much  was  the  total  contribution? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  know  what  was  the  totals 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  have  not  kept  track  of  it. 

The  Chairman.  How  much  did  the  steamboat  and  railroad  tickets 
amount  to  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know;  about  $600  so  far. 

The  Chairman.  For  the  two  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  buy  them  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  bought  my  own  and  he  bought  his. 

The  Chairman.  Who  is  the  treasurer  of  this  expedition  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  have  no  treasurer. 

The  Chairman.  You  divided  the  fund  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Each  one  pays  his  own  expenses. 

Mr.  Free.  You  gave  a  part  of  the  money  you  collected  to  Mr. 
Wright,  did  you  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes:  I  did. 

Mr.  Free.  Fifty-fifty? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  say  it  w^as  in  excess  of  $1,600? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  I  say  it  was  $1,500. 


748  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  the  amount  collected  from  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  What  about  the  white  people  ?  What  did  they 
contribute  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  also  contributed. 

The  Chairman.  How  much  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  So  far  I  do  not  know  exactly  how  much,  but  they 
have  contributed. 

The  Chairman.  About  $1,500? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  they  have  not  contributed  that  much. 

The  Chairman.  $1,000? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know;  it  is  in  Honolulu. 

The  Chairman.  Can  you  guess  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  I  can  not  guess. 

The  Chairman.  They  are  raising  it  now  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir.  - 

The  Chairman.  They  are  not  going  to  let  the  Japanese  outdo  them, 
are  they  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know;  that  is  up  to  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  know  how  much  money  you  have  gotten  to  date, 
do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  much? 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  have  gotten  about  $830  apiece. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  they  are  still  raising  more  for  you  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  they  are  raising  more. 

The  Chairman.  You  got  $830  apiece  and  the  Japanese  gave  $1,600 
of  it  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  that  $1,500  the  Japanese  gave. 

The  Chairman.  So  they  are  interested  in  this  proposition  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  presume  they  are. 

The  Chairman.  They  must  be;  that  is  pretty  clear. 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  is  thQ  truth  about;  and  I  am  making  no  bones 
about  it. 

Mr.  Free.  You  knew  that  this  money  came  from  the  Japanese, 
did  you  not,'  Mr.  Wright  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  How  is  that  ? 

Mr.  Free.  You  knew  that  some  of  the  money  you  came  here  on 
came  from  the  Japanese,  did  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  knew  that  some  of  the  money  did  com.e  from  the 
Japanese;  yes. 

Mr.  Free.  Why  did  you  not  say  that  when  I  asked  you  before  ^ 

Mr.  Wright.  Because  I  was  told  I  was  not  at  liberty;  I  told  yoii 
before  that  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  break  confidences;  that  this 
money  was  collected  confidentially. 

Mr.  Free.  You  had  been  in  pretty  close  touch  with  them  on  this 
matter  before  you  came,  had  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  particularly,  no;  I  have  not  been  in  close  touch 
with  them. 

Mr.  Free.  You  have  had  their  views,  you  have  discussed  it  with 
them,  and  what  you  would  testify  to  before  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir.  We  did  not  expect  to  come  before  this 
committee.  They  knew  the  purposes  for  which  we  wanted  to  come, 
and,  as  Mr.  Chilton  has  just  said,  they  contributed. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  749 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Wright,  before  you  went  to  the  islands  you  lived 
in  California? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  Where  in  California? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  lived  in  Alameda. 

Mr.  Free.  And  by  whom  were  you  employed? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  employed  by  the  Byron- Jackson  Pump  Co. 

Mr.  Free.  Did  you  live  anywhere  else  in  California  during  the 
years  you  were  there  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  I  lived  in  Jackson,  Amador  County. 

Mr.  Free.  By  whom  were  you  employed  there  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  working  in  the  mining  business  then  and  was 
employed  by  a  mining  company  that  has  since  gone  out  of  business. 

Mr.  Free.  What  was  the  name  of  the  company  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  name  of  that  company  was  the  Del  Monte 
Mining  &  Milling  Co. 

Mr.  Free.  Did  you  work  for  anyone  else  or  live  at  any  other  place 
in  California  than  those  3^ou  have  mentioned  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  worked  also  for  the  Wide  Awake  Mining  &  Milling 
Co.,  near  Rail  Road  Fiat,  Calaveras  County. 

Mr.  Free.  Did  you  work  anyvvhere  else  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Where  ?     In  California  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  worked  off  and  on  in  the  city  of  Oakland,  and  I 
worked  on  a  ranch  at  Glen  Ellen,  Sonoma  County;  that  is,  I  tried  to 
run  a  chicken  ranch  there. 

Mr.  Free.  Except  the  time  you  were  engaged  on  work  on  the 
chicken  ranch,  were  you  employed  all  this  time  as  a  machinist  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  employed  in  the  mining  business  as  what  they 
called  an  assayer,  chemist. 

Mr.  Free.  When  did  you  first  join  the  union? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  first  joined  the  union  in  Oakland. 

Mr.  Free.  And  what  year  was  that? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Free.  Well,  approximately? 

Mr.  Wright.  Approximately,  I  would  say,  six  or  eight  years  ago. 

Mr.  Free.  Have  you  belonged  continuously  ever  since? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  belonged  continuously  when  I  was  where  there 
was  an  organization,  but  when  I  first  went  to  Honolulu  there  was  no 
machinist  organization  there. 

Mr.  Free.  You  have  always  kept  up  your  membership  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  not;  that  is  to  say,  there  was  a  time  when  my 
membership  lapsed.     Then  at  the  first  opportunity  I  was  reinstated. 

Mr.  Free.  Where  were  you  a  member  when  it  lapsed  ?  What  union 
did  you  belong  to  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Oakland. 

Mr.  Free.  The  Oakland  machinists? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  Was  this  simply  due  to  the  nonpayment  of  dues  or  some 
other  cause  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  nonpayment  of  dues. 

Mr.  Free.  Did  you  have  any  trouble  in  getting  reinstated  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  None. 

Mr.  Free.  When  you  joined  again,  you  joined  in  the  islands  ? 


750  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  And  what  is  the  union  you  now  helong  to  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Honoluki  lodge. 

Mr.  Free.  A  machinists'  lodge? 

Mr.  Wright.  No.  1245. 

Mr.  Free.  Just  the  Honolulu  lodge? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  Were  you  ever  in  Santa  Clara  County,  Calif.  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  passed  through  Santa  Clara  County. 

Mr.  Free.  But  you  never  lived  there? 

Mr.  Wright.  No. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  one  of  your  misfortunes. 

Mr.  Free.  As  I  understand,  you  resided  in  Nevada  before  you  went 
to  California? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Free.  Where  were  you  living  in  Nevada? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  lived  in  Tonopah,  Goldfield,  Reno,  and  Luning. 

Mr.  Free.  By  whom  were  you  employed  in  Tonopah? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  was  mostly  in  the  mining  business. 

Mr.  Free.  That  is  a  very  broad  term. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  but  it  is  difficult  to  say  just  who  I  was  em- 
ployed by,  because  sometimes  I  was  prospecting  on  my  own  account 
and  sometimes  I  was  leasing  and  sometimes  I  was  employed  by 
companies. 

Mr.  Free.  What  companies  were  you  employed  by? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Del  Monte  Goldfield  Consolidated,  the  Silver 
State  Mining  Co.,  and  there  is  another  one  I  forget.  Those  Nevada 
companies,  you  understand,  were  mushroom  companies;  they  are 
here  to-day  and  to-morrow  they  die.  The  Nevada  Triumph  was 
one  also. 

Mr.  Free.  The  only  unions  you  have  belonged  to  are  the  Oakland 
Machinists'  Union  and  the  Honolulu  lodge  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  You  never  had  any  trouble  with  an}^  union? 

Mr.  Wright.  Absolutely  none. 

Mr.  Free.  You  never  had  any  trouble  with  any  fraternal  or  social 
organization  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  sir;  I  never  had  any  trouble  with  any  organ- 
ization with  which  I  was  connected.  Do  you  want  to  know  the 
fraternal  organizations  I  belong  to  ? 

Mr.  Free.  If  you  do  not  mind.  I  did  not  like  to  go  into  that 
matter. 

Mr.  Wright.  Woodman  of  the  World. 

Mr.  Free.  A  good  organization. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  pay  my  dues  in  Jackson,  Amador  County. 

Mr.  Raker.  California? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  The  only  trouble  you  have  had  seems  to  be  congres- 
sionally,  and  that  happened  when  you  got  up  around  Amador. 

Mr.  Raker.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  that  is  one  of  the  best  places  in 
the  United  States. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Are  you  a  constituent  of  Judge  Raker  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  not;  I  am  a  resident  of  the  Plawaiian  Islands. 

The  Chairman.  But  a  former  constituent  of  Judge  Raker's? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   flAWAII.  751 

Mr.  SiiAW.  Coming  back  to  that  strike,  what  was  the  result  of  it? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  result  of  that  strike  was  that  the  Filipinos  went 
back  and  worked  on  the  plantations,  and  the  sugar  planters  secured 
6,000  strike  breakers  in  Honolulu,  put  them  on  the  plantations  and 
broke  the  strike.  The  Japanese  went  back  on  the  12th  of  July,  I 
believe,  or  somewhere  near  the  1st  of  July.  That  was  the  history  of 
the  finishing  of  the  strike.  The  result  of  it  from  an  economic  point 
of  view  has  been  that  the  Japanese  and  Filipinos  went  back  dis- 
satisfied, awaiting  the  first  opportunity  to  get  off  the  plantations. 
I  might  further  state — whether  it  has  been  touched  upon  I  do  not 
know — that  the  churches,  independent  organizations,  and  educators 
in  Honolulu* undertook  to  effect  a  compromise  or  settlement  of  the 
strike  before  it  finally  broke.  That  was  what  was  known  as  the  Pal- 
mer proposition.  The  general  feeling  has  been,  I  believe,  in  Honolulu 
that  this  would  have  effected  a  satisfactory  and  amicable  adjust- 
ment of  the  trouble  if  it  had  been  accepted;  it  was  accepted  by  the 
representatives  of  the  employees  but  was  refused  acceptance  by  the 
planters. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  was  the  nationality  of  these  strike  breakers? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  strike  breakers  were  of  all  nationalities. 

Mr.  Shaw\  What  nationality  predominated  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Portuguese,  Hawaiians,  Koreans,  Chinese,  part  Ha- 
waiians  and  part  Chinese ;  whether  there  were  any  other  nationalities 
of  the  Caucasian  race,  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  RxVKER.  Were  there  any  Japanese? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  there  were  Japanese. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Who  finally  ordered  the  strikers  to  go  back  to  work? 

Mr.  Mead.  Did  you  say  there  were  Japanese  strike  breakers  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  There  must  have  been  some,  because  their  pictures 
were  printed  in  the  Japanese  paper. 

Mr.  Wright.  And,  furthermore,  your  daily  papers  and  plantation 
records  showed  from  day  to  day  the  number  of  Japanese  back  on  the 
plantations. 

Mr.  Mead.  We  did  not  consider  employees  who  went  back  to  work 
as  strike  breakers.  They  were  not  strike  breakers;  they  were  em- 
ployees. There  were  a  few  brave  men  among  the  Japanese  who 
wanted  to  go  back  to  work. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Who  finally  ordered  the  strikers  to  return  to  work? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  believe  the  strike  was  terminated  by  a  conference 
of  delegates  from  the  different  plantations  who  voted  for  a  termina- 
tion of  the  strike. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Were  there  not  some  Japanese  officials  who  came  in 
and  had  considerable  to  do  with  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  From  Japan  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes;  from  Japan. 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  do  not  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  Japanese  consul  have  anything  to  do 
with  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  the  Japanese  consul  was  absolutely  out  of  touch 
with  the  Japanese  laborers. 

The  Chairman.  How  do  you  know  that? 

Mr.  Wright.  So  far  as  anything  could  be  determined;  but  he  was 
constantly  using  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  a  settlement  of  the  strike. 


752  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  How  do  you  know  that? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  know  it  from  the  reports  that  came  out  in  the 
papers.  Of  course,  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  say  that  he  was  not 
working  some  underhand  scheme. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  go  to  see  him  yourself? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  him. 

The  Chairman.  And  none  of  the  central  labor  council  people  went 
to  see  him  that  you  know  of  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Did  not  the  Japanese  consul  go  out  to  one  of  the  planta- 
tions to  talk  to  the  workers  and  the  agitators  hoot  him  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  I  understand  he  went  out  for  the  purpose  of 
trying  to  compromise  it  and  make  some  settlement. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  was  the  result  of  his  trip  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  believe  it  had  any  definite  result. 

Mr.  Shaw.  You  have  over  there  a  lot  of  Japanese  house  servants, 
barbers,  and  Japanese  in  other  lines  of  business.  What  was  their 
attitude  toward  this  strike,  and  also  the  Japanese  in  business  on 
other  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Japanese  business  interests  were  said  to  be  sup- 
porting the  strike,  but  I  believe  there  was  a  considerable  division 
among  them,  part  of  them  acting  with  the  Japanese  religious  element, 
the  Japanese  Church,  in  endeavoring  to  secure  a  settlement  and  an 
adjustment,  and  the  others  were  said  to  be  silently  contributing  to 
the  strike. 

The  Chairman.  Did  they  have  a  pretty  good  strike  fund  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  think  they  had  a  pretty  good  fund.  I  think  they 
had  in  the  neighborhood  of  $1,000,000. 

The  Chairman.  $1,000,000? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  would  not  be  positive  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  A  $1,000,000  Japanese  strike  fund? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  say  I  would  not  be  positive. 

The  Chairman.  I  was  surprised  at  the  figure  you  named.  But 
they  had  a  $1,000,000  strike  fund? 

Mr.  Wright.  As  I  say,  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  know,  but  I  have 
heard  that  figure  mentioned. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  v/hether  any  of  that  came  from 
outside  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No  ;  I  do  not,  but  I  was  under  the  impression  that  it 
was  contributed  by  the  workers  themselves. 

The  Chairman.  How  much  would  that  be  per  worker  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  it  would  be  quite  a  bit,  if  that  figure  is  correct. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  If  there  were  6,000  on  strike  for  150  days, 
900,000  working  days,  and  at  $1  a  day,  it  would  be  $900,000. 

Mr.  Wright.  Have  you  the  figures  as  to  the  amount  contributed  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No;  I  have  not.  I  was  just  trying  to  figure  out 
as  to  whether  that  would  be  an  exorbitant  amount  of  money. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Japanese  Federation  admitted  up  to  $900,000,  I 
believe,  but  we  figured  they  got  about  $1,000,000. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  not  a  wide  difference  between  the  figures. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  admit  that  much,  but  I  think  they  had  more. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  understand  there  were  6,000  strikers  and  then  they 
picked  up  6,000  strike  breakers  to  take  their  places;  is  that  right? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  it;  absolutely. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  753 

Mr.  Mead.  We  never  had  more  than  3,000. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  asked  the  witness  that  question  and  he  can  answer 
it  as  he  pleases.  I  do  not  know  and  do  not  care.  I  asked  him  the 
question  and  he  made  that  answer. 

Mr.  Wright.  Six  thousand  strike  breakers  were  picked  up  to  take 
their  places.  Those  are  statements  that  were  made  absolutely  by 
the  daily  papers  that  were  representing  the  sugar  planters'  side  of  the 
case  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  not  think  the  Japanese  are  rather  unjustly 
criticized  for  the  part  they  took  in  some  of  these  matters  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  In  what  particular  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  not  think  they  have  a  right  to  contribute  to 
these  things  if  they  want  to  and  have  a  right  to  have  a  strike  fund  if 
they  want  it  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Have  a  right  to  have  a  strike  fund  ? 

Mr.  Shaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  Certainly;  every  organization  has  a  right  and  has  a 
duty  in  that  respect. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Then  in  your  opinion  the  Japanese  can  not  be  criticized 
for  any  of  their  activities  in  these  matters  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  They  should  not,  in  my  opinion,  be  criticized  for 
using  every  legitimate  effort  to  win  this  strike;  that  is,  from  a  labor 
point  of  view. 

The  Chairman.  But  labor  did  not  help  them;  labor  did  not  con- 
tribute any  of  that  money — the  American  Federation  of  Labor  or 
any  of  its  branches — so  far  as  you  know  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Not  that  I  know. 

The  Chairman.  And  the  Filipinos  did  not  help  them  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Filipinos  helped  them  by  helping  themselves. 
The  Filipinos  were  in  a  much  worse  situation  than  the  Japanese, 
because  they  are  a  different  class  of  people;  they  spend  their  money 
as  fast  as  they  get  it  and  they  do  not  save  at  all;  consequently  the 
Filipino  is  constitutionally  broke,  and  he  is  impulsive;  he  went  out 
on  the  strike  expecting,  I  suppose,  more  support  than  he  got. 

The  Chairman.  The  Japanese  did  not  support  the  Filipinos  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  they  did,  yes;  they  supported  them  by  con- 
tributions of  food  to  their  refugee  camp. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Wright,  you  are  or  were  recently  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  Labor  Review  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Are  you  still  an  editor  of  that  paper  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  still  on  the  staff;  yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Are  you  wholly  or  partly  responsible  for  the  editorials 
or  other  opinions  expressed  in  that  paper  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  you  understand,  that  paper  is  run  by  an 
editorial  committee  and  we  are  jointly  responsible,  responsible  to 
the  labor  council. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Then  you  are  partly  responsible  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  am  partly  responsible;  yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Coming  back  to  this  commission,  I  would  like  to  know 
on  what  grounds  you  characterize  the  commission  now  before  this 
committee  as  a  '^fake  labor  commission". 

Mr.  Wright.  Why,  that  is  the  way  it  is  regarded  by  our  people, 
for  this  reason:  That  it  is  sent  here  as  a  labor  commission  and  it 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 14 


754  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

comes  not  representing  labor  and  not  voicing  the  views  of  labor,  and 
in  that  sense  it  is  called  a  fake  labor  commission  or  so-called  labor 
commission. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  commission  was  appointed  by 
the  governor  of  the  Territory  by  direction  of  the  legislature  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  a  fact;  yes;  that  it  was  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor; it  is  a  bona  fide  Territorial  commission;  yes;  but  it  is  a  fake 
so  far  as  labor  is  concerned. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Just  in  that  one  particular  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes.  No  one  denies  the  legality  of  the  proceedings 
by  which  the  commission  was  appointed. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  true  title  of  the  commission? 

Mr.  Wright.  The     Hawaii     Emergency    Labor    Commission, 
believe,  was  the  title  given  it  in  the  act. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Does  the  Government  have  anything  to  do  with  youii 
being  here  or  are  you  acting  solely  on  the  authority  granted  you  by 
labor  organizations  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  Government  has  something  to  do  with  my  being 
here,  so  far  as  part  of  my  work  is  concerned. 

Mr.  Shaw.  I  mean  before  this  committee. 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  the  Government  has  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Why  do  you  refer  in  your  paper  to  the  efforts  of  tha^ 
commission  as  a  '^disgraceful  conspiracy  of  the  Hawaiian  sugai; 
planters"? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  the  way  it  is  generally  regarded,  as  having 
been  inspired  by  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  and  as 
being  here  in  the  interest  of  the  sugar  planters  rather  than  in  th^ 
interest  of  the  real  development  of  the  Territory. 

Mr.  SiiAAV.  What  is  the  circuLation  of  your  paper,  the  Labo^ 
Review  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  About  1,200. 

Mr.  Shaw.  What  body  of  labor  is  it  designed  to  aid? 

Mr.  Wright.  To  aid  f 

Mr.  vShaw.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  designed  primarily  to  voice  the  opinions  an(| 
beliefs  of  organized  labor. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Of  organized  labor  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  And  the  Japanese  can  not  belong  to  your  organizations 
if  I  understand  correctly  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  That  is  what  you  understood;  yes. 

Mr.  ShxVW.  And  that  is  right,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  They  can  not,  but  they  do. 

Mri  Shaw.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  why  the  last  page  of  your  pape 
is  printed  in  the  Japanese  language  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Part  of  the  last  page  is  printed  in  the  Japanese 
language  for  this  reason :  That  labor  believes,  and  always  has  believed 
that  the  ultimate  solution  of  our  local  problem  lies  in  the  Americani 
zation  of  the  Japanese  who  are  there  on  the  islands;  labor  belie vej 
that  if  all  further  importation  of  Japanese  is  stopped  that  eventually 
we  will  be  able  to  solve  our  own  problems  through  the  education  o 
the  Japanese  in  American  ideals. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Do  you  still  believe  the  Japanese  can  be  Americanized 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  765 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  whether  they  can  or  not  is  something  the  future 
only  will  show,  hut  we  believe  that  the  younger  generation  of  Japanese 
can  be  at  least  partially  Americanized,  and  we  all  hope  the  next 
generation  will  become  still  more  Americanized. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  second  generation  of  Japanese  go  to  the 
temples  or  churches  ?  Do  they  pursue  the  Japanese  religion,  the 
second  generation,  speaking  by  and  large  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  some  of  them  do,  but  there  are  a  great  many 
who  do  not.  There  are  a  great  many  who  belong  to  the  Christian 
organizations;  in  fact,  we  have  what  is  called  there  the  Japanese 
Y.M.  C.  A. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  that  on  the  coast. 

Mr.  Wright.  Which  is  largely  patronized  by  young  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  You  think  the  younger  Japanese  will  go  to  the 
Christian  organizations  rather  than  to  the  Buddhists? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  at  least  they  will  go  eventually,  if  the  right 
efforts  are  made. 

Mr.  Free.  I  was  a  little  interested  in  your  statement  that  a  part 
of  your  paper  was  printed  in  Japanese.  Do  you  get  a  Japanese  to  set 
it  up  for  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  What  is  that  ? 

Mr.  Free.  Do  you  get  a  Japanese  to  set  up  that  part  of  your  paper 
which  is  printed  in  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  How  do  you  know  that  which  you  give  him  to  set  up 
is  set  up  like  you  give  it  to  him  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Well,  so  far  as  that  goes,  we  do  not  knovf  absolutely. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  have  a  Japanese  editor  ? 

Mr.  W>.iGHT.  No.  W^e  do  this:  We  submit  the  copy  to  Japanese 
printers  to  set  up. 

The  Chairman.  Union  printers  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  we  have  practically  no  union  printers^ there. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  so  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes.  And  it  is  set  up  and  then  some  other  Japanese 
is  asked  to  give  an  outline  of  what  is  set  up  in  that  way.  Through 
that  method  we  see  whether  or  not  the  matter  has  been  followed 
that  we  have  given  out. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  Japanese  write  any  of  that  stuff  them- 
selves ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No.     Not  up  to  the  time  I  left. 

The  Chairman.  Not  a  bit  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No,  I  do  not  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Was  anything  printed  in  that  edition  of  the  paper 
about  the  contribution  to  this  committee  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  In  our  paper  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wright.  What  edition  do  you  mean? 

The  Chairman.  Any  edition  that  is  printed  partly  in  Japanese. 
Has  there  been  anything  said  about  the  Japanese  themselves  con- 
tributing money  to  send  witnesses  on  here  to  this  committee? 

Mr.  Wright.  There  probably  was  in  the  last  edition. 

The  Chairman.  It  would  be  printed  in  Japanese  only  for  the  in- 
formation of  the  Japanese  that  contributed? 


756  LABOE   PROBLEMS   Ils^    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  But  not  in  English,  for  the  information 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes;  the  same  thing,  I  beheve,  was  printed  in  EngHsh; 
that  is,  the  request  for  all  races  to  join  in  this  contribution. 

Mr.  Shaw.  When  did  you  begin  publishing  a  part  of  your  paper  in 
Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Right  from  the  very  start. 

Mr.  Shaw.  When  the  paper  was  first  organized  you  started  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Have  you  any  contract  or  understanding  with  the 
Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  that  the  Japanese  will  purchase  a 
certain  number  of  copies  of  each  issue  of  your  paper  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  We  have  no  contract;  no. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Have  you  any  understanding^ 

Mr.  Wright.  They  do  purchase,  however,  200  or  250  copies. 

Mr.  Shaw.  It  is  a  fact  that  ;^ou  have  a  definite  agreement 

]\ir.  Wright  (interposing).  It  is  not. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  the  Japanese  will  purchase  300  copies  of  each  issue 
of  your  paper  in  order  to  keep  it  alive  financially,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  It  is  not. 

Mr.  Shaw.  That  is  all. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  pick  out  the  paper  that  has  those  two  resumes 
this  gentleman  referred  to,  and  that  bill  ? 

The  Chairman.  You  will  be  authorized,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
clerk,  to  find  anything  that  is  pertinent  and  insert  it  in  the  record. 
You  want  their  labor  bill  and  one  editorial  to  which  you  referred. 

Mr.  Raker.  Two  editorials  Mr.  Free  referred  to,  and  the  witness 
referred  to  his  answer. 

The  Chairman.  Just  explain  what  it  was.  ■ 

Mr.  Raker.  You  will  put  those  in  your  testimony,  will  you  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  Yes,*  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  those  the  ones  ?  Why  do  you  not  give  them  to  the 
reporter  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  The  first  edition  is  not  here. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  find  it  for  you.  Are  there  any  other 
cjuestions  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Has  the  labor  organization,  the  central  body,  taken 
any  action  relative  to  the  exclusion  of  Asiatic  laborers  ?  Are  they  for 
the  admission  of  them,  or  their  exclusion  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  the}^  are  for  the  exclusion  of  them  absolutely, 
for  the  exclusion  of  an}^  Asiatics. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  Japanese  and  Chinese? 

Mr.  Wright.  Japanese  and  Chinese. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  Hindus  also,  I  suppose  ? 

Mr.  Wright.  I  do  not  know  that  the  Hindus  have  been  mentioned 
at  all,  but  Asiatics  are  supposed  to  include  the  Japanese  and  Chinese. 
They  indorse  the  stand  of  the  Denver  convention,  and  that  is  the 
stand  that  organized  labor  has  always  maintained. 

The  Chairman.  Then  we  are  through  with  you,  Mr.  Wright,  unless 
you  are  recalled,  and  the  clerk  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Snyder,  will 
help  you  when  you  are  ready  to  revise  your  testimony. 

Mr.  Wright.  May  I  ask  whether  I  will  have  the  right  to  submit  to 
committee  any  corrections  or  pertinent  additions  to  the  testi- 
mony? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    PI  AWAIT.  757 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  you  are  entitled  to  round  out  in  a  reasonable 
way  the  information  given  where  we  shut  you  off,  and  if  you  have  any 
written  statement  in  addition  that  you  want  to  add,  or  any  exhibits,, 
just  show  them  to  the  committee. 

Mr.  Wright.  I  have  an  exhibit  here  that  I  was  desirous  of  adding. 

The  Chairman.  We  want  everything  you  have  that  seems  to  be 
pertinent. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  this  exhibit?     What  does  it  relate  to? 

Mr.  Wright.  This  gives  the  advertisement  of  labor  by  the  National 
Guard  Employment  Bureau. 

(The  advertisement  referred  to  follows:) 

The  National  Guard  Employment  Bureau  will  furnish  you  with  all  classes  of  Filipino 
labor.     Arrangements  completed  at  12  Merchant  Street,  phone  3864 . 

Mr.  Wright.  Here  is  an  article  appearing  in  the  magazine  called 
''Sugar/'  supporting  our  argument  for  the  introduction  of  machinery 
as  the  solution  for  the  problem,  and  also  describing  the  paper-mulch 
system  by  which  Olaa  plantation  saves  about  30  per  cent  of  its  total 
labor  costs. 

(The  article  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 

Another  method  for  relieving  Hawaiian  labor  conditions  is  suggested  by  Joseph 
Timmons  of  the  Los  Angeles  Examiner,  who,  in  a  recent  series  of  articles  dealing  with 
the  Japanese  menace  in  Hawaii,  quotes  C.  F.  Eckart  of  Olaa  plantation  as  follows: 

"I  believe  the  planters  should  offer  a  big  bonus,  say  S100,000,  for  a  practicable 
cane-cutting  machine  and  another  for  a  cane-loading  machine.  They  must  do  it 
soon,  before  labor  shortage  and  exactions  cripple  them.  They  should  attract  the  best 
inventive  and  engineering  brains  of  America  to  this  problem.  We  are  developing 
an  upright,  one-year  variety  of  cane  which  will  make  the  problem  of  cutting  by 
machine  easier. ' ' 

Ultimately  the  planters  will  be  forced  to  develop  labor-saving  machinery  or  sell 
out  to  the  Japanese,  says  Timmons. 

Planters  and  plantation  men  told  him,  he  says,  that  no  machine  could  be  made  to 
cut  cane,  and  pointed  out  to  him  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  employment  of  such 
a  machine. 

''But  the  most  brilliant  plantation  manager  on  the  islands,"  says  Timmons,  "sup- 
ports my  contention  that  it  can  and  must  be  done. " 

C.  F.  Eckart,  for  seven  years  manager  of  Olaa  plantation  on  the  island  of  Haw^aii,, 
and  for  25  years  in  the  sugar  business  as  an  agricultural  chemist,  stands  at  the  top 
of  plantation  managers.  When  he  took  charge  of  Olaa  plantation,  where  rains  are 
heavy,  the  cost  of  cutting  weeds  to  keep  them  from  smothering  out  the  new  growth 
of  cane  after  cutting  was  enormous.  He  started  a  careful  line  of  scientific  experimen- 
tation, with  this  result. 

A  paper  mill  built  by  him  makes  a  coarse,  brown  paper  of  the  "bagasse, ' '  or  fibrous 
pulp  from  the  sugar  mills.  This  paper  is  treated  with  asphalt  and  is  spread  over  the 
entire  field  after  the  cane  cutting.  The  weeds  can  not  penetrate  it  and  they  die; 
the  young  shoots  of  cane  force  their  way  through  and  thrive  without  a  weed  to  sap  the 
strength  of  the  soil.  More,  the  strength  of  the  paper  is  gauged  to  a  nicety  so  that  only 
the  strongest  cane  shoots  can  pierce  it,  and  thus  a  thinning  is  avoided  and  the  proper 
stand  insured . 

This  achievement,  possibly  unequaled  ia  agricultural  history,  has  saved  52  per  cent 
of  the  cost  of  caretaking  labor — which  was  58  per  cent  of  the  entire  labor  cost  both  on 
the  plantation  and  in  the  sugar  mills. 

Further,  it  has  increased  the  crop  of  Olaa  plantation  approximately  half  a  million 
dollars  a  year,  figuring  on  5-cent  raw  sugar. 

"It  is  inevitable  that  cane  will  be  cut  and  loaded  by  machines,"  Eckart  said  to- 
me. "Our  planters  have  been  among  the  most  progressive  in  the  world.  They 
have  done  wonders  in  the  mills,  and  in  scientific  crop  improvement.  I  feel,  how- 
ever, that  the  matter  of  cane-cutting  and  cane-loading  machinery  has  been  approached 
only  in  a  desultory  manner. ' ' 

Mr.  Raker.  That  article  is  a  quotation  from  Mr.  C.  F.  Eckart 
of  the  Olaa  plantation.     Is  that  the  one  where  you  saw  the  machines  ? 


758  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wright.  No;  Olaa  is  the  plantation  where  they  are  using  the 
paper  mulching. 

Supplementary  Statement  Submitted  by  George  W.  Wright,  Honolulu, 

Hawaii. 

The  first  public  announcement  of  the  proposed  action  was  made  in  the  Star  Bulletin 
on  the  afternoon  of  April  20,  1921,  in  an  article  entitled  "Governor  takes  action  to 
have  Congress  allow  Havv^aii  to  import  labor."  Under  a  box  containing  the  text  of 
the  proposed  act  is  the  following  subhead,  "Requests  legislature  to  memorialize  Con- 
gress to  permit  bringing  in  orientals  and  asks  appointment  of  an  emergency  commis- 
sion to  go  to  Washington."  Attention  is  called  to  the  definite  use  of  the  word  "ori- 
entals" in  view  of  Judge  Raker's  question  as  to  whether  the  local  papers  had  carried 
the  impression  that  such  was  the  object  of  the  resolution. 

The  following  clipping  from  that  article  shows  that  the  resolution  was  introduced 
in  both  houses  that  same  day,  the  20th: 

"It  is  requested  by  the  governor  that  the  proposed  resolution  be  submitted  to  the 
same  house  committee  which  now  has  under  consideration  the  concurrent  resolution 
introduced  recently  by  Representative  Norman  K.  Lyman,  of  Hawaii,  requesting 
Congress  to  permit  the  immigration  of  25,000  Chinese  laborers  for  the  agricultural 
industries. 

"Known  as  senate  bill  128,  the  administration  measure  creating  an  emergency 
labor  commission  submitted  to  the  two  houses  in  joint  session  to-day  by  Gov.  McCarthy, 
passed  the  senate  on  first  reading  shortly  before  noon  and  was  placed  on  the  order  of 
the  day  for  second  reading  to-morrow." 

On  the  following  day,  April  21,  under  a  suspension  of  the  rules,  the  senate  bill 
passed  second  reading,  coming  up  for  third  and  final  reading  on  the  following  day, 
the  22d,  as  shown  by  the  clipping  from  the  Star  Bulletin  of  the  issue  of  April  21, 1921. 
In  the  same  issue  of  the  paper  appears  the  record  of  the  action  of  the  house  committee 
in  reporting  out  the  resolution  with  a  favorable  recommendation  on  the  21st,  final 
action  being  deferred  until  the  following  day,  the  22d. 


Senate  Unanimous  for  Labor  Mission  to  Go  to  Capital. 

Under  suspension  of  the  rules,  senate  bill  128,  creating  an  emergency  labor  commis- 
sion, passed  the  senate  to-day  on  second  reading  and  comes  up  for  third  and  final 
reading  to-morrow.     There  appears  to  be  no  question  of  its  unanimous  adoption. 

It  developed  in  debate  on  the  floor  to-day  that  the  reason  the  concurrent  resolution 
accompanying  the  bill  was  introduced  in  the  house  and  the  bill  in  the  senate  lies  in 
the  opposition  of  Representative  Hoopale.  The  house  having  adopted  a  rule  that  no 
more  bills  shall  be  introduced  without  unanimous  consent,  Hoopale  was  able  to  block 
the  bill.  When  received  from  the  senate,  however,  only  a  simple  majority  is  required 
to  pass  it. 

House  Approves  Move  to  Import  Labor  to  Hawaii. 

The  committee  on  agriculture  of  the  house  of  representatives  this  afternoon  reported 
favorably  on  the  resolution  introduced  yesterday  by  Representative  Norman  K.  layman 
requesting  CongToss  to  permit  the  importation  of  a  certain  number  of  persons,  including 
■orientals,  into  Hawaii  to  relieve  the  existing  labor  shortage. 

It  was  recommended  that  the  resolution  be  adopted.  At  the  request  of  the  intro- 
ducer final  action  on  the  measure  was  deferred  until  to-morrow.  This  is  the  resolution 
;submitted  with  the  governor's  message  presented  yesterday  to  the  legislature. 

(Whereupon  the  committee  adjourned  until  Wednesday,  August  3; 
1921,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.) 


labor  problems  in  hawaii.  759 

Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Wednesday,  August  3,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  want  to  make  the  suggestion  that  we 
have  had  a  good  deal  of  testimony,  and  as  soon  as  possible  I  would 
like  to  raise  the  legal  questions  involved  in  the  resolution. 

The  Chairman.  You  remember,  however,  that  two  delegates  came 
from  the  Trades  Council  of  Honolulu.  We  undertook  to  finish  yes- 
terday, but  did  not  quite  finish,  and  I  think  it  would  be  well  to  near 
the  second  man  this  morning.  After  that  I  presume  Mr.  Gompers 
wants  to  be  heard,  and  after  that  I  know  of  no  other  witnesses. 
Then  will  come  the  matter  of  the  legal  phase  of  the  resolution  and 
the  matter  of  the  substitutes,  which  we  can  handle  either  in  open 
meeting  or  in  a  business  meeting. 

Mr.  Free.  Let  us  have  a  business  meeting  and  have  some  speed, 
Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  now  hear  Mr.  Chilton. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  WILMOT  R.  CHILTON,  EEPEESEHTING 
THE  CENTRAL  LABOR  COUNCIL  OF  HONOLULU,  TERRITORY 
OF  HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  State  your  address  and  occupation. 

Mr.  Chilton.  Honolulu,  Territory  of  Hawaii,  and  I  am  a  barber 
by  trade. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  have  you  lived  in  the  islands? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  was  born  in  Honolulu  on  February  4,  1881. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  lived  there  all  your  life  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir;  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  ever  left. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  a  family  there? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  were  selected  as  a  delegate  to  come  on  to 
present  statements  to  this  committee  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  To  confer  with  ofiicials  of  American  Federation  of 
Labor. 

The  Chairman.  By  whom  were  you  selected? 

Mr.  Chilton.  By  the  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 
I  present  my  certificate  of  credentials. 

(The  certificate  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  July  5,  1921. 
To  whom  it  may  concern: 

This  is  to  certify  that  Brothers  G.  W.  Wright  and  W.  R.  Chilton  are  duly  authorized 
to  represent  the  Honolulu  Central  Labor  Union,  of  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  and  are  dele- 
gated to  speak  for  organized  labor  in  this  Territory. 

[seal.]  Geo.  W.  Wright,  President. 

EsTELLE  Baker,    Vice  President. 
C.  A.  ViCKERY,  Secretary. 
W.  R.  Chilton,  Treasurer. 
{Officers  of  Honolulu  Central  Labor  Union.) 


760  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  How  was  that  selection  made  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  selection  was  made  in  this  way,  that  if  it  shoukl 
become  necessary  to  send  on  an}^  delegates,  the  chairman  had  the 
power  to  appoint  the  delegates  and  then  those  delegates  had  to  be 
approved  by  the  council. 

The  Chairman.  The  council  consists  of  how  many  members  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  In  the  neighborhood  of  45  or  50. 

The  Chairman.  The  approval  had  to  be  by  the  entire  council  then  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  The  president  had  the  power  to  name  the  delegates  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir;  he  had  the  power  to  name  the  delegates. 

The  Chairman.  Was  that  done  by  a  resolution? 

Mr.  Chilton.  It  was  done  by  a  resolution  in  one  meeting,  and  then 
the  president  appointed  the  delegates.  Then  at  the  next  meeting  it 
was  confirmed  by  the  council. 

The  Chairman.  Was  there  a  pretty  good  attendance  at  the  meeting 
when  it  was  confirmed  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  About  35. 

The  Chairman.  So  that  you  and  our  friend,  Mr.  Wright;  were 
appointed  by  the  president  of  the  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  And  the  appointments  were  confirmed  by  the 
council  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Was  there  anything  said  then  about  the  means  of 
transportation  and  expenses  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  we  were  to  make  solicitations — that  is,  solicit 
means  and  get  contributions. 

The  Chairman.  The  names  of  the  menbers  of  that  committee  were 
given  yesterday  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  that  is  the  committee,  but  I  am  not  positive. 

The  Chairman.  That  committee  went  out  around  town  to  raise 
money  to  start  you  two  delegates  to  Washington,  D.  C.  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  took  part  in  that? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Was  there  much  desire  on  the  part  of  other  mem- 
bers to  make  the  trip  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Some  of  them  wanted  to  make  the  trip. 

The  Chairman.  Various  members  wanted  to  make  it  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Will  you  find  out  his  age  ? 

The  Chairman.  He  gave  the  date  of  his  birth.  What  is  your 
racial  stock  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  American. 

The  Chairman.  Your  father  lived  in  the  islands  how  long? 

Mr.  Chilton.  He  went  there  in  1879  and  is  there  yet. 

The  Chairman.  How  did  you  come  to  go  among  the  Japanese  and 
solicit  funds  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  did  not  really  go  among  them,  but  they  looked  me 
up,  and  one  of  the  fellows  who  made  a  contribution  told  me  to  go 
down  to  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  that  he  thought 
they  would  make  a  contribution. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  name  of  that  man? 


LABOK    Cilor.LKMS    ll\     llAVVAil.  761 

Mr.  Chilton.  So  I  went  to  see  Mr.  Onodera. 

The  Chairman.  He  is  the  secretary  of  the  Japanese  Chamber  of 
Commerce  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  went  to  him? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir.  I  saw  him  and  he  told  me  that  he  would 
take  it  up  with  the  contribution  committee  of  the  Japanese  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  that  I  should  come  back  the  following  day.  That 
I  did,  and  he  told  me  that  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce  could 
not  make  a  contribution,  but  that  the  individual  members  of  the 
chamber  of  commerce  could.  He  said  that  the  Japanese  Chamber  of 
Commerce  could  not  do  it  because  they  were  afraid  that  the  Haole 
Chamber  of  Commerce  might  find  it  out  and  get  after  them. 

The  Chairman.  What  chamber  of  commerce  is  that? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  were  afraid  that  the  Haole  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce might  find  it  out.     That  is  the  American  Chamber  of  Com- 
,  merce. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  a  Japanese  word? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir;  that  is  a  Hawaiian  word.  He  said  that  I 
could  go  to  the  individual  members  of  the  Japanese  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  to  inform  them  that  it  would  be  all  right;  that  they 
could  telephone  Mr.  Onodera.  I  told  him  I  thought  that  was  a  lot 
of  trouble,  and  I  did  not  go  to  any  of  those  men. 

The  Chairman.  How  was  this  money  that  was  received  from  the 
Japanese  raised  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  It  was  raised  from  different  people  and  associations. 
I  can  not  divulge  their  names,  because  it  is  confidential  between  them 
and  myself. 

The  Chairman.  You  know,  do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir;  I  know. 

The  Chairman.  You  know  who  the  individuals  and  associations 
were  ?  » 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  I  was  about  to  ask  you  who  made  the  largest  con- 
tribution. 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  could  not  divulge  that,  because  it  would  be  a 
breach  of  promise  with  me,  and  I  would  not  want  to  do  that.  I  can 
say  that  we  got  a  little  over  $1,500  from  the  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  You  feel  that  you  do  not  want  to  tell  the  com- 
mittee who  made  the  largest  individual  contribution  from  among 
the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir;  I  feel  this  way,  that  it  was  confidential 
between  them  and  myself,  and  that  I  would  be  breaking  a  confidence. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  willing  to  say  whether  it  was  received 
from  a  society  or  an  individual  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  would  be  breaking  a  confidence. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  willing  to  say  what  was  the  largest  sum 
received  from  any  organization  there  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir;  I  could  not  say  that. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  willing  to  say  what  the  smallest  sum  was  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir;  I  would  not  be  willing  to  say  what  was  the 
largest  or  what  was  the  smallest. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  willing  to  say  whether  the  contributions 
ran  down  to  as  low  as  50  cents  ? 


762  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  ran  down  to  as  low  as  $1  contributions. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  receive  contributions  as  large  as  $100 
from  any  one  outfit  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  would  not  want  to  say  how  high  it  was. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  discuss  that  a  little  later.  You  are  a  long- 
time resident  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  discussion  there  all  the  time  as  between 
foreigners  and  citizens  ?     Do  they  call  the  Americans  foreigners  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  said  that  the  Japanese  claimed  that  they 
were  afraid  of  the  foreign  chamber  of  commerce. 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  is  what  they  call  the  American  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  They  call  it  the  Haole  Chamber  of  Commerce.  That 
does  not  exactly  mean  foreign,  but  white  man  or  foreigner. 

The  Chairman.  I  can  not  get  that. 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  is  the  translation. 

The  Chairman.  Of  course,  all  the  white  men  are  not  citizens,  and 
all  the  men  that  are  not  of  white  blood  are  not  aliens. 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir;  but  you  do  not  have  to  be  an  alien  to  be  a 
Haole. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  he  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  There  is  a  Haole  over  there.  Mr.  Mead  is  a  Haole, 
and  he  has  been  there  a  long  time. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  been  there  a  long  time,  and  I  wish  you 
would  give  to  the  committee  your  views  as  to  the  situation.  Give 
us  your  views  frankly  of  the  situation. 

•    Mr.  Chilton.  I  would  rather  answer  questions,  because  then  I 
would  know  exactly  what  the  committee  wanted. 

The  Chairman.  We  are  trying  to  develop  the  condition  in  Hawaii 
generally  as  between  the  races,  first.  You  have  seen  the  Japanese 
coming  in  all  the  time  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes, 'sir;  I  saw  them  when  they  first  started  to  come 
30  years  ago.  I  was  just  a  kid  then.  I  remember  their  coming,  and 
we  have  large  numbers  there  now  all  over  the  country. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  seen  the  picture  brides  coming  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir;  I  have  seen  them  coming. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  seen  the  Japanese  going  into  business  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  interfere  with  your  business  any  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  interfere  with  everybody's  business. 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  Chilton,  what  is  your  impression  about  the  growing 
power  of  the  Japanese  ?  Is  their  power  increasing  in  Hawaii  ?  For 
instance,  in  the  matter  of  numbers,  are  they  increasing  more  rapidly 
than  the  other  races  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  they  propagate  very  fast. 

Mr.  Box.  Are  you  acquainted  with  the  census  reports  showing  the 
population  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  am  somewhat  familiar  with  them. 

Mr.  Box.  What  do  you  understand  to  be  the  present  Japanese 
population  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  About  110,000,  or  about  43  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  islands. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   11^   HAWAII.  763 

Mr.  Box.  These  figures  place  it  higher  than  that.  What  is  the 
Portuguese  population  ? 

Mr.  Chiltox.  I  do  not  know  what  their  population  is. 

Mr.  Box.  What  is  the  Hawaiian  population  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know  that. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  know  whether  the  Hawaiian  population  is  in- 
creasing or  decreasing? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  believe  it  is  decreasing. 

Mr.  Box.  It  has  been  decreasing  for  the  last  100  years  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  For  the  last  40  years. 

Mr.  Box.  You  do  not  go  further  back  than  that? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  What  about  the  attitude  of  the  Japanese  and  their  dis- 
position to  be  solid  as  a  race  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  are  very  solid  as  a  race.     I  can  say  that  much. 

Mr.  Box.  They  have  a  kind  of  community  or  racial  life  of  their  own 
right  there  in  the  midst  of  the  other  population  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  associate  only  with  themselves. 

Mr.  Box.  Were  you  there  when  they  had  the  big  strike  in  the 
islands  last  year  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  know  whether  or  not,  in  the  handling  of  that 
strike — and  I  am  talking  about  the  Japanese  and  not  any  other  race 
of  people — they  dealt  with  their  employers  and  others  largely  through 
the  Japanese  consuls  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir;  I  do  not  know  how  they  dealt  with  them. 
I  have  a  recollection  that  the  Japanese  consul  was  mixed  up  in  it. 

Mr.  Box.  You  do  not  know  whether  they  did  or  not  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  You  do  not  know  that  that  is  true  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  On  second  consideration,  I  think  it  is. 

Mr.  Box.  What  is  the  feeling  of  the  people  over  there  about  what 
is  going  to  be  the  outcome  of  the  Hawaiian  race  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  feeling  over  there  was  that  if  they  could  get 
coolies  the  Japanese  would  push  us  off  the  islands  unless  there  was 
something  done  or  unless  the  planters  and  corporations  there  would 
employ  about  50  per  cent  of  the  citizen  labor  in  the  skilled  and  semi- 
skilled trades  and  the  public  utility  companies  should  employ  100  per 
cent  citizen  labor. 

Mr.  Box.  You  say  that  if  they  could  get  coolie  labor  the  Japanese 
would  crowd  you  ofi  the  islands  or  out  of  the  industries;  how  would 
that  be  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  work  so  much  cheaper  than  we  do. 

Mr.  Box.  Would  the  bringing  in  of  more  Chinese  coolies  make  the 
Japanese  more  dangerous;  and  if  so,  how? 

Mr.  Chilton.  It  would,  I  believe,  if  provisions  were  not  made  that 
would  protect  citizen  labor  in  this  bill. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  what  I  want  to  get  at.  I  am  not  antagonizing 
you,  and  I  want  you  to  understand  that,  but  how  would  the  coming 
of  Chinese  make  the  Japanese  more  dangerous  ?  I  want  to  get  your 
viewpoint  on  that. 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  believe  that  the  Japanese  would  leave  the  plan- 
tations. They  work  like  a  ratchet.  I  do  not  believe  they  ever  slip 
backwards,  but  they  always  go  ahead.     You  know  how  a  ratchet 


764  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

works:  Every  time  you  shove  the  ratchet,  the  pin  stays  put,  and  wheiT 
a  Japanese  gets  a  raise  from  the  plantation,  he  will  not  go  back  any 
more.  Once  he  gets  off  the  plantation  and  gets  to  be  a  carpenter  or 
something  else  around  there,  the  chances  are  that  he  will  not  go  back 
to  the  plantation.     He  wants  something  better. 

Mr.  Box.  The  Japanese  are  masterful  in  their  attitude  and  dis- 
position ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr. Box.  More  so  than  any  other  race  there  except  the  Americans? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir;  they  are  also  giving  the  Americans  a 
hard  run. 

Mr.  Box.  You  say  you  know  when  the  Japanese  first  came  there. 
Do  you  know  what  brought  them  there  at  first,  or  who  brought 
them  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  know  there  was  a  petition  being  circulated  to  get 
Japanese  laborers.     I  was  only  a  kid  then. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  read  the  history  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Relative  to  the  Japanese  coming  there? 

Mr.  Box.  Yes. 

Mr.  CinLTON.  I  have  read  that  a  treaty  was  enacted  between  the 
Hawaiian  Government  at  that  time  and  the  Government  of  Japans 
to  bring  Japanese  into  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Box.  What  year  was  that? 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  was  about  30  years  ago. 

Mr.  Box.  About  1885? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Something  like  that.     It  was  away  back. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  know  how  many  Japanese  came  then? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir;  but  there  were  large  numbers  of  Japanese- 
coming  in. 

Mr.  Box.  Shiploads  of  them? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  remember  any  hostility  that  arose  among  your 
people  with  reference  to  sending  in  Chinese  ?  Was  there  ever  any- 
hostility  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  islands  towards  the 
Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  None  that  I  know  of. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  have  any  recollection  of  your  Territory,  or  of 
the  Hawaiian  Government  prior  to  annexation,  taking  any  steps  tO' 
stop  Chinese  from  coming  into  Hawaii?  Do  you  know  anything- 
about  that  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  believe  there  were  some  steps  taken. 

Mr.  Box.  I  am  talking  about  the  time  before  annexation. 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir;  by  the  Hawaiian  Government  in  the  early 
nineties  or  the  late  eignties. 

Mr.  Box.  Was  it  in  1886? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  it  was  in  1886  or  1887,  but  I  am  not  positive- 
about  that. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  you  hear  any  discussion  at  any  time  in  the  Territory 
about  the  United  vStates  stipulating  in  the  annexation  act  that 
Chinese  must  be  excluded  from  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  T  know  that  there  was  a  Chinese  exclusion  act  at  the- 
time  our  country  was  annexed. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  you  know  that  that  was  a  part  of  the  annexation^ 
act  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  765 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir;  I  knew  that. 

The  Chairman.  The  United  States  passed  the  Geary  Act  about  1888  ? 

Mr.  Box.  What  I  have  reference  to  is  the  provision  in  the  act  of 
;annexation. 

The  Chairman.  The  United  States  passed  an  exclusion  act,  and 
that  was  followed  by  a  Chinese  exclusion  act  by  tne  monarchy  in 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Then  came  the  Republic  of  Hawaii  with  the  ex- 
clusion of  Japanese.     That  was  by  the  Republic? 

Mr.  Box.  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Then  came  annexation,  with  a  stipulation  in  the 
articles  of  annexation  or  the  enabling  act  barring  the  Chinese. 

Mr.  Box.  Yes;  saying  that  they  should  never  be  admitted  except 
under  the  terms  under  which  they  were  admitted  into  the  United 
States,  or  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  think  that  is  section  101. 

Mr.  Box.  I  have  the  exact  language  quoted  in  a  statement  that 
I  made  the  other  day. 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  insert  it  in  the  record? 

Mr.  Box.  Yes;  I  would  like  to  get  it.  It  was  right  after  Mr. 
Oxnard's  statement. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  to  admit  them  now,  would  be  to 
;amend  the  enabling  act. 

Mr.  Box.  This  is  quoted  from  the  act: 

There  shall  be  no  further  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  except 
iipon  such  conditions  as  are  now  or  may  hereafter  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of  the  United 
States;  and  no  Chinese  by  reason  of  anything  herein  contained  shall  be  allowed  to 
enter  the  United  States  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  next  to  the  last  proviso  of  the  enabling  act. 

Mr.  Box.    I  think  so.     It  is  the  latter  part  of  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  If  we  passed  this  resolution,  in  your  judgement  would 
that  be  such  an  amendment  of  the  act  of  annexation  as  would  open 
the  way  for  Chinese  to  come  in  ? 

Mr.  Box.  There  would  have  to  be  some  modification  of  this  act  or 
the  law  to  which  this  act  would  apply. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  question  I  am  asking  is  would  this  resolution, 
-So.  171,  be  such  an  amendment  of  the  annexation  act  as  would  per- 
iTiit  Chinese  to  come  in  now,  as  contemplated  by  the  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Box.  I  am  inclined  to  think  so,  but  the  other  members  of  the 
committee  are  just  as  competent  to  pass  on  that  question  as  I  am.  I 
want  to  call  especial  attention  to  this  provision : 

There  shall  be  no  further  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the  Hawaiian  Islands  except 
upon  such  conditions  as  are  now  or  may  hereafter  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Wilson.  This  would  be  a  law  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Box.  This  says  'laws  of  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Wilson.  A  joint  resolution  is  a  law,  so  that  I  suppose  this 
joint  resolution  would  cover  it. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  take  that  up  a  little  later. 

Mr.  Box.  Since  the  question  has  been  raised,  I  want  to  say  that 
my  view  of  what  was  contemplated  is  that  the  same  exclusion  laws 
that  apply  to  the  United  States  should  apply  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 


766  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAIL 

That  was  evidently  in  the  mind  of  the  man  who  wrote  it,  although 
it  is  open  to  a  diflPerent  construction. 

Mr.  Raker.  Where  did  your  father  come  from? 

Mr.  Chilton.  From  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  you  graduate  from  the  Hawaiian  schools  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  From  the  Honolulu  High  School. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  business  have  you  been  engaged  in  besides 
barbering  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  have  been  a  salesman  for  the  von  Hamm  Young 
Co.  (Ltd.) ;  I  was  a  salesman  for  the  Office  Supply  Co.,  and  was  a 
motor-cycle  officer. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  long  have  you  followed  the  occupation  of  a 
barber  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  learned  that  when  I  was  going  to  school. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  you  have  been  following  it  off  and  on  ever  since  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  have  been  following  it  most  of  the  time. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  barbers  have  a  union,  have  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  they  have  a  union. 

Mr.  Raker.  About  how  many  barbers  are  there,  or  how  many 
American  white  barbers  are  there,  excluding  the  Japanese  and 
Chinese?  How  many  barbers  are  there  altogether  in  Honolulu, 
excluding  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  could  not  say;  perhaps  about  40. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  long  has  it  been  since  the  Japanese  have  gone- 
into  the  barber  business  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  As  far  as  I  know,  as  early  as  the  nineties. 

Mr.  Raker.  Ai'e  they  now  in  all  gainful  occupations  in  the  islands — 
the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  are  merchants,  laundrymen,  barbers,  and  store- 
keepers ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  there  are  over  110  Japanese  barber  shops  on 
the  island  of  Oahu  and  no  more  than  a  dozen  American  barber  shops. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  a  union  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  the  Japanese  have  a  union? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  have  an  association  of  their  own. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  any  of  the  Chinese  have  barber  shops  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  they  have  barber  shops,  but  they  are  a  little 
dift'erent  from  our  shops,  and  are  very  scarce. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  take  it  from  what  you  have  said  and  from  what  the 
rest  of  the  witnesses  have  said  that  until  the  last  few  years  the 
Japanese  have  not  gone  extensively  into  the  other  businesses,  outside  j 
of  the  rice,  pineapple,  and  sugar  business. 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  understand  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  Outside  of  those  businesses  the  Japanese  have  not 
heretofore  gone  extensively  into  those  businesses,  such  as  merchants, 
barbers,  laundrymen,  etc.  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  For  the  last  five  or  six  years  they  have  gone  in 
extensively. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  before  that  they  were  mostly  occupied  in  the 
fields,  in  the  rice  fields  and  in  the  pineapple  orchards — is  that  right? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  there  were  not  so  many  in  the  rice  fields,  but 
there  were  quite  a  few  Chinese  in  the  rice  fields.     They,  the  Japanese,. 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  767 

have  small  stores;  they  are  carpenters,  bricklayers,  painters,  etc.; 
they  follow  all  the  crafts  except  that  there  are  no  molders. 

Mr.  Raker.  Was  the  principal  number  of  Japanese  engaged  in  the 
cane  and  sugar  fields  before  the  last  five  years  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  had  a  great  many  in  the  fields  prior  to  six 
years  ago. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  did  you  mean  by  saying  that  you  did  not  want 
the  chamber  of  commerce  to  know  about  your  coming  over  here  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  did  not  say  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right.     Then  about  this  contribution. 

The  Chairman.  He  did  not  say  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  did  not  say  all  of  it  but  he  said  a  part  of  it. 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  said  that  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce 
did  not  want  the  American  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  know. 

Mr.  Raker.  Why? 

Mr.  CiHLTON.  They  did  not  tell,  me  the  reason  why.  I  believe 
they  would  willingly  give  the  money  but  they  did  not  want  anybody 
to  find  it  out. 

Mr.  Raker.  What,  in  your  mind,  could  have  been  the  objection 
of  these  men,  who  were  willing  to  contribute,  to  the  American  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  knowing  what  was  being  done  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  the  big  Japanese  stores  there  do  a  large 
business  with  Japan,  and  they  very  likely  sell  through  the  agencies 
of  the  difi'erent  plantations  to  the  plantations.  A  Japanese  will  not 
buy  anything  but  his  own  product.  If  you  have  Hawaiian  rice 
selling  at  4 J  cents  and  Japanese  rice  selling  at  13  cents  a  pound  he 
will  buy  Japanese  rice;  he  will  not  buy  Hawaiian  rice.  In  that  way 
they  get  their  stufl^  from  their  own  country,  and  they  do  not  patronize 
our  industries  at  all. 

Mr.  Raker.  When  did  the  first  objection  to  the  Japanese  come 
from  the  sugar  planters,  if  at  all  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  I  could  not  say  that;  I  do  not  know  when  it 
came;  I  am  not  informed  about  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  they  have  any  trouble  with  them  before  the  strike 
of  1920?  Did  the  planters  have  any  trouble  with  the  Japanese 
before  the  strike  of  1920? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  they  with  the  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No.  I  think  there  was  some  kind  of  a  strike  years 
ago  by  the  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  with  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  came  over  here  a  long  distance.  Just  what  did 
you  come  here  to  tell  the  committee  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  really  did  not  start  here  to  tell  the  committee  any- 
thing; we  came  here  to  confer  with  the  ofiicers  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor;  we  did  not  come  here  to  tell  the  committee 
anything. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  ask  you  about  that.  What  was  the 
purpose  of  the  conference  ?     What  did  you  want  to  learn  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Why,  we  just  wanted  to  put  our  side  of  the  question 
up  to  them;  that  is  all.  Anything  they  wanted  to  know  we  would 
tell  them. 


768  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Personally,  you  wanted  to  confer  with  them  as  to 
the  proposed  admission  of  orientals  or  other  labor  to  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  want  to  consult  them  about  affiliation 
with  the  Filipino  labor  organization  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  not  that  I  know  of. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  have  any  knowledge  of  that  yourself? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  none  whatever. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  want  to  talk  with  them  about  the  Japanese 
labor  organization  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Not  that  I  know  of,  no. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  heard  this  thing  discussed  in  the  Central 
Labor  Council — the  application  of  the  Filipino  labor  organization 
for  affiliation  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No.  I  have  only  been  a  member  of  the  Central 
Labor  Council  since  March  of  this  year. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  consult  with  the  officers  of  the  federation 
when  you  got  there  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Oh,  yes. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  assist  Mr.  Wright  in  the  preparation  of 
his  written  statement  to  this  committee  ? 

Mr.  Ci-hlton.  No;  he  did  that  all  by  himself. 

The  Chairman.  Was  that  done  after  he  got  here  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Most  of  it  was  done  in  Honolulu,  but  I  think  he  did 
some  of  it  here. 

The  Chairman.  It  represents  his  views  and  observations  more  than 
yours  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  it  whatever. 

The  Chairman.  Was  it  submitted  to  you  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  it  was  not,  but  I  knew  what  was  in  it;  I  read  it. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  have  anything  to  do  with  the  preparation 
of  the  cablegram  that  was  sent  to  Mr.  Wallace  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Nothing  whatever. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  have  anything  to  do  with  the  statement 
issued  a  few  days  later  correcting  some  of  the  charges  or  modifying 
them  in  a  certain  way  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  none  whatever. 

The  Chairman.  That  did  not  come  before  you  at  all  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  that  was  none  of  my  business. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  a  member  of  the  Central  Labor  Council  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  am  the  treasurer  and  I  have  to  pay  for  it;  that  is 
all  I  do. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  have  you  been  a  member  of  the  central 
labor  council? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Since  February  or  March,  I  think  March  11,  but  I  am 
not  sure.  I  would  not  make  a  sure  statement,  but  either  the  latter 
part  of  February  or  the  ffi:-st  part  of  March. 

The  Chairman.  As  treasurer  you  pay  out  the  funds  on  vouchers  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  make  checks  on  vouchers;  yes. 

The  Chairman.  Was  the  fund  that  was  raised  from  the  Japanese 
in  Honolulu  to  send  you  and  Mr.  Wright  on  reported  to  the  central 
labor  council  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  All  funds  that  come  from  members  are  reported,  but 
funds  that  come  from  nonmembers  are  not  recorded. 


LABOR  PEOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  769 

The  Chairman.  Funds  of  that  kind  are  not  recorded  ? 
Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

The  Chairman.  Was  it  recorded  there  at  all  that  fifteen  hundred 
and  some  odd  dollars  had  been  contributed  for  this  trip  ? 
Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  central  labor  council  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  dividing  of  that  money  between  you  and  Mr.  Wright  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  none  whatever. 

The  Chairman.  You  and  he  fixed  that  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  each  took  half? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  And  there  is  some  more  money  being  collected 
over  there  now  1 

Mr.  Chilton.  Our  members  are  collecting  money. 

The  Chairman.  The  members  of  the  central  labor  council? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  how  they  are  getting  along  with  it  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  I  do  not  know;  not  yet.     We  know  there  is 
some  money  coming  to  us;  that  is  all. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  they  will  collect  as  much  as  the 
Japanese  contributed? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  will  or  not. 

The  Chairman.  As  treasurer  of  the  central  labor  council,  do  you 
pay  out  the  money  that  is  paid  for  getting  out  the  labor  paper  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  get  in  the  money ,  whatever  money  comes 
in  to  you  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Do  the  Japanese  pay  for  their  250  or  300  copies ; 
or  whatever  the  number  is  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  pay  for  them  in  cash. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  pay  for  them  by  the  week? 

Mr.  Chilton.  When  they  get  them,  yes. 

The  Chairman.  Once  a  week. 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  but  sometimes  they  skip  a  week  and  pay  once 
in  two  weeks. 

The  Chairman.  How  much  do  they  pay  a  week  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  pay  $12.50. 

Mr.  Free.  That  is,  it  is  paid  in  one  lump  sum? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  VvThen  you  go  back  will  you  have  a  report  to  make 
to  the  central  labor  council? 

Mr.  Chilton.  What  kind  of  a  report  ? 

The  CHiMRMAN.  In  regard  to  this  situation. 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  just  what  we  done  here;  that  is  all. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  come  along  as  financial  agent  of  the 
delegation  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  anything  to  say  about  the  resolution? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Just  what  I  did  say,  that  if  Congress  should  allow 
Chinese  coolies  there,  there  should  be  some  provision  made  whereby 
the  skilled  and  semiskilled — that  is,  50  per  cent  should  be  citizen 
labor  and  the  public  utilities  should  have  100  per  cent  citizen  labor. 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 15 


770  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  In  your  lifetime  residence  in  Honolulu  have  you 
found  the  public  skating  along  and  trimming  along  between  the 
largest  population  and  the  others — the  Japanese,  for  instance  ? 

Mr.  CinLTON.  I  do  not  understand  you. 

The  Chairman,  Something  like  you  said  in  answer  to  Judge 
Raker,  that  one  reason  in  your  mind  why  the  Japanese  Chamber  of 
Commerce  did  not  want  the  American  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  know 
about  the  contribution  was  for  fear  some  of  the  Japanese  stores 
which  might  trade  with  the  plantations  would  not  want  it  known, 
or  something  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  is  my  idea. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  have  to  do  anything  of  that  kind  in  your 
business  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  have  much  business  with  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  None  whatever. 

The  Chairman.  Are  the  American  citizens  afraid  to  speak  out 
loud  about  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  not  that  I  know  of. 

The  Chairman.  Do  they  talk  about  them  much  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Quite  a  bit;  yes. 

Mr.  Box.  What  is  your  personal  view  about  the  propriety  of 
accepting  a  substantial  contribution  from  a  foreign  race  between  the 
members  of  which  and  your  own  race  there  is  this  kind  of  feeling? 
How  do  you  feel  about  that  ?  Do  you  feel  that  is  fully  justified  ?  I 
want  to  get  your  viewpoint. 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  thought  I  was  fully  justified  myself.  I  did  not 
come  over  here  to  lobby  for  the  Japanese  or  anybody  else. 

Mr.  Box.  What  must  have  been  the  view  of  the  Japanese  people 
when  they  wanted  to  help  finance  this  trip  and  wanted  to  keep  it  a 
secret  ?  Do  not  misunderstand  my  attitude.  I  just  want  to  get  your 
viewpoint. 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  suppose  they  wanted  to  use  us  if  they  could.  That 
is  very  likely. 

Mr.  Box.  And  you  gather  from  that  that  their  views  and  interest 
is  hostile  to  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Oh,  yes;  I  think  that. 

The  Chairman.  Did  any  of  them  say  that  to  you  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  they  do  not  say  much. 

The  Chairman.  I  know  they  do  not. 

Mr.  Chilton.  But  most  of  them  believe  that  on  account  of  the 
Chinese  exclusion  act  and  the  contract  labor  law  this  thing  will 
never  go  through.    That  is  what  most  of  the  Japanese  believe. 

The  Chairman.  The  Japanese  think  that  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  And  that  they  can  not  be  dislodged?  The 
Japanese  think  they  can  not  be  forced  out  of  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  is  the  idea  they  have. 

Mr.  Gomfers.  Mr.  Chilton,  did  any  officer  or  other  representative 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
ask  you  or  the  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu  or  Mr.  Wright  to 
come  to  the  mainland  for  the  purpose  of  protesting  against  the 
enactment  of  the  resolution  now  before  the  committee,  or  for  any 
other  purpose  ? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  771 

Mr.  Chilton.  Just  for  protesting  against  this  resolution  as  it  is 
at  present 

Mr.  GoMPERS  (interposing) .  Did  any  officer  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  or  any  other  representative 

Mr.  Free  (interposing).  I  suggest  that  he  be  permitted  to  answer 
the  question. 

Mr.  Chilton.  You  mean  any  officer  of  the  federation  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes. 

Mr.  CiULTON.  No;  they  did  not  ask  us  to  come  over.  We  feel  that 
as  Americans  we  had  that  liberty. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Can  you  tell  the  committee  how  the  ofhcers  or  repre- 
sentatives of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  came  to  know  that  a 
committee  was  coming  to  Washington  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  believe  they  were  notified  by  wire  from  Honolulu. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Do  you  know  of  any  connection  the  American 
Federation  of  I^abor,  or  its  officers,  had  in  any  way  with  the  solicita- 
tion of  funds  from  the  Japanese  or  from  any  others  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  None  whatever. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,-  the  federation  officers  on  the  mainland. 

Mr.  Chilton.  None  whatever. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Chilton,  I  am  a  little  bit  curious  to  know  how  you 
approached  Onodera.     You  went  directly  to  him? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  was  requested  to  go  to  him;  yes. 

Mr.  Free.  Who  requested  you  to  go  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  One  of  the  Japanese  merchants  there. 

Mr.  Free.  Where  did  this  thing  start,  the  matter  of  getting  money 
from  the  Japanese  ?  Was  it  discussed  in  your  central  labor  council 
first,  and  is  that  where  it  started  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  by  special  resolution.  We  did  not  make  any 
special  mention  of  who  we  were  going  to  get  money  from,  but  that  we 
were  going  to  get  contributions  from  anybody  and  everybody  and 
advertised  for  such. 

Mr.  Free.  And  you  were  one  of  those  selected  to  get  contributions  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  What  Jap  did  you  go  to  first? 

Mr.  Ciulton.  Well,  I  won't  give  his  name,  but  it  was  a  Japanese 
merchant,  and  he  told  me  to  go  to-^I  did  not  go  to  him,  but  he  met 
me  on  the  w^ay  to  the  fish  market,  when  I  was  going  to  buy  fish,  and 
he  asked  if  I  was  going  to  Washington,  and  I  told  h.im  yes. 

Mr.  Free.  Then  what  else  transpired? 

Mr.  Chilton.  He  asked  if  I  was  going  to  protest  agsinst  the 
importation  of  coolies  and  I  told  him  yes,  and  he  made  a  donation 
himself  and  told  me  to  go  to  see  Onodera,  the  secretary  of  the  Japanese 
Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Mr.  Free.  Then  you  v/ent  to  see  Onodera.  What  did  you  tell 
Onodera  ? 

The  Chairman.  Just  a  minute.     How  much  did  he  contribute  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  could  not  sa}^  exactly  how  much  he  contributed. 
I  would  not  want  to  say  those  things. 

The  Chairman.  But  you  have  said  a  Japanese  merchant  met  you 
and  contributed. 

Mr.  Cihlton.  Yes;  he  contributed. 


772  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  What  kind  of  a  store  did  he  have  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  he  had  a  big  store^  if  I  am  not  mistaken. 

The  Chairman.  A  dry  goods  store  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Dry  goods,  crockery,  etc. 

The  Chairman.  Did  he  have  American  trade  or  Japanese  trade  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Japanese  and  American  trade. 

Mr.  Free.  Then  at  his  suggestion  you  went  to  see  the  secretary 
of  the  Japanese  Chamber  of  Commerce  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  And  what  did  you  tell  him? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  told  him  what  my  mission  was  and  that  I  was  sent 
over  there. 

Mr.  Free.  Just  tell  us  the  words  used. 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  I  was  sent  over  to  see  him  and  that  I  understood 
they  might  make  some  contribution  toward  us  going  to  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

Mr.  Free.  Did  you  tell  him  what  you  were  going  to  do  at  Washing- 
ton, and  why  you  were  going  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  He  knew  why  we  were  going;  he  had  read  it  in  the 
papers.  He  told  me  to  come  around  the  next  morning,  and  he  would 
see  the  contribution  committee,  and  the  next  morning  he  would  let 
me  know  what  they  said. 

Mr  Free.  Had  you  been  telling  Mr.  Wright  what  was  going  on 
during  all  of  this  time  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  I  had  not. 

Mr.  Free.  Then  you  went  around  the  next  day  to  see  him? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  went  around  the  next  morning,  I  think  at  10 
o'clock. 

Mr.  Free.  And  what  did  he  say  then? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  he  told  me  that  the  Japanese  Chamber  of 
Commerce  as  a  body  could  not  make  any  contributions  because  they 
were  afraid  the  American  Chamber  of  Commerce  would  know  of  it, 
but  that  I  could  solicit  from  the  individual  members,  and  I  could 
request  them  to  ring  him  up  over  the  telephone  and  that  he  would 
O.  K.  the  proposition. 

Mr.  Free.  They  all  knew,  before  they  gave  any  money,  that  you 
were  coming  here  to  protest  against  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  it  was  in  all  the  papers. 

Mr.  Free.  Then  after  this  money  came  in  you  all  got  together, 
discussed  it,  and  divided  the  money  for  the  trip — is  that  true  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  just  Wright  and  I. 

Mr.  Free.  Weil,  the  other  members  of  your  Central  Labor  Council 
knew  of  the  money,  did  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Some  of  tiiem  may  h^ave  laiown  about  it.  This 
money  was  given  about  a  couple  of  days  before  we  left,  and  we  had  no 
meetings.  We  had  a  meeting  on,  I  think,  Friday,  and  we  left  the 
following  Tuesday,  and  under  the  enabling  resolution  which  the 
council  passed  we  were  authorized  to  accept  any  contributions  that 
were  offered. 

Mr.  Free.  You  are  the  treasurer  of  the  "Central  Labor  Council? 

Mr.  CiHLTON.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  And  you  are  also  in  the  barbers'  union  ?  Is  it  a  union 
or  lodge  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Union. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  773 

Mr.  Free.  And  you  hold  an  office  there  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  am  vice  president. 

Mr.  Free.  You  are  here  representing  the  Central  Labor  Council? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  am. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Wright  is  the  president  of  the  Central  Labor  Council  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  He  is. 

Mr.  Free.  Mr.  Wright  occupies  some  other  position.     Is  it  in  the 
machinists'  union  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  He  is  president  of  the  machinists'  union. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  and  Mr.  Wright  started  you  knew  that 
the  money  you  had  for  the  trip  came  from  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  all  you  had  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  about  $140  from  the  navy  yard  employees  and 
$36  from  barbers. 

The  Chairman.  And  it  amounted  to  fifteen  hundred  and  how  many 
dollars  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  About  SI, 535  or  $1,540,  plus  $140  plus  $36. 

The  Chairman.  You  divided  it  exactly  even  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes;  exactly  even. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  have  any  expense  before  you  started? 

Mr.  Chilton.  A  couple  of  suit  cases;  something  like  that. 

The  Chairman.  And  had  anybody  else  contributed  or  promised 
any  money  at  the  time  you  started  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Oh,  yes;  they  had  promised. 

The  Chairman.  But  there  was  no  cash  in  hand  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  There  was. 

The  Chairman.  Except  the  Japanese  money  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Navy  yard  employees'  money,  and  some  from  the 
barbers. 

The  Chairman.  Did  any  labor  union  contribute  any  money  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  navy  yard  workers  contributed    $140    before 
we  started. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  get  that  money  in  hand  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  So  the  Japanese  money  was  $1,535  less  than  the 
amount  contributed  by  the  navy  yard  workers  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  the  navy  yard  workers  was  about  $140. 

The  Chairman.  In  addition  to  the  Japanese  money  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  You  got  that,  too  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  the  barbers'  union  contribute  anything  ? 

Mr.  CiriLTON.  They  are  making  contributions  now.     Some  of  the 
individual  fellows  contributed  individually,  but  not  as  a  union. 

The  Chairman.  In  cash  money  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Before  you  started  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Then  you  had  a  little  more  money  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  that  was  not  a  union  contribution. 

The  Chairman.  I   got   the   impression    that   all    the   money   you 
started  with  was  the  $1,535  that  had  come  from  the  Japanese. 


774  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  plus  about  $140;  I  am  not  sure,  but  I  tbink 
it  was  $140  from  the  navy  yard  workers,  and  I  think  the  barbers 
gave  us  something  like  $36.  That  is  all  we  had;  nothing  else  out- 
side of  that. 

The  Chairman.  You  do  not  know  how  much  has  been  raised  over 
there  while  you  have  been  away  % 

Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  have  no  way  of  guessing  at  it? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  have  not. 

Mr.  Free.  What  do  you  mean  by  navy  yard  workers  %  Men  on 
Federal  jobs? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  men  at  the  Pearl  Harbor  Navy  Yard. 

Mr.  Free.  Employed  by  the  Government? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

Mr.  Free.  That  is  where  Mr.  Wright  is  employed,  is  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  He  is  in  the  machinists'  union  and  the  Federal 
workers  are  clerks  and  general  employees  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  Federal  workers  consist  of  all  crafts;  they  have 
31  or  32  different  crafts  down  there.  They  have  crafts  there  that 
are  only  employed  at  Pearl  Harbor,  there  being  no  necessity  of  hav- 
ing them  in  Honolulu.  They  are  working  on  submarines  and  things 
like  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  Had  you  learned  on  the  8th  day  of  July  that  House 
joint  resolution  171  had  been  ordered  reported  out  by  this  committee  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  heard  that  some  resoultion  was  ordered  reported 
out;  I  did  not  know  if  it  was  that  one. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  had  heard  that  a  resoultion  had  been  reported  out  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes,  we  received  our  credentials  July  5,  1921. 

Mr.  Raker.  Was  that  before  you  started? 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  started  on  July  12. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  I  want  to  know  is  this:  Had  it  been  reported 
in  Honolulu  when  you  left  that  the  resolution  for  which  the  com- 
mission stood  had  been  reported  out  by  the  committee  having  charge 
of  it  in  the  House  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  believe  we  heard  that  in  Honolulu;  yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  said  a  moment  ago  you  did  not  come  here  to 
appear  before  this  committee. 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  that  was  not  our  intention. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  did  you  come  f or  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  As  I  said,  to  confer  with  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  officials. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  did  you  happen  to  come  before  this  committee, 
you  and  Mr.  Wright  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Well,  they  put  us  before  this  committee. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  officials. 

Mr.  Raker.  After  you  got  here  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  After  we  got  here.  Mr.  Wallace  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  informed  us  that  arrangements  had  been  made 
for  our  appearance  before  this  committee;  we  were  reluctant  to  do  so, 
but  were  led  to  believe  that  the  committee  had  requested  our  presence. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  tell  the  officials  how  you  got  the  money 
to  come  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  775 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  we  did  not.     They  did  not  ask. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  say  a  word  about  that  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

Mr.  Box.  Was  there  any  promise  on  you  part  not  to  let  anybody 
know  that  the  Japanese  were  financing  you  to  that  extent  ? 

Mr.  CinLTON.  No;  it  was  strictly  confidential  between  them  and 
us  as  to  the  identity  of  the  contributors. 

Mr.  Box.  But  it  accidentally  got  out  over  here? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  it  was  understood  we  should  not  give  their 
names,  but  it  was  not  understood  we  could  not  say  the  Japanese 
financed  it,  but  that  we  could  not  give  the  names  of  the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Box.  In  other  words,  there  was  nothing  secret  about  the  fact 
that  the  Japanese  had  to  some  extent,  if  not  wholly,  financed  your 
expenses  thus  far  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

Mr.  Box.  That  was  no  secret? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  it  known  in  Hawaii  now  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  It  was  known  before. 

Mr.  Box.  Was  it  known  in  the  community  before  you  left? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  so;  I  do  not  kmow  how  much  of  it  was  known, 
because  we  did  not  advertise  it,  or  anything  like  that. 

Mr.  Free.  Why  did  Mr.  Wright  deny  it  when  I  asked  him  about  it 
first? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  you  and  Mr.  Wright  knew 
that  the  money  you  had  came  from  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Not  all,  but  pretty  near  all. 

Mr.  Free.  You  heard  him  yesterday  when  he  denied  that  he  got 
any  of  the  money  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  talk  over  with  the  officers  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  here  in  Washington  the  Japanese  situation  in 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  Mr.  Wright  spoke  something  and  I  might  have 
said  something.     I  do  not  remember  what  it  was,  though. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  discuss  with  them  as  to  whether  this  strike 
was  nationalistic  or  economic  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  we  discussed  that  it  was  economic. 

The  Chairman.  You  took  part  in  that? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  did  not  do  much  talking,  Mr.  Wright  did  the  talking. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  thmk  the  strike  was  nationalistic  or 
economic  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  it  was  started  on  an  economic  basis,  but  I 
think  it  wound  up  on  a  nationalistic  basis. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  solicit  any  money  from  the  Filipinos 
over  there  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  go  to  this  lawyer  who  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Filipino  strike  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  talk  to  him  about  coming  here  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  think  we  told  him  that  we  were  coming  on,  but 
we  did  not  solicit  any  money. 


776  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  Having  told  us  that  you  did  not  come  here  to  appear 
before  the  committee,  having  learned  before  you  left  that  the  resolu- 
tion had  been  reported  out  of  the  committee,  please  tell  us  what 
you  intended  to  present  in  Washington  when  you  came  here? 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  came  here  to  find  out  what  the  real  attitude  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  was  toward  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  that? 

Mr.  Chilton.  To  find  out  what  the  real  attitude  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  was  toward  the  resolution  and  to  give  information 
to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  as  to  conditions  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  knew  before  you  started  that  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  was  against  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  understood  that;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Knowing  that  they  were  against  it,  why  did  you  come 
over  to  confer  with  them?  I  am  trying  to  ascertain  just  what  you 
came  for  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  came  as  I  told  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  not  presented  to  the  committee  anything. 
We  understand  you  got  the  money  from  the  Japanese,  but  what 
were  you  going  to  present  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
officials  when  you  got  here  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  We  came  over  to  see  them  and  to  give  them  informa- 
tion in  this  way:  If  there  was  anything  they  did  not  know  about 
the  islands  we  could  inform  them  to  the  best  of  our  ability.  For  the 
last  three  months  we  have  written  letters  to  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  but  haVe  never  received  any  acknowledgment. 

The  Chairman.  You  never  received  any  acknowledgment  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  not  to  any  of  the  letters  for  the  last  three 
months. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  know  the  cause  of  the  strike  in  1920,  did  you 
investigate  to  find  out  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  cause  of  the  strike  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  cause  of  the  strike  was  that  they  wanted  more 
daily  pay  and  less  bonus. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is,  the  Filipinos  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  Japanese  and  the  Filipinos. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  you  investigate  to  find  out  who  started  the 
strike,  the  Filipinos,  the  Japanese,  or  the  Portuguese? 

Mr.  Chilton.  The  Japanese  said  the  Filipinos  started  it  and  the 
Filipinos  said  that  the  Japanese  started  it.  That  is  all  we  know, 
I  believe  it  was  Japanese  scheming. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  did  they  strike  for? 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  wanted  to  cut  out  some  of  the  bonus  and  get 
more  daily  pay. 

Mr.  Raker.  Anything  else  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  That  is  all  I  know. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  they  secure  what  the}^  were  striking  for  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  they  did  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  you  been  over  the  cane  fields  to  any  extent  to 
know  the  conditions  of  labor  in  the  cane  fields  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Chilton.  Not  to  a  great  extent. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  fact  is  that  you  do  not  know  much  about  that 
strike  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  777 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  know  something  about  tae  strike. 
Mr.  Raker.  Nor  do  you  laiow  much  about  the  labor  conditions  in 
the  field? 

Mr.  Chilton.  I  know  something.  First  labor  is  very  short;  second 
what  labor  is  tliere  does  not  work  steady;  third,  labor  conditions  are 
causing  the  planters  to  lose  considerable  money;  and  fourth,  Japanese 
control  labor  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  Anybody  can  do  that  kind  of  work  ? 
Mr.  ChiIvTON.  Anybody  can  do  it  if  they  will,  but  it  is  not  every- 
body who  wants  to  do  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  work  that  any  American  can  do  if  he  wants  to; 
it  is  clean  and  nice  work  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  It  is  dirty  and  hard  work.  He  has  to  work  very 
hard,  I  will  tell  you  now. 

The  Chairman.  That  brings  up  a  very  serious  point.     In  your 
opinion,  do  you  think  that  white  labor  will  work  in  the  cane  fields 
of  Hawaii,  cutting  cane  and  doing  rough  work  of  that  kind  ? 
Mr.  Chilton.  At  how  much  a  day  ? 
The  Chairman.  Say,  $4  a  day. 
Mr.  Chilton.  No. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  a  class  of  labor  that  white  labor  is  not 
adapted  to  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  I  do  not  think  that  they  would  work  along  with 
a  Jap,  anyhow. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  not  that  the  crux;  it  is  not  the  kind  and  character 
of  work  but  the  fact  that  a  white  man  does  not  work  with  Japanese 
and  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  No;  it  is  hard  work.  A  white  man  can  get  some- 
thing better.  Anyone  with  brains  can  get  something  better.  Coming 
over  on  the  train  from  San  Francisco  to  Washington  I  noticed  that 
the  section  hands  were  Chinese,  Japanese,  Mexicans,  and  everything 
but  Americans.  I  do  not  think  they  will  work  down  there  more 
than  a  day. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  not  the  work  itself,  but  they  prefer  work  which 
is  not  too  hard  ? 

Mr.  Chilton.  It  is  hard  work,  and  he  can  do  something  better. 
I  would  not  do  that  myself,  if  I  could  make  more  money  at  something 
easier,  not  even  if  I  could  make  less  money  at  something  easier. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  that  is  pretty  generally  agreed  to.  I  agree 
fully  with  that, 

Mr.  Free.  I  might  cite  the  fact  that  on  the  Eva  plantation  they 
experimented  with  some  of  them  and  they  would  not  stick. 

Mr.  Chilton.  They  came  to  Wahiawa  along  in  1901  or  1902,  and 
all  they  raised  was  a  large  family. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  should  like  an  opportunity  of  making  a  statement, 
and  if  it  is  agreeable  to  the  committee  I  should  like  very  much  to 
start  to-morrow  morning. 

If  I  may,  though,  I  should  like  to  make  this  statement,  that  no 
member  of  this  committee  was  more  astounded  at  the  testimony 
elicited  yesterday  regarding  the  contribution  of  money  by  Japanese, 
or  by  anyone  else,  than  I  was,  and  the  same  for  the  members  of  the 
organizations  and  the  legislative  committee  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor.  I  should  Hke,  if  I  may,  to-morrow  morning  to  make 
a  statement  upon  the  question  at  issue,  in  addition  to  the  matter 


778  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

which  I  have  referred  to,  in  so  far  as  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
and  its  officials  and  other  representatives  are  concerned. 

Mr.  Raker.  Will  that  statement  go  into  the  question  of  the  reso- 
lution, as  to  its  effect  upon  the  kind  and  character  that  is  to  be  brought 
here  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  That  is  the  intention  that  I  have  now,  to  present 
not  only  my  views  but  the  views  of  organized  labor,  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  for  a  period  of  over  41  years. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  the  committee  understands,  Mr.  Gompers, 
your  position,  and  understands  that  this  information  comes  out  of 
the  clear  sky  to  you.  Probably  the  members  from  the  Pacific  coast 
are  not  quite  so  much  surprised. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  see  why  not;  I  never  was  more  surprised. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  surprised,  too.  Perhaps,  there  are  not  so 
many  Japanese  in  my  district  as  in  Mr.  Raker's  district.  I  have 
seen  something  of  their  methods  of  work  and  it  is  not  pleasant  at  any 
time. 

We  have  received  a  large  number  of  telegrams  from  both  local 
unions  and  head  organizations,  the  more  important  of  which  will  be 
placed  in  the  record;  enough  of  those  will  be  used  to  show  pretty 
well  the  attitude  of  organized  labor  outside  of  the  national  officers 
here. 

We  thought  of  recessing  over  to-morrow.  We  can  make  a  date 
when  we  can  hear  you,  Mr.  Gompers,  or  you  can  submit  your  state- 
ment in  writing. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  would  rather  hear  him  personally  myself. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  prefer  to  submit  myself  to  the  committee. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  that  Mr.  Gompers  should  be  here  personally. 

Mr.  Gompers.  It  is  my  desire  to  be  here. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  hope  Mr.  Gompers  will  be  given  an  opportunity 
to  be  heard. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  one  thing,  irrespective  of  how  the  witnesses 
come,  who  has  tampered  with  them,  and  those  things,  they  do  not 
affect  the  fundamental  principle  involved  in  this  resolution. 

The  Chairman.  We  know  that. 

You  may  proceed,  Mr.  Cable. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  have  some  notes,  but  I  have  not  a  prepared  brief. 
There  are  a  good  many  legal  questions  involved  in  this  matter,  some 
of  which  this  committee  has  not  jurisdiction  of. 

The  Chairman.  Has  not  jurisdiction  of? 

Mr.  Cable.  In  my  opinion.  This  is  the  Immigration  Committee, 
and  the  resolution  not  only  affects  immigration  laws  but  criminal 
laws,  and  so  the  Judiciary  Committee  would  have  jurisdiction;  also 
the  Insular  Committee  and  even  Foreign  Relations  Committee. 

In  the  first  place,  this  resolution  provides  for  the  admission  of 
' '  such  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible . ' '  That  could  include  over  twenty- 
odd  classes.  For  example,  anarchists,  Asiatics,  chronic  alcoholics, 
contract  laborers — I  want  you  to  note  that  contract  laborers  are  one 
of  the  classes — convicts  or  felons,  epileptics,  illiterates,  insane, 
paupers,  persons  accompanying  helpless  aliens,  persons  advocating 
assassination  of  public  officials,  persons  advocating  unlawful  destruc- 
tion of  property,  persons  afflicted  with  loathsome  or  dangerous  con- 
tagious diseases,  persons  afflicted  with  tuberculosis,  persons  aiding 
or  bringing  in  prostitutes,  persons  deported  within  a  specified  time, 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  779 

persons  disbelieving  in  organized  government,  persons  likely  to  become 
a  public  charge,  persons  of  constitutional  psychopathic  inferiority, 
persons  whose  passage  is  paid  by  another,  political  offenders,  polyga- 
mists,  professional  beggars,  and  prostitutes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  other  words,  you  mean 

Mr.  Cable  (interposing).  That  under  the  resolution  as  it  is  drawn 
to-day,  if  it  were  passed,  it  would  permit  all  of  these  various  classes 
of  persons  to  be  admitted. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Who  otherwise  would  be  inadmissible. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  a  very  .serious  defect. 

Mr.  Cable.  This  resolution  seeks  to  suspend,  as  it  is  in  conflict 
with  several  other  laws,  for  example,  part  of  section  10  of  the  organic 
act  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  In  section  10  there  is  a  provision 
against  enforcement  of  the  law  against  personal  labor.  In  other 
words,  if  a  man  is  hired  out  to  another  you  can  not  enforce  that  kind 
of  a  contract. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  do  not  see  why  that  is.     That  is  their  contract  law  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes,  sir.  For  instance,  you  bring  a  Chinese  over 
and  he  may  work  or  otherwise,  you  can  not  compel  him  to  fulfill  his 
contract. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  have  to  stretch  the  resolution  a  good  deal  to 
make  it  reach  that.     The  resolution  does  not  do  that. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  what  they  mean. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  are  attributing  tilings  that  the  resolution  does 
not  mean. 

Mr.  Cable.  Also  under  this  same  section  10  there  is  a  provision 
that  the  law  against  contract  labor  is  carried  into  the  organic  law. 
That  shows  the  intent  of  the  people  of  Hawaii  to  avoid  contract  labor. 
Another  thing,  this  resolution  would  suspend  the  law  that  we  passed 
at  this  special  session  of  Congress  concerning  3  per  cent  of  immigra- 
tion of  labor,  it  would  repeal  the  Chinese  exclusion  act.  It  would 
suspend  the  literacy  test,  it  would  suspend  the  head  tax,  it  would 
suspend  or  be  in  violation  of  the  contract  labor  prohibition,  in  viola- 
tion of  the  peonage  law,  and  also  in  violation  of  the  coolie  labor  law. 
The  proposition  is  this,  that  certain  of  these  classes  are  prohibited 
and  a  violation  of  the  law  is  punishable  by  imprisonment.  For 
example,  contract  labor  is  prohibited,  peonage  is  prohibited,  and  coolie 
labor  is  prohibited.  How  can  you  have  a  criminal  law  which  is  sup- 
posed to  apply  to  all  places  suspended  as  to  a  specific  portion  of  the 
United  States  territory  ?  If  this  resolution  went  through  they 
would  be  permitted  to  import  these  Chinese  coolies,  but  still  this 
resolution  is  in  conflict  with  these  other  laws,  such  as  the  contract 
labor  law,  which  says  that  you  can  not  bring  in  contract  labor . 

It  would  be  in  violation  of  the  peonage  section.  Peonage  is  com- 
pelling a  person  to  work  by  reason  of  debt.  It  is  a  crime  punishable 
by  fine  and  imprisonment.  They  could  only  bring  them  under  con- 
tract and  compel  them  to  work  at  a  specific  pursuit,  namely,  agricul- 
ture, and  when  they  did  quit  agriculture  they  would  be  arrested. 
They  either  have  to  pay  the  passage  themselves  or  some  one  advances 
it  for  them,  and  the  minute  they  step  on  the  Hawaiian  shore,  they 
owe  a  debt  and  are  started  in  to  work  out  that  debt. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Take  the  things  which  you  have  mentioned,  the 
repeal  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  act,  it  is  intended  to  do  that,  the  com- 
mittee is  attempting  to  do  that  with  this  resolution.     The  act  of  1921, 


780  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

it  is  intended  to  repeal  that  because  that  lifts  the  literacy  test  from 
Hawaii.  The  coolie-labor  section,  the  resolution  is  intended  to  repeal 
that.  This  contract  labor  criminal  phase,  what  law  is  that  in,  is  that 
in  one  of  the  immigration  laws  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  in  the  Revised  Statutes;  I  have  not  the  authorities 
with  me. 

Mr.  Cable.  Peonage  is  covered  by  section  469  of  the  criminal 
statute. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  that  an  act  of  Congress  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  am  not  sure  that  this  resolution  is  not  intended  to 
repeal  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  act  of  Congress,  referring  to  the  decisions  of  the 
court  under  it,  is  based  upon  the  thirteenth  amendment.  The 
thirteenth  amendment  says  that  there  shall  not  be  involuntary  servi- 
tude, which  is  a  larger  term  than  slavery,  but  they  both  apply  to  the 
same  thing.  They  passed  an  act  of  Congress  subsequent  to  the 
thirteenth  amendment.  The  Federal  courts  and  the  State  courts 
have  held,  just  as  Mr.  Cable  has  stated,  that  that  condition  can  not 
exist  since  the  adoption  of  the  thirteenth  amendment. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  that  back  of  the  whole  thing  and  what 
makes  it  illegal  in  that  respect  is  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  If  that  section  of  the  Constitution  was  not  in  the  way,  I 
think  we  might,  as  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned,  repeal  those  statutes 
by  implication  in  passing  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Cable.  Under  section  4342  of  the  United  States  Compiled 
Statutes  and  in  Revised  Statutes  2158,  coolie  trade  is  prohibited  and 
contracting  to  supply  coolie  labor  is  criminal,  as  I  see  it. 

Mr.  Box.  Please  give  the  date  of  that  act. 

Mr.  Cable.  February  18,  1862. 

If  this  resolution  goes  through  it  will  be  in  conflict  with  that 
section. 

Mr.  Wilson.  All  right.  It  would  also  be  in  conflict  with  the 
percentage  act,  it  would  be  in  conflict  with  the  literacy  test  law,  and 
it  would  be  in  conflict  with  all  the  exceptions  you  make.  My  view 
is  that  unless  there  is  something  in  the  Federal  authority  you  could 
repeal  these  laws  by  implication. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  give  them  the  right  to  land  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes,  sir;  but  under  the  law  you  can  not  contract  for 
labor  to  come  in  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  right. 

The  Chairman.  Let  us  assume  that  some  coolies  come  in  under  a 
resolution  like  this  and  agree  to  work  as  plantation  labor  and  then 
under  the  pressure  of  some  other  persons  they  were  induced  to  quit 
that  labor,  they  could  go  to  court  about  it  and  claim  that  they  did 
not  desire  to  work  at  agricultural  labor,  they  would  have  the  right 
to  go  to  court  and  claim  that  they  were  being  held  in  servitude  and 
win  the  case. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  not  that  all  there  is  in  this  resolution? 

Mr.  Box.  I  think  you  three  gentlemen  are  almost  as  one,  and 
whether  you  branch  it  into  all  of  these  branches  it  all  goes  back  to 
the  thirteenth  amendment? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes,  sir. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  781 

Mr.  Raker.  In  other  words,  the  very  moment  that  man  left  his  job 
and  was  arrested  by  the  immigration  officials  to  be  deported,  he  would 
be  under  arrest  because  of  his  failure  to  comply  with  his  contract, 
and  for  that  he  would  be  deported,  which  is  clearly,  as  the  court  says, 
involuntary  servitude,  and,  therefore,  contrary  to  the  thirteenth 
amendment. 

The  Chairman.  Could  a  court  under  any  such  resolution  as  this 
order  him  deported  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  He  would  be  deported  under  the  immigration  law. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  another  question.  Under  this  resolution, 
every  man  coming  here  would  stay  here.  Every  man  coming  here 
under  this  resolution  would  stay  here,  and  you  could  not  send  him  out. 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes;  you  could,  because  if  the  resolution  were  void,  he 
would  be  here  unla^vfully. 

Mr.  Wilson.  If  you  picked  him  up  here  and  carried  him  before  a 
court  upon  the  charge  of  violating  a  labor  contract,  the  Supreme  Court 
would  come  in  and  say  that  the  proceeding  was  null  because  it  was  in 
violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  he  would  be 
discharged  under  that.  Now,  if  he  is  discharged  under  that  provision, 
could  the  immigration  authorities  come  around  and  say,  ^^  We  will 
deport  him,  because  he  is  here  in  violation  of  the  immigration  law"  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  My  investigation  of  the  matter  shows  that  they  can 
not  deport  him. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  want  to  read  section  5  of  the  organic  act: 

That  the  Constitution,  a^nd,  except  as  otherv/ise  provided,  all  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  including  laws  cairying  general  appropriations,  which  aie  not  locally  inap- 
plicable, shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect  within  the  said  Territory  as  elsewhere 
in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  point  is  that  this  will  be  a  law  of  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  are  talking  about  Federal  statutes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  question  is.  Would  this  by  implication  repeal  the 
immigration  laws  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  We  might  repeal  the  immigration  laws. 

Mr.  Box.  It  appears  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  these  gentlemen 
have  the  question  clearly  in  mind.  It  is  a  very  interesting  one,  and 
I  wonder  if  we  could  ask  them  to  further  brief  the  points.  It  is  a  very 
interesting  question. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Of  course,  we  can  not  modify  the  Constitution  by 
this  act. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  spent  at  least  a  month  on  this  matter,  and  I 
have  examined  at  the  library  all  the  law  books  I  could  find  on  the 
subject  and  all  of  the  special  authorities  bearing  upon  it,  and  it  appears 
to  me  that  the  whole  crux  of  the  thing  is  in  the  thirteenth  amendment 
to  the  Constitution.  Statutes  have  been  enacted  by  States  pro- 
viding that  if  a  man  makes  a  contract  to  work  for  an  employer  and 
does  not  continue  to  work,  the  sheriff  is  authorized  to  have  him  serve 
the  balance  of  his  time,  but  whenever  such  acts  have  come  before 
the  Supreme  Court,  the  court  has  declared  that  to  be  involuntary 
servitude.  That  is  the  reason  I  asked  Mr.  Oxnard  the  other  day  witn 
reference  to  the  arrest  of  those  Mexicans.  There  never  was  a  clearer 
case  than  this — that  is,  that  these  Mexicans  were  brought  here  in 
violation  of  the  contract-labor  law. 


782  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wilson.  My  conviction  is  that  any  law  anywhere  that  author- 
izes any  man  or  any  set  of  men  to  take  charge  of  an  individual  and 
tell  him  that  he  shall  pursue  a  certain  course  of  conduct,  and  providing 
that  when  he  ceases  to  pursue  that  course,  they  can  take  charge  of 
him  and  put  him  in  jail,  is  peonage  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

The  Chairman.  Then,  how  did  they  get  by  with  it  three  times  in 
the  case  of  Mexicans  brought  into  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  question  was  never  raised. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  history  of  this  contract-labor  legislation  goes 
back  to  1864,  Thirteenth  Statutes,  page  385.  The  Thirty-seventh 
Congress  passed  an  act  to  encourage  immigration 

Mr.  Box  (interposing).  Is  that  involved  in  the  statute  of  1862, 
forbidding  American  shipping  from  bringing  in  contract  labor  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Under  the  act  of  1864,  to  encourage  immigration,  they 
authorized  them  to  enter  into  contracts  to  bring  them  into  the 
United  States.  Later,  however,  in  the  next  year,  the}^  turned  around 
and  made  it  a  crime  and  provided  that  any  one  who  would  report 
with  original  evidence  persons  bringing  in  contract  labor  would  be 
entitled  to  have  the  penalty.  From  that  time  on  contract  labor 
has  been  held  to  be  a  crime. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  there  not  some  distinction  between  the  peonage 
proposition  and  contract  labor  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Contract  labor  is  another  proposition,  or  one  phase 
of  it  is.  Here  are  individuals  on  the  Mexican  border  who  will  take 
contracts  to  go  down  and  bring  the  labo?  in,  and  when  they  bring 
the  laborers  in  they  turn  them  loose  to  somebody  else. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  there  not  another  act  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  They  never  passed  that  act  until  the  thirteenth  amend- 
ment was  effective.  When  it  became  effective  then  they  had  to  pass 
a  law. 

Mr.  Cable.  Both  as  to  contract  labor  and  peonage  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  was  not  adopted  until  December  18,  1865. 

Mr.  White.  Sometimes  they  were  bound  to  give  personal  service 
or  to  work  in  families. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  can  not  bind  them. 

Mr.  White.  But  they  come  in  for  that  purpose.  How  do  they 
come  in  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  They  can  not  come  in  now.  They  could  come  up  here 
to-day  and  leave  to-morrow.  When  they  came  they  had  to  fulfill 
their  contracts.  They  had  to  work  until  they  paid  the  debt,  and  if 
they  did  not  they  were  arrested.  That  has  been  held  to  be  in  viola- 
tion of  the  thirteenth  amendment. 

Mr.  Wilson.  There  is  no  such  contract  that  can  be  upheld.  It  can 
not  be  said  that  by  virtue  of  such  a  contract  he  has  got  to  remain. 

The  Chairman.  That  law  does  away  with  the  binding  out  of  boys, 
as  was  practiced  in  the  old  days. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  have  a  brief  on  that  question. 

Mr.  Box.  I  would  like  to  hear  your  brief. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  have  not  completed  my  brief,  but  I  wanted  to  bring 
up  these  points,  because  I  think  they  are  jurisdictional  questions.  In 
other  words,  if  the  thing  is  illegal,  it  can  be  knocked  out  on  those 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  783 

grounds,  irrespective  of  the  merits  of  the  case.     I  think  that  is  about 
all  I  have  here. 

Mr.  Box.  I  have  here  the  act  of  1862  that  was  referred  to  just  a 
moment  ago.  It  is  very  pertinent,  and  if  you  will  permit  me,  I  will 
read  it: 

No  citi/en  of  the  United  States,  or  foreigner,  coming  into  or  residing  within  the 
same  shall,  for  himself  or  for  any  other  person,  either  as  master,  factor,  owner,  or 
otherwise,  build,  equip,  load,  or  otherwise  prepare  any  vessel,  registered,  enrolled,  or 
licensed  in  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  from  any  port  or  place  the 
subjects  of  China,  Japan,  or  of  any  other  oriental  country  known  as  "coolies,"  to  be 
transported  to  any  foreign  port  or  place  to  be  disposed  of,  or  sold,  or  transferred,  for 
any  time,  as  servants  or  apprentices,  or  to  be  held  in  service  or  labor. 

If  any  vessel,  belonging  in  whole  or  in  part  to  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and 
registered,  enrolled,  or  otherwise  licensed  therein  be  employed  in  the  "coolie  trade" 
80  called,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  preceding  section,  such  vessel,  her  tackle, 
apparel,  furniture,  and  other  appurtenances,  shall  be  forfeited  to  the  United  States, 
and  shall  be  liable  to  be  seized,  prosecuted,  and  condemned  in  any  of  the  circuit 
courts  or  district  courts  of  the  United  States  for  the  district  where  the  vessel  may  be 
found,  seized,  or  carried. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  still  the  law. 

Mr.  Box.  Yes.  That  is  contained  in  sections  2157  and  2158  of  the 
Revised  Statutes. 

Mr.  Raker.  After  the  thirteenth  amendment  was  adopted — and 
why  it  was  put  in  I  can  not  say,  but  it  is  all  right — they  put  in  the 
same  section  a  provision  that  any  alien  in  the  United  States  had  the 
same  right  as  an  American  citizen  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness. 

Mr.  Box.  Where  is  that? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  a  section  of  the  Revised  Statutes  that  I  have 
in  my  brief.  That  provision  is  made  so  that  he  might  have  the  right 
of  circulation  and  volition,  coming  and  going  as  he  pleases.  The 
moment  you  take  him  from  that  class,  and  say  that  he  can  not  go  as 
he  pleases,  you  are  trenching  upon  the  thirteenth  amendment. 
This  resolution  reads : 

Provided,  That  such  aliens  shall  be  admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of  time  for  the 
purpose  of  engaging  only  in  the  class  or  classes  of  labor  as  to  which  the  emergency  has 
been  found  to  exist. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  that  is  subject  to  all  of  the  objections  that 
have  been  made,  but  still,  assuming  that  that  is  omitted  from  the 
resolution,  that  would  leave  them  not  bound  to  a  class  of  labor.  If 
you  strike  out  the  matter  in  lines  5,  6,  and  7,  as  follows: 

And  that  the  regulations  shall  provide  for  and  secure  the  return  of  such  laborers  to 
their  respective  countries  upon  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited  without  cc  st  to  the 
United  States^ — 

then  you  would  have  a  resolution  that  we  might  begin  to  consider. 

Mr.  Raker.  No,  sir;  you  would  have  then  involuntary  servitude 
and  peonage.  That  is  true,  because  the  United  States  is  responsible. 
It  does  not  pay  an3^thing,  but  there  is  some  individual  there,  and  it 
must  be  construed  so  that  it  will  fix  upon  the  steamboat  company 
responsibility  to  pay  for  those  men  that  come  in,  because  they  must 
be  returned  without  expense  to  the  United  States.  Therefore,  as  I 
stated,  and  it  was  so  construed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  they  would 
take  that  out  of  their  wages,  perhaps  not  directly,  but  indirectly,  so 
that  they  would  be  working  all  of  this  time  to  pay  a  part  of  their 


784  LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

expenses  in  coming*  over  and  their  expenses  in  going  back,  and  they 
would  still  be  held  for  that  debt. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  ask  another  thing  with  reference  to  the 
statement  you  made  a  few  minutes  ago  about  the  right  of  aliens  to 
life,  liberty,   and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.     Would   that  interfere  i 
with  the  registration  of  an  alien  or  the  payment  of  a  fee  by  an  alien  ? ' 

Mr.  Raker.  No. 

The  Chairman.  Would  the  payment  of  a  fee  by  an  alien  ])e  taxa- 
tion not  equal  with  the  taxes  imposed  upon  citizens  ? 

Mr.  RaivER.  No;  I  think  not.  That  was  construed  by  your  court 
the  other  day  in  a  land  proposition.  That  was  construed  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Washington.  Then,  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  discusses  the  exceptions  to  those  cases  in 
the  selective  draft-law  cases.  The  Supreme  Court  discusses  that 
feature  very  fully  there. 

The  Chairman.  The  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
provides  that — 

Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  criine 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  in  the  United  States, 
or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

The  clerk  has  furnished  some  citations  here. 
Mr.  Box.  That  reads  like  the  Constitution  itself. 
The  Chairman.  It   is   from    the   Constitution.     Watson,    on    the 
Constitution,  says: 

The  amendment  was  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  abolishing  slavery  in  every  form  in 
the  United  States  and  in  every  place  under  their  control.  It  did  not  purport  to  do 
more  than  this,  and  this  was  accomplished  not  only  in  the  United  States  proper,  but 
among  the  Indians  of  Alaska  and  among  those  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the 
Government. 

There  are  a  number  of  cases  cited  in  support  of  that  proposition. 
Story,  on  the  Constitution,  says,  with  respect  to  the  thirteenth 
amendment : 

Nothing  by  way  of  comment  can  make  its  provisions  plainer.  The  boast  of  English 
lawyers  and  philanthropists  after  Sommersett's  case  that  "a  slave  can  not  breathe 
in  Britain,  but  the  moment  he  sets  foot  upon  her  soil  he  becomes  tree"  is  equally  or 
even  more  strictly  true  of  America.  It  forbids  not  merely  the  slavery  heretofore 
known  to  our  laws,  but  all  kinds  of  involuntary  servitude  not  imposed  in  punishment 
for  public  offenses. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  seems  to  me  that  so  far  as  the  peonage  part  of  it 
is  concerned,  the  only  part  of  the  resolution  tiiat  we  could  pass  would 
be  down  to  and  including  line  11,  where  we  say  that  he  may  admit 
such  aliens  otherwise  admissible  ^^  as  he  may  deem  necessary  to  meet 
the  existing  emergency." 

The  Chairman.  With  the  proviso  that  those  otherwise  admissible 
shall  not  include  all  the  classes  named. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  with  the  proviso  ''That  such  admission  of  aliens 
shall  not  operate  to  increase  the  number  of  persons  of  any  one  alien 
nationality  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  so  that  their  total  numbers 
at  any  one  time  shall  exceed  20  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of 
the  Territory  as  determined  by  the  last  census.''  You  would  have 
to  stop  right  there.  Then  the  only  objection  would  be  your  criminal 
statutes. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  do  not  think  it  would  violate  the  Constitution. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  785 

Mr.  Raker.  We  could  beat  the  resolution  on  a  dozen  propositions. 
There  is  not  a  chance  for  a  single  clause  of  it.  I  want  to  read  the 
last  clause.  If  the  proposition  is  that  the  President  shall  have  the 
power  every  five  years 

The  Chairman  (interposing) .  Before  you  go  into  that,  let  me  read 
what  would  be  left. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  think  that  the  attorney  general  of 
Hawaii  should  have  every  legal  point  that  he  is  up  against. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  first  proviso  gives  to  the  President  the  power  to 
declare  that  an  emergency  exists.  When  that  has  been  ascertained, 
then  the  Secreta,ry  of  Labor  must  permit  these  people  of  these  various 
classes  and  occupations  to  come  in.  Now,  that  can  be  done  every 
five  years,  but  the  limitation  as  to  the  time  of  the  residence  is  not 
fixed.  It  may  be  for  5  years,  10  years,  15  years,  20  years,  or  40 
years,  so  that  they  v/ould  be  in  here  for  all  that  length  of  time.  Now, 
the  second  proposition,  on  the  last  proviso  is: 

Provided  further,  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  allow  any 
alien  admitted  under  the  terms  hereof  to  remove  to  any  other  place  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States. 

That  is  clearly  unconstitutional.  Clearly,  when  he  is  once  admitted 
to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  he  is  on  American  soil,  and  he  can  come 
from  Hawaii  to  the  mainland  just  the  same  as  if  he  should  land  in 
New  York. 

Mr.  Cable.  Where  do  you  get  your  authority  under  the  Consti- 
tution for  that  ?  You  quoted  a  section  of  law  and  said  it  was  not 
constitutional. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  goes  back  to  the  Constitution,  because  it  takes 
from  him  his  personal  liberty.     Hawaii  is  a  part  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  a  Territory. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  a  part  of  the  United  States.  Now,  having  ad- 
mitted him  to  New  York,  you  could  not  by  law  say  that  he  could  not 
go  to  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  is  a  different  question  as  applied  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  No,  sir;  Hawaii  is  the  same.  You  will  find  that  it  is 
the  same  thing.  Let  us  read  the  law  on  that  question.  Let  us  read 
the  immigration  law. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  goes  back  to  the  question  of  whether  you  repeal 
the  entire  act  by  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  more  than  that.  It  goes  to  this  point,  that 
Hawaii  is  a  part  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  Territory,  and  the  laws, 
rules,  and  regulations  that  apply  to  the  Federal  Government  a.pply 
to  them. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  take  it  up  right  there.  We  have  a  tenta- 
tive draft  placed  before  us  with  a  provision  that  aliens  may  be 
admitted  by  limiting  some  of  the  restrictions,  as,  for  instance,  the 
literacy  test,  to  the  Territories  of  Hawaii  and  Alaska,  and  that  they 
shall  not  come  from  there  to  the  mainland  until  they  acquire  citi- 
zenship. Do  you  think  that  such  a  provision  as  that  would  be  sub- 
ject to  the  same  objections  that  you  are  now  raising? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  for  this  reason:  Under  our  law  you  can  not  say 
to  a  man  who  comes  into  this  country  that  he  may  land  in  New  York, 
but  must  remain  in  New  York.     You  can  not  say  to  him,  '^You 

^6754— 21— SER  7,  PT  2 16 


786  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

must  remain  in  New  York,  and  you  can  not  go  to  any  other  State 
in  the  Union."     You  have  no  doubt  of  that,  have  you,  Mr.  Cable? 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  a  different  proposition. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  agree  with  me  on  that  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  No;  I  do  not  agree  with  that.  Here  is  a  law  that  says 
an  ahen  may  go  all  through  the  United  States.  That  is  by  virtue  of 
a  law,  but  if  you  wipe  that  law  out  by  enacting  a  new  law  that  says 
he  can  not  go  from  New  York  to  California,  where  does  that  law  con- 
flict with  any  constitutional  provision  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Suppose  there  was  no  statute  on  the  books  at  all,  and 
an  alien  came  in  here  under  our  general  laws  as  to  the  rights  of  citi- 
zens. You  contend  that  we  could  then  pass  a  law,  as  the  Constitu- 
tion now  stands,  saying  that  he  could  only  remain  in  New  York  and 
could  not  go  over  to  New  Jersey  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Where  does  the  Constitution  forbid  that? 

The  Chairman.  It  runs  back  to  the  word  '^persons"  under  the 
Constitution. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  Supreme  Court  has  construed  aliens  as  persons. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  Constitution  takes  care  of  persons  but  not  citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  Of  both. 

Mr.  Wilson.  There  is  another  question  coming  in  there:  Must  the 
law  that  operates  throughout  continental  United  States  be  applied  in 
such  a  way  that  the  same  things  must  be  done  in  the  same  way  with 
respect  to  a  Territory,  or  is  there  not  a  distinction  there  ?  I  think  you 
could  put  a  restriction  on  a  bill  applying  to  a  Territory  under  the 
United  States  that  you  could  not  place  on  one  applying  to  the  United 
States  proper. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  make  this  as  a  fundamental  statement,  backed  up  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  decisions  of  our  courts, 
that  is,  that  the  same  law  as  to  the  right  of  men  to  life,  liberty,  the 
pursuit  of  happiness,  and  freedom  of  movement  exists  in  the  Terri- 
tories just  the  same  as  in  the  States,  and  under  the  Constitution 
Congress  can  not  deprive  a  man  in  a  Territory  of  those  fundamental 
rights. 

The  Chairman.  What  have  we  ever  done  under  the  gentlemen's 
agreement  by  which  we  can  hold  Japanese  living  in  Hawaii  to 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Box.  Does  the  chairman  think  that  the  gentlemen's  agreement 
has  anything  to  do  with  the  Constitution  ? 

The  Chairman.  It  is  contrary  to  the  Constitution.  It  was  made 
without  the  approval  of  the  Senate,  and  is  wrong  in  that  respect. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  that  everybody  agrees  that  the  gentlemen's 
agreement  is  contrary  to  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Wilson.  When  we  had  the  Indian  Territory  and  segregated 
the  Indians  out  there,  do  you  not  think  that  Congress  could  have 
enacted  a  law  providing  that  those  Indians  could  not  enter  other  por- 
tions of  the  United  States,  while  that  was  a  Territory  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  question  of  citizenship  comes  up  there.  They  were 
neither  aliens  nor  citizens. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  were  wards  of  the  Government. 

Notwithstanding  the  thirteenth  amendment,  we  did  not  change  the 
rights  nor  relations  as  between  parent  and  child;  we  did  not  change  the 
law  as  to  the  rights  of  seamen,  nor  did  we  change  the  law  in  regard 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  787 

to  the  right  of  the  Government  to  select  men  for  mihtary  service; 
but  what  I  am  contending  as  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  being  a  part 
of  the  United  States  is  that  it  is  a  Territory  to  which  our  flag  goes- 
and  to  which  our  laws  go.  We  can  not  make  a  law  that  would  deprive 
a  man  of  the  fundamental  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  in  that  Territory  when  it  is  granted  on  the  mainland. 

Mr.  Cable.  If  you  will  read  the  Chinese  exclusion  act  you  will  see 
that  it  would  be  absolutely  repealed. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  would  repeal  the  Chinese  exclusion  act,  because, 
if  you  are  correct,  when  they  come  to  Hawaii,  they  can  come  to  the 
mainland. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  a  different  proposition  involved  now. 

Mr.  Cable.  But  when  you  get  him  to  the  islands,  he  can  not  come 
here. 

Mr.  W^iLSON.  That  would  be  unconstitutional  if  Mr.  Raker  is 
correct.  That  would  not  be  in  an  act  of  Congress  dealing  with  a 
State,  but  it  is  in  an  act  dealing  with  a  Territory. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  other  point  have  you  there  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  another  thing.  It  has  been  contended  that 
we  are  trying  to  do  indirectly  here  what  we  are  not  willing  to  take 
hold  of  firmly.  In  our  legislation  we  exclude  the  Japanese  from 
Hawaii,  after  having  permitted  them  to  come  in  under  certain 
regulations  under  a  general  law.  Having  enacted  a  law  excluding 
them,  we  would  make  a  distinction  under  the  most-favored-nation 
clause  by  admitting  Chinese  into  Hawaii  and  excluding  the  Japanese. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  never  been  able  to  see  how  the  United 
States  could  with  a  serious  face  maintain  its  position  under  the 
gentlemen's  agreement  by  which  Japanese  are  kept  out,  and  then 
undertake  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  a  resolution  like  this  by  which 
the  Chinese  could  be  let  in. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  the  Japanese  would  not  have  an 
equal  right. 

Mr.  Raker.  On  page  2  of  the  resolution  there  is  this  provision: 

That  the  regulations  shall  provide  for  and  secure  the  return  of  such  laborers  to  their 
respective  countries  upon  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited,  without  cost  to  the 
United  States. 

Now,  clearly,  those  men  must  be  bound  under  the  lav  that  we 
make  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  Labor  to  make  the  regulations, 
and  these  people  must  be  held  and  a  fund  provided  by  their  employ- 
ers before  they  land  here,  and  under  the  arrangement  these  men 
must  assist  and  contribute  in  the  form  of  labor  to  such  fund  with 
which  to  return  them_ 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  peonage  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  that  is  peonage.  Therefore,  when  you  get 
down  to  the  resolution,  not  a  section  can  stand,  or  there  is  not  a  sec- 
tion that  this  committee  ought  to  report  out.  Let  us  consider  it  for  a 
moment  from  the  standpoint  of  the  public  policy  of  the  American 
people.  Every  indication,  every  sentence,  and  every  idea  that  is 
here  is  opposed  to  the  policy  and  the  genius  of  the  American  people 
to-day,  and  they  will  not  submit  to  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  1908  the  same  question  was  raised  when  they  had 
an  investigation  by  the  Department  of  Justice,  and  two  resolutions 
were  introduced  in  the  House  by  two  gentlemen  from  the  South  for 


788  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

the  investigation  of  peonage.  The  Department  of  Justice  has  made 
prosecutions  all  over  the  United  .States  under  that  law,  showing  the 
attitude  of  tlie  people  at  this  time  on  the  suhject. 

(Thereupon,  the  committee  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of 
executive  business,  after  which  it  adjourned  to  meet  at  10.30  o'clock 
to-morrow,  August  4,  1921.) 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Thursday,  August  4,  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10  o. clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

STATEMENT  OF  HOIf.  JOHM  L.  CABLE. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  submit  a  short  memorandum  or 
brief  concerning  House  eloint  Resolution  171  ? 

The  Chairman.  I  would  suggest  that  you  read  it,  and  it  will 
become  a  part  of  your  statement  of  yesterday. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Chairman,  since  the  discussion  of  the  legal  phase 
of  the  resolution  yesterday,  I  find  that  the  laws  of  Congress  are  not 
repealed  in  the  same  method  or  manner  usually  employed  by  the 
States.  When  a  State  law  is  repealed  by  its  legislature,  the  repealing 
or  substitute  law  usually  refers  specifically  and  directly  to  the  act  or 
portion  of  the  act  or  law  proposed  to  be  repealed.  Here  in  Congress, 
however,  the  last  law  enacted  governs,  and  if  it  is  in  direct  conflict 
with  any  previous  or  preceding  laws,  the  latter  are  repealed  to  the 
extent  of  ihQ  conflict,  provided  the  last  law  is  constitutional. 
[Readino;:] 

I  desire  to  call  attention  to  the  follomng  laws  of  Congress  and  the  enabling  act  of 
Hawaii,  which,  in  my  opinion,  will  be  affected,  i)rovided  the  resolution  in  its  present 
form  becomes  a  law.'  We  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of 
tlie  United  States  have  the  same  force  and  effect  in  Hawaii  as  elsewhere  in  the  con- 
tinent. 

The  law  specifically  provides: 

^  Application  of  laws  of  United  States. — The  Constitution  and,  except  as  other- 
wise provided,  all  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  including  laws  carrying  general  apj)ro- 
priations,  which  are  not  locally  inapplicable,  shall  have  the  same  force  and  efi'ect 
within  the  said  Territory  as  elsewhere  in  the  United  States    *    *    *." 

(1)  Exdusion  of  Chinese  Jrom  Hawaii. — -The  law  provided  that  there  shall  be  no 
further  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

^  Exclusion  of  Chinese  from  Hawaii.- — Entry  into  United  States  fkom 
Hawaii. — There  shall  be  no  further  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
except  upon  such  conditions  as  are  now  or  may  hereafter  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of 
the  United  States;  no  (Jhinese,  by  reason  of  anything  contained  in  the  joint  resolution 
providing  for  annexing  the  Hawaiian  Islands  approved  July  7,  1898,  shall  be  allowed  { 
to  enter  the  United  States  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands."     (30  Stat.,  751.) 

(2)  Chinese  exdusion  act  without  limitation. — The  general  Chinese  exclusion  act 
excludes  Chinese  persons  or  persons  of  Chinese  descent  from  coming  into  the  United 
States,  or  any  of  its  Territories.     (32  Stat.,  176:  33  Stat.,  428.) 

(3)  Coolie  trade  is  prohibited. — There  is  a  law  relating  to  the  coolie  trade,  and  which 
prohibits  the  same,  and  there  is  one  relating  to  tbe  exclusion  of  Chinese  under  the 
general  immigration  laws,  and  those  laws  would  be  affected. 

The  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  2158  and  following,  and  also  18th 
Statutes,  477,  prohibit  coolie  trade  and  contracting  to  supplv  coolie  labor,  and  make 
a  violation  of  the  law  a  crime,  punishable  by  fxue  and  imprisonment. 

(4)  Exdusion  of  aliens  uiider  general  immigration  law. — -The  resolution  seeks  to  admit 
"such  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible."     This  conflicts  mth  the  general  exclusion  of 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  789 

aliens  vuider  the  immigration  law  and  would  permit  ail  classes  of  criminals,  anarchists, 
and  the  like  to  be  admitted  to  Hawaii  unle.^s  the  rules  and  regulations  adopted  by  the 
Labor  Department  specificallv  excluded  them.  The  list  is  found  in  section  3  of  the 
immigration  laws  and  I  named  the  different  classes  yesterday • 

(b)  Literacy  te^t. — Section  3  of  the  immigration  lav.'s  prohibit  the  landing  of  "all 
aliens  over  !(>  j^ears  of  age,  physically  capa]>le  of  reading,  who  can  not  read  the  English 
language  or  some  other  language  or  dialect,  including  Hebrew  or  Yiddish." 

(6)  Contract  labor  in  Hawaii. — The  enabling  act  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  (23  Stat., 
332;  31  Stat.,  143)  specifically  prohibit  contract  labor. 

(a)  "All  contracts  made  since  August  12,  1898,  bv  which  persons  are  held  for 
service  for  a  definite  term,  are  declared  null  and  void  and  terminated,  and  no  law 
shall  be  passed  to  enforce  said  contracts  in  any  way;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
United  States  marshal  to  at  once  notify  such  persons  so  held  of  the  termination  of 
their  contracts." 

(h)  Importation  of  foreigners  and  aliens  under  contract  or  agreement  to  perform 
labor  in  the  United  States,  its  Territories,  is  prohibited. 

(7)  Contract  labor  in  the  United  States.— Th.Q  law  of  the  United  States  prohibits  the 
admission,  under  section  2  of  the  immigration  law,  of  "persons  hereafter  called  con- 
tract laborers  who  have  been  induced,  assisted,  or  encouraged  to  migrate  to  this  country 
by  oiiers  or  promises  of  employment,  whether  such  of'ers  or  promises  are  true  or  false, 
or  in  consequence  of  agreements,  oral,  written,  or  printed,  express  or  implied,  to  per- 
form labor  in  this  country  of  any  kind,  skilled  or  unskilled." 

All  contracts  or  agreements,  express  or  implied,  parol  or  special,  which  may  be 
made  between  any  person  or  company  and  any  foreigner  or  alien  to  perform  labor 
or  service  in  the  United  States  or  its  Territories,  previous  to  the  migration  or  importa- 
tion of  the  person  whose  labor  or  service  is  contracted  for,  shall  be  void.     (23  Stat.,  332.) 

The  laws  of  the  United  States  even  provide  that  any  informer  giving  original  informa- 
tion that  the  contract  labor  laws  have  been  violated  shall  be  entitled  to  a  portion  of 
the  penalties  recovered  from  the  person  violating  the  law. 

They  have  gone  so  far  as  to  give  any  informer  who  assists  the  Government  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  case  half  of  the  penalty  recovered . 

(8}  Head  tax. — The  head  tax  provision  is  affected  by  this  resolution.  Section  2  of 
the  immigration  law  provides;  %4 

"There  shall  be  levied,  collected,  and  paid  a  tax  of  $8  for  every  alien,  including 
alien  seamen  regularly  admitted,  as  provided  in  this  act,  entering  the  United  States. 
(29  Stat.,  875.) 

(9)  Three  per  cent  immigration  law. — The  3  per  cent  provision  of  the  immigration  law 
would  be  repealed,  so  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned.  That  is  the  law  we  just  passed 
at  this  session  of  Congress. 

The  Sixty-seventh  Congress  has  just  passed  a  law  limiting  immigrants  coming  to  this 
country  or  its  territories  to  3  per  cent  of  the  number  of  that  particular  nationality 
who  resided  in  the  United  States  according  to  the  census  of  1910. 

(10)  Peonage  laws. — Peonage  is  a  crime  in  the  United  States,  and  has  been  defined 
thus; 

"Peonage  is  a  status  or  condition  of  compulsory  service  based  upon  the  indebtedness 
of  the  peon  to  the  master.  The  basic  fact  is  indebtedness."  (Clyatt  v.  United  States, 
197  U.  S.,  207.) 

Peonage  is  a  crime  in  the  United  States.  Section  269,  the  Criminal  Code  (35  Stat., 
1142)  provides: 

"Whoever  holds,  arrests,  or  returns,  or  causes  to  be  held,  arrested,  or  returned,  or  in 
any  manner  aids  in  the  arrest  or  return  of  any  person  to  a  condition  of  peonage  shall  be 
fined  not  more  than  $5,000  or  imprisoned  not  more  than  five  years,  or  both." 

In  section  3944,  United  States  Compiled  Statutes,  1918,  the  law  provides  that 
peonage  is  abolished. 

"The  holding  of  any  person  to  service  or  labor  under  the  system  known  as  peonage 
is  abolished  and  forever  prohibited  in  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico,  or  in  any  other 
Territory  or  State  of  the  United  States;  and  all  acts,  laws,  and  resolutions,  orders, 
regulations,  of  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico,  or  any  other  Territory  or  State  which 
have  heretofore  established,  maintained,  or  enforced,  or  by  virtue  of  which  any  attempt 
shall  hereafter  be  made  to  establish,  maintain,  or  enforce,  directly  or  indirectly,  the 
voluntary  or  involuntary  service  of  labor  of  an^^  persons  as  peons  in  liquidation  of  any 
debt  or  obligation,  or  otherwise,  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  declared  null  and  void." 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  crime  of  peonage  is  complete  when  a  person  holds  any 
perton  to  a  condition  of  peonage;  that  is,  according  to  the  above  definition,  in  a  con- 
dition of  compulsory  tiervice  bajed  on  indebtedness. 

Under  the  resolution,  as  drawn,  a  Chinese  not  being  able  to  pay  his  passage  would 
be  indebted  to  some  one  when  he  took  work  in  the  islands  of  Hawaii,     fie  would  be 


790  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

compelled  to  continue  work  of  an  agi-icultural  nature,  because  if  he  left  the  planta- 
tion and  went  into  the  city,  he  could  be  arrested  and  deported.  Lebt,  therefore, 
holds  him  to  work. 

So  far  as  those  10  provisions  are  concerned,  in  my  opinion,  this  resolution  would 
suspend  them  so  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned.  Of  court e.  rongre3s  would  haA'e  the 
lawful  right  to  do  that,  but  so  far  as  constitutional  provisions  being  \'iolated  is  con- 
cerned, the  resolution  could  not  do  that. 

(11)  Bringing  vJithin  the  United  States  any  person  from  any  foreign  country  to  he 
held  for  service  or  labor. — The  law  provides  in  substance  that  whoever  brings  within 
the  United  States  any  person  to  be  held  in  service  or  labor  shall  be  f  ned  not  more 
than  110  000.     The  section  is  found  in  Thirty-fifth  Statutes,  1139,  and  reads  as  follows : 

"Bringing  slaves  into  United  States. — Whoever  brings  within  the  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States,  in  any  manner  whatsoever,  any  person  from  any  foreign 
kingdom  or  country,  or  from  sea,  or  holds,  sells,  or  othermse  disposes  of,  any  person 
so  brought  in,  as  a  slave,  or  to  hold  to  service  or  labor,  shall  be  fined  not  more  than 
$10,000,  one  half  to  the  use  of  the  United  States  and  the  other  half  to  the  use  of  the 
party  who  prosecutes  the  indictment  to  effect;  and,  moreover,  shall  be  imprisoned 
not  more  than  seven  years." 

The  section  was,  no  doubt,  reenacted  as  the  result  of  the  thirteenth  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  provides: 

"Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime, 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States, 
or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction." 

As  a  cold  legal  proposition,  Congress  would  have  authority  to  pass  this  resolution, 
repealing  all  the  foregoing  laws.  The  resolution  under  certain  facts  could  conflict 
^vith  this  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  and  as  a  result  would  therefore 
be  void  and  unconstitutional. 


The  Chairman.  The  members  of  the  committee  will  remember 
that  the  other  day,  in  the  examination  of  Mr.  George  W.  Wright,  a 
good  many  questions  were  asked  him  about  the  editing  of  the  Labor 
Keview  of  Hawaii,  and  particularly  with  reference  to  the  editing  of 
the  portion  of  the  paper  that  was  printed  in  the  Japanese  language. 
His  statements  were  not  quite  in  accord  with  the  matter  printed  in 
the  paper  for  July  12.  Statements  here  I  think  are  sufficient  to 
discredit  Mr.  Wright's  testimony  and  to  discredit  the  cablegrams  that 
were  sent  and  that  were  brought  before  this  committee  and  read. 
This  paper,  the  Labor  Review  of  Hawaii,  of  the  date  of  July  12,  1921, 
has  at  its  masthead  the  words : 

Editor,  George  W.  Wright,  1320  Middle  Street,  Honolulu  (phone  8222):  business 
manager,  William  Chilton,  jr.,  1269  Miller  Street,  Honolulu  (phone  5292):  advertising 
manager,  L.  S.  IJoyd,  1351  Luso  Street,  Honolulu.  Published  weekly  at  Honolulu, 
Territory  of  Hawaii. 

On  the  front  page  there  appears  the  editorial  committee,  as  follows: 

G.  W.  Wright,  William  Chilton,  jr.,  and  L.  S.  Lloyd. 

That  is  followed  by  this  statement: 

The  official  organ  of  the  affiliated  labor  unions  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  Devoted 
to  the  service  of  the  workers  of  all  races. 

There  is  an  article  printed  in  English  on  the  first  page  under  the 
heading  "Labor  committee  to  go  to  Washington  to  fight  coolie  bill," 
as  follows : 

Mr.  W.  R.  Chilton  and  George  W.  Wright,  delegates  to  the  central  labor  council, 
liaA^e  booked  passage  to  the  mainland  on  the  Sonoma  sailing  July  12.  These  men 
constitute  a  committee  which  has  been  empowered  to  proceed  to  Washington  and 
place  before  the  proper  authorities  all  the  facts  in  the  case  of  the  "coolie  conspiracy." 
It  is  understood  that  Mr.  W>igho  will  also  present  data  on  the  conditions  in  iiavaii 
before  the  Navy  Wage  Board  of  Review,  with  a  xiev?  to  showing  the  necessity  t  r  a 
increased  scale  of  wages  for  the  Pearl  Harbor  employees. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  791 

The  mone^'  for  the  expenses  of  the  committee  is  being  raised  by  subscription  and 
donations  from  individuals  and  from  la])or  organizations.  All  members  of  unions, 
regardless  of  race,  are  asked  to  contribute  to  this  fund.  The  personal  welfare  of  every 
worker  in  the  Territory  is  at  stake,  and  the  appeal  is  made  for  assistance  in  carrying 
the  fight  for  the  preservation  of  our  American  standards  and  ideals  direct  to  Wash- 
ington. 

Now,  the  Chair  seemed  to  be  unable  to  read  the  articles  on  page  4 
of  the  same  paper,  printed  in  Japanese,  and  I  sent  the  paper  over  to 
the  Library  of  Congress  yesterday  with  the  request  that  the  Japanese 
articles  be  translated,  and  I  have  the  following  letter: 

Library  of  Congress, 

Washington,  August  3,  1921. 
Sir:  I  am  sending  herewith  a  translation  of  the  Japanese  newspaper  article,  which 
your  secretary  requested  yesterday.    The  original  is  attached. 
For  the  Librarian: 

J.  L.  Farnam,  Secretary. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives. 

The  translation  of  the  article  headed  '^  An  appeal  to  our  laborers," 
as  furnished  by  the  Library  of  Congress,  is  as  follows: 

[Translated  from  the  Japanese  in  the  Labor  Review  of  Hawaii,  Honolulu,  July  12,  1921,  p.  4.1 

An  Appeal  to  our  Laborers. 

sending  our  delegates  to  washington. 

As  the  situation  of  the  coolie  bill- does  not  allow  us  to  hold  optimistic  feelings,  we 
are  sending  G.  W.  Wright  and  W.  R.  Chilton  as  the  representatives  of  the  central 
labor  council  to  present  evidence  of  facts  to  the  Washington  authorities  to  block  the 
treacherous  plot  of  importing  coolie  labor.  They  will  leave  here  on  the  steamship 
/Sonoma.  July  12. 

Mr.  Wright  will  also  take  opportunity  to  present  information  about  the  condition 
of  this  island  to  the  committee  regarding  salary  corripensation  of  naval  employees. 
He  will  request  increased  pay  for  employees  at  Pearl  Bay.  The  expense  of  sending 
the  delegates  is  defraved  by  raising  money  from  everv  organization,  as  well  as  b  v  con- 
tributions from  persons  who  belong  to  our  class.  We  hope  as  many  persons  as  possible 
will  contribute,  so  that  we  may  complete  our  aim,  which  is  unique  and  common  all 
through  the  island. 

Our  opposition  to  the  conspiracy  of  importing  coolies  is  based  on  the  true  American 
spirit  to  protect  the  ideals  of  America.  We  are  making  this  appeal  to  request  proper 
aid  of  our  coworkers  to  bring  our  movement  to  a  successful  end  in  arousing  sentiment 
in  favor  of  helping  the  action  of  our  delegates  in  Washington. 

I  will  now  read  the  translation  of  the  other  article. 

[Translated  from  the  Japanese  in  the  Labor  Review  of  Hawaii,  Honolulu,  July  12,  1921,  p.  4.] 

The  Coolie  Bill — a  Side  View  op  the  Program  of  Importing  Coolies. 

small  knowledge,   small  wit,  small  policy  not  wise  at  this  time farmers 

NEED    farmers'    SPIRIT. 

People  feel  rather  nervous  about  the  rise  and  fall  in  the  standing  of  the  Dillingham 
party  in  Washington,  and  whenever  things  look  favorable  for  his  bill  too  pe-simistic 
feelings  ariee  among  the  people  and  if  his  bill  seems  unable  to  pass  then  they  become 
too  optimistic. 

We  are,  of  course,  in  the  opposition  on  the  question  of  importation  of  coolies,  but 
we  have  to  rely  upon  the  decision  of  Congress.  There  is  no  other  way.  It  is  necessary, 
however,  to  bring  the  feeling  of  Congress  to  favor  us  and  this  is  the  aim  of  reading 
Chilton  and  Wright  to  AVashington  as  representatives  of  the  central  labor  council. 
They  will  have  close  cooperation  with  the  American  labor  union  in  the  work  they  do 
in  creating  a  public  sentiment  favorable  to  our  position. 


792 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 


We  rely  upon  the  capability  of  Chilton  and  Wright,  who  are  always  our  friends  and 
coworkers.  We  hear  by  cable  that  the  "Kuhio"  (perhaps  the  name  of  a  Congress- 
man) amendment  pa?eed  the  committee  but  the  details  are  not  known  as  yet  and  even 
the  trustworthiness  of  the  cable  is  questionable.  Even  if  it  be  true  there  will  still  be 
plenty  of  dufFiculty  for  it  to  pass  the  regular  Ee?sion  and  win  the  President's  approval. 
We  believe  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor  is  standing  on  our  side  and  if  such  a  bill  passes 
Congress  he  will  never  put  such  a  progTam  into  practice. 

It  will  take  time  for  us  to  hear  the  decision  regarding  the  coolie  bill.  In  two  weeks 
our  Hawaiian  delegates  will  arrive  at  Washington,  where  they  v/ill  act  splendidly 
hand  in  hand  with  union  labor.  We  believe  there  is  no  reason  why  the  coolie  bill 
should  pass  in  the  original  form  when  it  comes  before  Congress  and  alterations  and 
amendments  will  bring  unexpected  results  to  hand. 

Our  friends,  be  patient.  Farmiers  need  farmers'  own  spirit.  Believe  in  the 
heavenly  doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  and  the  history  of  the  globe,  which 
always  protected  the  right.  Any  agitation  will  spoil  your  pride  and  dignity  as  true 
farmers. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  this  is  at  variance  with  the  statements 
made  by  Mr.  Wright,  and  for  that  reason  I  have  placed  this  matter 
in  the  record. 

Before  we  proceed  to  hear  Mr.  Gompers,  I  want  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  Department  of  Commerce  through  the  Bureau  of 
Census  has  issued,  for  use  on  and  after  August  12,  a  revised  state- 
ment concerning  the  sugar  crops  in  the  United  States,  including  beet 
sugar  and  all  others,  and  if  the  second  volume  of  these  hearings  is 
not  printed  by  that  time,  I  think  it  might  be  well  to  include  that  n 
the  record. 
(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

Sugar  Crops  in  the  United  States. 

Washington,  D.  C,  August  12,  1921. 
The  Bureau  of  the  Census,  of  the  Department  of  Commerce,  announces,  subject 
to  correction,  the  following  preliminary  figures  from  the  1920  census  of  agriculture 
for  the  United  States,  with  comparative  figures  for  the  preceding  census: 

Sugar  crops  in  the  United  States:  1919  and  1909. 


Sugar  cane: 

Acres 

Production  (tons) 

Sirup  made  on  farms 

(gallons) 

Sugar    beets    grov/n   for 
sugar: 

Acres 

Production  (tons) 


1919 


373, 398 
3, 551, 129 

21,  240, 960 


636, 414 
5, 993,  409 


1909 


476,  849 
6,  240,  260 

21, 633, 579 


360,  433 
3, 902, 071 


Sorghum  grown  for  sirup: 
Acres 

Production  (tons). . . . 
Sirup  made  (gallons) . 
Maple  sugar  and  sirup: 

Trees  tapped 

Sugar  made  (pounds). 
Sirirp  made  (gallons). . 


1919 


482, 043 

1, 644, 100 

21, 523, 025 

17,  448,  421 
9, 691, 624 
3,  505,  715 


1909 


326, 352 

1,  376, 487 

16, 532, 382 

18, 899,  533 

14, 060,  206 

4, 106, 418 


SUGAR    CANE. 

The  total  acreage  of  sugar  cane  harvested  in  the  United  States  in  1919,  according 
to  the  Fourteenth  Census,  was  373,398,  as  compared  with  476,849  in  1909.  The  pro- 
duction in  1919  was  3,551,129  tons,  as  against  6,240,260  tons  in  1909.  The  production 
thus  shows  a  decrease  of  2,639,131  tons,  or  43.1  per  cent.  This  is  the  result  of  an  un- 
favorable season,  however,  and  does  not  in  any  way  indicate  a  decline  in  the  sugar- 
cane industry  of  the  country. 

In  1919  Louisiana  p  -Qduced  2,435,683  tons  of  sugar  cane,  or  68.6  per  cent  of  the  total 
production  in  the  United  States. 

The  quantity  of  sug^r-cane  sirup  made  on  farms  in  the  United  States  in  191.J  u-a- 
21,240,960  gallons,  as  compared  with  21,633,579  gallons  in  1909. 


LABOK    FllOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 
Sugar  cane,  by  States,  1919  and  1909. 


793 


state. 

Acres. 

Production 
(tons). 

Sirup  made  on  farms 
(gallons). 

1919 

1909 

1919 

1909 

1919 

1909 

United  States 

373, 398 

476, 849 

3,551,129 

6, 240, 260 

21,240,960 

21, 633, 579 

South  Carolina 

5,537 

41,-558 
20,413 
25,302 
25,256 
234,049 
18, 867 
2,416 

7,053 
37,046 
12,928 
27,211 
24, 861 
329,684 
34,315 
3,751 

34,947 
365,603 
179, 573 
208, 342 
186,283 
2,435,683 
130,943 
9,755 

59, 865 
317,460 
142, 517 
226,634 
222,600 
4,941,996 
307,502 

21,886 

563, 963 
7,052,984 
3,675,249 
3,235,231 
3,015,956 
1,899,423 
1,631,459 

166,705 

881, 558 

Georgia 

5, 533, 520 

Florida 

2,533,096 

Alabama 

3,078,531 

Mississippi 

2, 920, 519 

Louisiana 

4,125,083 

Texas.        

2, 246, 774 

All  other  States .        .  . 

314,498 

SUGAR   BEETS. 

The  acreage  of  sugar  beets  grown  for  sugar  in  the  United  States  in  1919  was  636,414, 
as  compared  with  360,433  in  1909.  The  production  in  1919  was  5,993,409  tons,  as 
against  3,902,071  tons  in  1909,  representing  an  increase  of  2,091,338  tons,  or  53.6  per 
cent. 

The  leading  States  in  the  production  of  sugar  beets  in  1919  were  Colorado,  with 
1,658,167  tons;  Michigan,  with  1,025,550  tons;  Utah,  with  930,427  tons;  and  Cali- 
fornia, with  666,866  tons. 

Sugar  heets,  hy  States:  1919  and  1909. 


State, 


United  States 

Ohio 

Michi'^an 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

Nebraska 

Montana 

Idaho 

Wyoming 

Colorado 

Utah 

Washuigton 

California 

AH  other  States 


Acres. 


1919 


636, 414 


33,561 

106, 450 

12, 737 

7, 009 
54, 486 

8,600 
37, 334 

9,915 

165, 840 

93,  359 

5,363 
88,  257 
13,-503 


1909 


360, 433 


7,009 

78,711 

12,308 

1,030 

4,182 

8,710 

15,598 

1,181 

108, 0C5 

27,  442 

1,270 

78, 671 

16, 316 


Production  (tons). 


1919 


5, 993, 4C9 


365, 415 

1,025,550 

136, 208 

62,  338 
554, 646 

73,  824 
260, 309 

96, 994 

1,058,167 

931;,  427 

46, 386 
666,  866 
126, 279 


1909 


3,902,071 


63, 546 

706, 990 

126. 646 

6,9(2 

39,  756 
108,  776 
179,6.38 

13, 234 

1,230,718 

413,811 

6,  rM 

843, 269 
162, 169 


SORGHUM    GROWN   FOR   SIRUP. 

The  total  acreage  of  sorghum  grown  for  sirup  in  the  United  States  in  1919  was  482,043, 
as  compared  with  3z6,352i  in  1909.  The  production  of  sorghum  in  1919  was  1,644,100 
tons,  while  the  production  in  1909  was  1,376,487  tons. 

The  production  of  sorghum  sirup  in  1919  was  21,523,025  gallons,  as  compared  with 
16,532,382  gallons  in  19;J9,  representing  an  increase  of  4,990,643  gallons,  or  30.2  per 
cent.  The  figures  for  acreage  and  production  of  sorghum  and  production  of  sirup 
include  estimates  for  incomplete  reports. 

The  leading  States  in  the  production  of  sorghum  sirup  in  1919  were  Alabama,  with 
2,429,302  gallons;  Kentucky,  with  2,044,098  gallons;  Tennessee,  with  1,917,293  gal- 
lons; Georgia,  with  1,820,165  gallons;  and  Mississippi,  with  1,795,368  gallons. 


794  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Sorghum  grown  for  sirup,  by  States:  1919  and  1909. 


State. 


United  States 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsm 

lo  va 

Missouri 

Vira;iaia 

West  \  ir:^inia 

North  Carolina 

South  Carohaa 

Geori^ia 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Ala  ama 

Mississippi 

Ar-Jcansas 

Oklahoma 

Te\as 

All  other  States 


Acres. 


1919 


482, 043 


5, 
12, 
10, 

4, 

9, 
33, 
13, 

8, 
3', 
20, 
37, 
4^, 
49, 
52, 
38, 

H> 
15, 

35, 

11, 


4o4 
3 '7 
».54 
9C6 
98G 
771 
450 
439 
t.24 
431 
311 
968 
131 
4  6 
752 
424 
8, '3 
589 
645 


1909 


323, 352 


4,578 

11,  829 

14,  84-3 

2,244 

4,99t; 

37,47'i 

8, 13C 

8,  .L7 

2J,  6  >2 

6,131 

14, 17u 

52, 858 

4.%  4iU 

1 },  107 

]!>,519 

27, 532 

12,v;4 

lu,175 

11,142 


Production  (tons) 


1919 


1,644,100 


24,2o:i 

52,210 

41 ,  7o7 

18,  225 

45, 34  I 

115, 6J0 

47,011 

3  J,  544 

10  , 403 

69,  865 

142, 261 

151,9ii3 

148,689 

172, '.29 

13 »,  ICu 

129,416 

53,  181 

122, 170 

45, 920 


1909 


1.37c, 487 


28, 137 
77,  600 
89,  421 
13,  498 
.4,597 
176,7)5 
4.},  875 
48, 091 
84,  753 
22, 371 
6u,202 
198, 404 
183, 328 
67, 589 
50, 327 
S3, o41 
35, 195 
3.,  902 
61,391 


Sirup  made  (gallons). 


1919 


21,523,025 


290, 059 

681, 190 

527,981 

2  J7, 277 

087,712 

1,414,222 

538,  774 

451,875 

1,397,980 

900, 206 

i,82J,165 

2,644,098 

1,917,293 

2, 429,  302 

1,7  5,3*18 

1,438,748 

794, 1 '83 

] , 689, 205 

627, 487 


1909 


16,532,382 


354,131 

965,686 
977,238 
13  J,  667 
250.  205 

1,788,3?1 
441,189 
604,  291 

1.099,346 
2f:2, 452 
740^  45C 

2,  733,  683 

2, 076, 339 
809, 361 
<  2i',  356 

1  140,532 

'  514, 807 

448, 185 

564,  763 


MAPLE    SUGAR   AND    SIRUP. 

The  number  of  maple  trees  on  farms  in  the  United  States  which  were  tapped  for 
sugar  and  sirup  in  1919,  according  to  the  I^^ourteenth  Census,  was  17,448,421,  as  com- 
pared with  18,899,533  in  1909. 

The  quantity  of  maple  sugar  made  on  farms  in  1919  was  9,691,624  pounds,  as  com- 
pared with  14,060,206  pounds  in  1909,  repressnting  a  decrease  of  4,368,582  pounds, 
or  31.1  per  cent.  The  production  of  maple  sirup  in  1919  was  3,505,715  gallons,  as 
against  4,106,418  gallons  in  1909,  a  decrease  of  600,703  gallons,  or  14.6  per  cent. 

The  leading  State  s  in  the  production  of  maple  sugar  in  1919  were  Vermont,  with 
6,251,734  pounds;  New  York,  with  2,012,932  pounds;  and  Pennsyhania,  with  525,954 
pounds.     The  States  reporting  the  largest  production  of  maple  sirup  in  1919  were 
New  York,  with  1,080,505  gallons,  Ohio,  with  694,175  gallons;  Vermont,  with  631,924- 
gallons;  and  Pennsylvania,  with  273,762  gallons. 

Maple  sugar  and  sirup,  by  States:  1919  and  1909. 


state. 


United  States 

Maine 

New  Hampshire. . . 

Vermont .>.... 

Massachusetts 

Connecticut 

New  York 

Pennsylvania 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Michigan 

Wisconsin 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Missouri 

Maryland 

Virginia 

West  Virginia 

All  other  States 


Trees  tapped. 


1919 


17, 448, 421 


234, 478 

6i8,  761 

955,  513 

252,  751 

9,023 

826,  924 

020, 181 

269, 199 

558,  368 

38,  3  ^1 

850, 158 

497, 141 

52,  111 

19,838 

33, 615 

74,  549 

23, 618 

73,  518 

10,33i 


1909 


18,  899,  533 


252,  764 
792, 147 

5,  585,  632 

253,  501 
12,  296 

4,  948,  784 

1,  298,  005 

3,170,828 

742,  585 

48,  098 

983,  737 

449,  727 

67,  225 

23, 935 

30,  399 
79, 658 
25,  451 
97,  274 

31,  456 


Sugar  made, 
(pounds). 


1919 


9, 691, 624 


24,  934 

329,  723 

6,  251,  734 

73, 198 

5, 173 

2,  012,  932 

535,  954 

62,  001 

14,  487 

1,  133 

76,  948 

22,  439 

3, 146 

3,130 

.5,0»7 

150,  957 

38,  332 

73,  763 

6,269 


1909 


14,  030,  203 


15,  388 

558,  811 

7,  726,  817 

156,  952 

10,  207 
3, 180,  300 
1, 188,  049 

257,  592 

33,  419 

5,368 

293,  301 
27, 199 

11,  399 
6,173 

11,  638 
351,  998 

44,  973 
140,  050 

60,651 


Sirun  made, 
(gallons). 


1919 


3,  505, 715 


42,144 

112,  824 

631,  924 

57, 950 

2,886 

1,  080,  505 

273,  762 

694, 175 

167,  360 

12, 114 

201,  765 

138, 627 

12,  870 

4,  915 

12,  039 

23, 155 

8,137 

23,  448 

2,135 


1909 


4, 106, 418 


43, 971 

111,  500 

409,  953 

53,  091 

4,236 

993,  242 

391,  242 

1,  323,  -^31 

273,  728 

18,  492 

269,  093 

124, 117 

17,  808 

8,596 

9,389 

12, 172 

6,  046 

31, 176 

5, 135 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IK   HAWAII.  795 

There  appears  in  this  month's  Atlantic  Monthly  a  very  concise 
historical  digest  covering  the  bringing  in  of  the  Japanese  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  and,  without  objection,  1  think  that  might  be 
put  in  the  record  also. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

The  Japanese  in  Hawaii, 
fB.y  William  Harding  Carter.] 

The  recent  census  shows  that  out  of  a  total  population  of  255,912  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  109,269  are  Japanese.  The  increase  in  Japanese  population  since  1910  is 
29,594,  or  37.1  per  cent,  compared  with  18,564,  or  30.4  per  cent  during  the  preceding 
decade.  The  disproportionate  niunber  of  Japanese  in  compaiison  with  that  of  other 
nationalities  in  the  islands  constitutes  an  intricate  and  perplexing  problem,  and  a 
knowledge  of  the_  history  of  Japanese  immigration  is  essential  to  any  proper  con- 
sideration of  the  situation. 

Diplomatic  relations  between  Jaj)an  and  Hawaii  began  with  a  treaty  of  amity  and 
commerce  in  1871.  Scarcity  of  agricultural  labor  in  Hawaii  caused  Hon.  Charles  R. 
Bishop,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  to  take  up  with  the  Hawaiian  consul  in  Tokyo 
the  subject  of  an  arrangement  for  obtaining  laborers  from  Japan,  but  nothing  came 
of  it  until  King  Kalakaua  visited  Japan,  in  1881,  when  the  Hawaiian  minister  of 
immigrition,  Hon.  Williani  Ne^dns  Armstrong,  initiated  negotiations  with  the  Jap- 
anese Government  on  the  subject  of  emigration  of  laborers  from  Japan  to  Hawaii. 

In  1883  Col.  C.  P.  laukea  was  accredited  to  the  Court  of  Japan  as  minister  pleni- 
potentiiry  for  the  speciil  purpose  of  arranging  for  Japanese  immigration  and  was 
instructed  by  the  Hawaiian  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  Hon.  Walter  Murray  Gibson, 
in  this  remarkable  manner: 

"You  will  please  impress  upon  the  mind  of  the  minister  the  very  exceptional 
character  of  these  proposals  and  the  e^'idence  they  afford  of  the  high  value  His  Maj- 
esty's Government  places  upon  the  friendly  alliance  between  this  country  and  Japan 
and  upon  the  Japanese  race  as  a  repopulating  element." 

Later,  under  date  of  July  22,  1885,  Mr.  Gibson  wrote  to  Count  Inouye: 

"I  desire,  in  the  first  place,  to  assure  your  excellency  that,  owing  to  the  strong 
desire  of  Hawaii  to  settle  upon  her  soil  a  kindred  and  kindly  people  like  the  Japanese, 
this  government  is  most  anxious  to  meet  the  views  and  requirements  of  Japan  on 
all  points." 

Under  date  of  January  21,  1886,  the  Hawaiian  consul  general  at  Tokyo,  Mr.  R.  W. 
Irwin,  wrote  to  Count  Inouye: 

"I  accept  unreservedly  the  terms  and  conditions  laid  down  in  your  excellency's 
communication  of  yesterday,  and  I  am  prepared  to  sign  the  immigration  convention." 

The  Hawaiian  minister  of  oreign  affairs,  under  date  of  March  5,  1886,  wrote  to 
Count Inouye: 

"Mr.  Irwin  unreservedly  accepts  these  sipulations,  and  I  have  now  the  honor  to 
accept  his  engagement  and  to  confirm  on  the  part  of  His  Majesty's  Government  the 
several  subsidiary  agreements  referred  to,  in  so  far  as  may  be  consonant  with  the 
constitution  of  the  kingdom  and  His  Majesty's  treaty  obligations  with  foreign  powers." 

Count  Okuma  in  reply  informed  Mr.  Irwin: 

"I  accept  your  assurances  in  these  regards,  as  well  as  other  particulars  specified  in 
your  communication,  as  an  authorized  statement  of  the  obligations  which  your  gov- 
ernment assumes  in  the  premises,  and  I  shall  so  regard  the  understanding  as  binding 
on  our  respective  Governments,  subject  to  the  right  of  revoking  same,  either  in  whole 
or  in  part,  which  is  specifically  reserved  to  me." 

In  1885  there  were  less  than  50  Japanese  in  Hawaii,  but  under  the  encouragement 
of  the  terms  of  the  treaty  the  number  increased  to  20,000  in  10  years,  at  which  time 
Japan  demanded  the  exclusion  of  any  more  Chinese  laborers. 

Foreseeing  future  complications,  the  constitution  of  1887  was  made  to  limit  the 
franchise  to  "every  male  resident  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hawaii,  of  American  or  European 
birth  or  descent,  who  shall  have  taken  an  oath  to  support  the  constitution  and  laws, 
and  shall  know  how  to  read  or  write  either  the  Hawaiian,  English,  or  some  European 
language." 

In  tiie  following  year,  1888,  demands  for  the  franchise  for  the  Japanese  began,  and 
continued,  as  a  dioiomatic  bone  of  contention  along  the  line  of  favored-nation  clauses, 
until  189  >,  when  Mr.  Fujii,  consul  general,  made  a  categ'jrical  demand  upon  President 
Dole  for  the  granting  of  the  franchise  by  the  provisional  government — which  had 
superseded  the  monarchy — to  all  Japanese  in  Hawaii,  including  field  laborers  brought 


i 


796  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

under  contract,  over  whom  the  Japanese  Government  retained  control  by  withholding 
25  per  cent  of  their  wages. 

President  Dole  explained  that  there  could  be  no  foundation  in  law,  reason,  or  the 
usages  of  nations  for  one  nation  to  demand  of  another,  as  a  right,  permission  for  its 
subjects  to  cast  off  their  allegiance  and  acquire  citizenship  in  another  country.  The 
relation  of  scjvereign  and  subject,  State  and  citizen,  comprises  an  obligation  between 
the  governing  authority  and  the  individual;  otherwise  an  overcrowded  country  could 
unload  its  surplus  population  upon  a  smaller  country,  and  by  the  utilization  of  the 
enforced  franchise  eventually  and  legally  absorb  the  smaller  country.  This,  in  the 
last  analysis,  would  result  from  the  democratic  theory  that  government  should  follow 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

Folio  ring  the  establishment  of  the  Republic  of  Hawaii,  the  immigration  conven- 
tion lapsed,  but  Japanese  continued  to  arrive  as  free  immigrants  in  greater  numbers 
than  before,  5,129  haing  arrived  in  1896.  Matters  were  reaching  a  serious  condition 
by  reasm  of  the  heavy  immigration.  It  was  necessary  to  end  a  situation  which 
threatened  to  jeopardize  the  continued  development  of  Hawaii  along  Anglo-Saxon 
lines;  anl  under  the  terms  of  the  general  statutes  of  Hawaii  nearly  1,500  Japanese 
who  arrived  were  denied  entrance. 

The  nath/e  Hawaiian  population  has  been  disappearing  in  about  the  same  ratio 
in  which  that  of  the  Japanese  has  increased.  Some  of  the  early  explorers  estimated 
the  nati'^e  population  of  the  group  of  islands  as  high  as  250,000;  but  in  1832  a  census 
was  taken,  and  showed  onl  v  130,313.  Twenty  years  later  the  population  had  dwindled 
to  71,019,  of  whom  2,119  were  foreigners.  Improved  agricultural  conditions,  incident 
to  the  reciprocity  treaty  with  the  United  States,  turnecl  the  tide,  and  in  1896  the  total 
population  was  109,020,  of  whom  only  39,504  were  Hawaiians.  The  census  of  1910 
showed  only  26,041  Hawaiians,  and  the  new  census,  that  of  1920,  fshows  that  the 
number  of  natives  has  declined  to  23,723. 

While  the  native  Hawaiian  race  is  steadily  disappearing,  it  still  exercises  power  in 
local  political  matters  through  the  considerable  number  of  half-castes,  born  of  inter- 
marriages of  whites  and  Chinese  with  Hawaiians,  who  now  number  18,027,  and  are 
steaiily  increa'^ing.  There  is  practically  none  of  the  populating  by  mixing  of" races, 
anticipated  when  the  Japanese  were  invited  to  settle  in  the  islands.  The  Japanese 
men  marry  only  Japanese  women,  and  their  children  are  habitually  registered  as 
Japanese  with  officials  of  their  ovrn  Government.  A  large  proportion  of  them  are  sent 
back  to  Japan  for  part  of  their  education.  The  younger  children  attend  both  the 
public  schools  of  Hawaii  and  private  Japanese  schools.  The  number  of  Japanese 
women  in  Hawaii  has  increased  rapidly — the  ratio  of  women  to  men  having  nearly 
doubled  since  1900 — and  now  is  42.7  per  cent.  The  Japanese  have  increased  in 
number  since  the  census  of  1910  by  29,599,  and  with  Filipinos  comprise  three-fourths 
of  the  total  increase. 

The  main  elements  of  population,  other  than  Hawaiians  and  Japanese,  are  Chinese, 
Portuguese,  Filipinos,  Porto  Ricans,  and  Spaniards.  Americans,  British,  and  Ger- 
mans have  been  more  powerful  in  commercial  and  financial  interests  than  in  numbers. 

The  islands  are  fertile,  their  location  is  of  immense  and  growing  importance,  and 
altogether  they  constitute  a  vital  element  in  the  future  problems  of  the  Pacific.  The 
United  States  arrived  at  their  possession  through  a  process  of  stumbling,  and  doubt- 
less the  great  problems  arising  from  the  commercial  and  strategic  position  of  the 
islands  will  be  met  in  the  same  way. 

If  there  is  no  objection,  Mr.  Cable  desires  to  add  to  the  brief  he  has 
prepared,  and  he  will  read  it  to  the  committee  in  the  course  of  time. 
It  is  a  continuation  of  the  statement  he  made  yesterday  afternoon. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  been  working  on  a  brief  to  go  into  these  hear- 
ings before  we  get  through,  and  which  I  intended  to  use  before  the 
committee.  If  there  is  no  objection,  I  will  have  it  printed  in  the 
hearings. 

The  Chairman.  All  of  the  matter  on  yesterday  in  executive  ses- 
sion was  taken  down,  and  it  might  be  a  better  plan  to  have  it  carried 
as  a  part  of  the  proceedings  of  the  executive  session  on  yesterday. 
We  might  print  as  a  part  of  those  proceedings  Mr.  Cable's  additional 
statement,  Mr.  Raker's  statement,  and  Mr.  Wilson's  statement. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  do  not  know  that  I  will  prepare  any  statement. 

The  Chairman.  If  you  are  ready  to  proceed,  Mr.  Gompers,  we 
will  hear  you  now. 


LABOR  PllOBJLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  797 

STATEMENT  OF  ME.  SAMUEL  GOMPEES,  PEESIDEMT  OF  THE 
AMEEICAM  FEDEEATIOJ^I  OF  LABOE,  WASHIMGTOM,  D.  G. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Because  of  evidence  submitted  and  testimony  given, 
I  feel  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  make  some  observations  in  connec- 
tion with  the  subject  in  my  mind,  and  which,  no  doubt,  is  in  the  minds 
of  all  the  members  of  the  committee.  I  have  reference  to  the  state- 
ments made  by  Mr.  Wright  and  by  Mr.  Chilton  that  their  expenses 
in  whole  or  in  part  were  paid  by  contributions  of  Japanese  in  Hono- 
lulu. Yvhiie  that  was  brought  out  in  this  committee  so  far,  I  imagine, 
as  the  members  of  the  committee  were  informed,  or  the  representa- 
tives of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  were  informed,  for  the 
first  time,  or  it  was  not  known  until  those  statements  were  made  by 
those  two  men  before  this  committee.  Yet,  it  is  quite  evident  from 
the  newspapers  or  daily  newspapers  published  in  Hawaii,  as  well  as 
from  the  Labor  Review,  published  by  the  Central  Labor  Union,  that 
it  was  well  known  in  Hawaii,  and  that  no  secrecy  was  maintained 
or  attempted  to  be  maintained  except  as  to  the  personnel  of  the  con- 
tributors. 

Now,  whatevbf  the  facts  are,  these  men  were  5,000  miles  away  from 
Washington,  with  six  and  a  half  days  passage  across  the  ocean  to  the 
mainland  from  Honolulu  before  ttiem,  and  with  3,000  miles  before 
them  after  landing  on  the  mainland  in  California  in  order  to  reach 
Washington,  and  we  can  well  understand  how  sometimes  men  are 
driven  to  desperation  in  an  effort  to  help  in  a  just  cause  or  to  protest 
against  an  improper  and  unjust  course.  I  do  not  exculpate  these 
men;  I  do  not  stand  for  any  such  procedure;  nor  do  those  with  whom 
I  am  associated  in  the  American  labor  movement.  I  regard  it  as  an  y 
almost  inexcusable  blunder  on  the  part  of  the  organization  at  Hono- 
lulu, or  the  men  themselves,  to  seek  contributions  from  Japanese. 
I  can  understand  their  straits.  I  think  I  have  some  understanding  of 
men  and  of  the  operations  of  their  minds.  Knowing  that  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii  had  created  a  commission  to  come  to  Washington,  or 
with  authority  to  come  to  Washington,  and  try  to  prevail  upon 
Congress  to  secure  some  remedy  for  what  they  call  their  labor  short- 
age condition  in  Hawaii;  knowing  that  they  had  come  here  and  were 
having  introduced,  or  causing  to  be  introduced,  or  influencing  the 
introduction  of,  a  joint  resolution  that  would  admit  Chinese  coolies 
in  bond  to  come  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands;  knowino*  that  the  governor 
of  tiawaii  in  appointing  the  committee  or  commission,  as  authorized 
by  the  legislative  act  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  had  appointed  a 
committee  or  an  emergency  committee  on  labor  or  labor  conditions, 
and  had  appointed  three  men,  with  all  the  retinue  that  followed, 
with  not  one  man  of  them  engaged  in  any  way  with  what  is  generally 
known  by  the  term  labor,  organized  or  unorganized,  these  men  in 
that  desperate  situation  might  do  those  things. 

The  Chairman.  I  object  a  little  bit  to  the  statement  of  Wright  and 
Chilton,  and  particularly  of  Wright,  from  the  fact  that  he  sent  a 
cablegram  here  in  which  he  referred  to  the  strike,  and  bearing  upon 
a  phase  of  the  question  before  the  committee  and  on  which  we  were 
hearing  evidence,  in  which  he  insisted  that  the  strike  did  not  take  on 
any  nationalistic  character.  Now,  other  information  has  come  to  me 
to  the  effect  that  the  grand  jury  over  there  within  the  last  day  or  two 
has  indicted  18  or  20  of  those  Japanese,  upon  certain  confessions  that 


798  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

had  been  made,  that  they  had  formed  an  organization  and  called 
themselves  an  assassins'  band  for  the  purpose  of  committing  sabotage, 
burning  houses,  cane,  and  committing  acts  of  that  kind.  It  was  an 
entirely  Japanese   organization. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Does  that  have  anything  to  do  with  this  investiga- 
tion ?  How  does  that  affect  the  investigation  which  this  committee  is 
making,  or  the  investigation  I  suppose  it  is  making  ? 

The  Chairman.  I  will  say  that  this  committee,  after  full  considera- 
tion, decided  to  go  into  all  phases  of  the  Japanese  situation  as  affecting 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  Permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  this  fact,  Mr. 
Chairman,  that  before  you  read  the  article  printed  in  the  Japanese 
language  in  the  Labor  Review,  and  before  you  intimated  the  sub- 
stance of  it,  you  declared  that  it  discredited  those  witnesses,  Mr. 
Wright  and  Mr.  Chilton. 

The  Chairman.  And  I  say  so  again. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  If  you  had  said  so,  in  your  judgment,  after  you  read 
it,  it  might  be  a  different  thing,  but  you  declared  that  it  discredited 
their  testimony  before  you  even  read  it. 

The  Chairman.  I  had  read  it. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  knew  you  had. 

The  Chairman.  In  my  opinion,  it  discredited  them,  and  I  still 
hold  to  that  view.  The  attempts  of  the  witness  Wright  to  evade  and 
make  it  appear  that  he  knew  nothing  about  this  collection  of  money 
from  the  Japanese  to  the  extent  of  over  $1,500,  used  for  his  coming  on 
here  in  an  effort  to  show  that  there  is  in  Hawaii  a  Japanese  combi- 
nation calling  itself  a  federation  of  labor,  is  not  a  nationalistic  but  an 
economic  question,  in  my  opinion  discredited  him. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  hope  to  have  a  chance  to  get  at  that,  because 
it  does  not  make  a  jot  of  difference  whether  the  Japanese  movement 
in  Hawaii  was  nationalistic  or  not;  the  fundamental  principle  for 
which  my  associates  in  the  labor  movement  are  contending  and  for 
which  I  am  contending  is  the  principle  of  Americanism.  That  is 
what  we  have  been  contending  for.  We  will  get  at  that  phase  of  it  a 
little  later.  I  might  say  this,  that  the  first  time  that  any  of  my 
associates  or  I  knew  anything  about  the  contribution  by  Japanese 
in  Hawaii  toward  the  expenses  of  these  men  who  came  on  here  was 
when  the  statements  were  made  before  this  committee  day  before 
3^esterday  and  yesterday.  These  men  came  to  Washington  without 
knowledge  in  advance  on  our  part  that  they  were  coming.  We 
received  a  cablegram  or,  at  least,  Mr.  Wallace  received  a  cablegram, 
which  has  been  made  a  part  of  the  testimony,  and  this  second  cable- 
gram, which  was  afterwards  made  a  part  of  the  testimony,  might  be 
designated  as  a  modfied  statement  of  the  first  telegram  received  by 
Mr.  Wallace.  In  one  of  those  cablegrams  it  was  stated  that  a  com- 
mittee could  come  to  Washington,  if  wanted,  I  think,  or  something 
of  that  kind,  indicating  that  a  committee  would  come.  No  reply 
was  made  to  that,  suggesting  or  requesting,  directly  or  indirectly,  that 
we  thought  or  that  any  of  us  thought  that  a  committee  should  come. 
Then  we  received  a  cablegram  that  Mr.  Wright  and  Mr.  Chilton  would 
take  passage  and  come  on  to  Washington. 

I  am  going  to  take  the  committee  and  the  whole  world  into  my 
confidence.  When  that  second  cablegram  came  to  us,  or  to  Mr. 
Wallace,  Mr.  Wallace  showed  it  to  me,  and  there  arose  in  our  minds 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  799 

a  suspicion  that  the  two  men  were  not  representing  the  true  views 
of  white  labor  on  the  island,  and  I  tnink  Mr.  Wallace  so  stated  on 
last  Friday.  At  any  ratx.,  the  statements  in  the  first  cablegram  were 
positive  and  clear,  and  the  statements  in  the  second  cablegram  were 
statements  withdrawing  or  modifying  some  of  the  statements  made 
in  the  first  cablegram,  and  the  fact  that  Chairman  Johnson  of  this 
committee  stated  or  intimated  that  he  knew  the  contents  of  the 
second  cablegram,  indicated,  although,  perhaps,  unwarrantedly,  but 
those  facts  indicated  to  us  that,  while  the  first  cablogram  was  not 
sent,  or  a  copy  of  it  was  not  sent,  to  Chairman  Johnson,  Chairman 
Johnson  had  a  copy  of  the  second  cablegram,  or  he  intimated  or 
stated  that  he  knew  the  contents  of  the  second  cablegram,  and  that 
indicated  to  us  that  there  was  something  like  double  play. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  not  quite  right. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  What  is  not  quite  right? 

Mr.  Johnson.  I  did  not  have  a  copy  of  the  first  cablegram  until 
it  was  furnished  for  the  record. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  said  so. 

The  Chairman.  I  saw  no  copy  of  the  second  cablegram  until  it  was 
presented  at  my  request  and  went  into  the  hearing.  That  was  after 
you  arrived.  I  had  no  knowledge  of  its  contents  or  its  words,  except 
that  one  of  these  commissioners  told  me  that  they  understood  that  a 
cablegram  was  sent  on  here,  and  that  they  had  information  to  the 
effect  that  the  labor  people  were  not  in  accord  with  all  the  statements 
contained  in  the  first  cablegram.  That  was  all  I  knew,  and  as  we 
had  the  first  cablegram  in  the  record,  I  considered  it  my  business  to 
find  out  what  was  in  the  second. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  say 

The  Chairman  (interposing).  I  do  not  want  to  be  charged  with 
having  inside  knowledge.  I  am  not  gumshoeing  in  this  matter,  and 
when  I  received  that  information  it  became  my  duty  to  get  the  second 
cablegram. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  On  Monday  morning,  about  two  or  three  weeks  ago, 
a  committee  consisting  of  nine  members  of  the  American  labor  move- 
ment, of  which  I  was  one,  came  to  this  room  and  had,  by  prearrange- 
ment,  a  conference  v/ith  Chairman  Johnson  of  this  committee,  and  at 
that  time  he  displayed  a  knowledge  of  the  second  cablegram. 

The  Chairman.  \Vhat  could  I  say  about  it,  except  that  there  was 
a  second  cablegram  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  A  second  cablegram  modifying  the  statements  made 
in  the  first  cablegram. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  that  is  correct,  except  that  the  arrange- 
ment with  Mr.  Gompers's  committee  to  come  here  v\ras  not  by  any 
prearrangement.  I  was  asked  if  I  would  see  Mr.  Gompers,  and  I  said 
I  would  be  glad  to  see  him.  I  said  I  would  be  glad  to  have  him  come 
here.  An  hour  was  fixed.  Then,  to  my  great  surprise,  in  came  Mr. 
Gompers  with  eight  or  nine  persons,  only  three  or  four  of  whom  I 
knew  personally.  I  asked  Mr.  Gompers  if  he  thought  that  it  was  to  be 
a  committee  meeting,  and  we  talked  about  the  advisability  of  calling 
in  the  committee.     I  thought  it  was  just  to  be  a  call. 

Mr.  Gompers.  On  Friday  night  previous  to  my  call  here  we  had  a 
meeting  of  the  labor  legislative  agents  here  at  Washington,  at  which 
we  took  into  consideration  this  joint  resolution  which  had  been  intro- 
duced by  the  delegates  from  Hawaii,  and  it  was  decided  then  that  this 


800  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN    HAWAII. 

committee  sliould  seek  a  conference  with  Mr.  Johnson,  the  chairman 
of  this  committee,  and  to  be  arranged,  if  possible,  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, and  that  Mr.  Gompers  be  one  of  that  committee.  Mr.  Wallace 
was  comjQiissioned  to  try  and  see  you,  sir,  and  endeavor  to  make  the 
arrangement. 

The  Chairman.  But  he  failed  to  inform  me  that  it  was  a  com- 
mittee. I  do  not  think  it  is  of  any  consequence  one  way  or  the  other, 
except  that  had  I  known  a  committee  would  call  I  would  have  been 
glad  to  have  had  the  entire  House  Committee  on  Immigration  and 
Naturalization  present  in  order  to  save  time  and  get  along  faster. 
But  there  was  a  misunderstanding  on  your  part  in  thinking  that  an 
arrangement  was  made  for  me  to  meet  your  committee,  because  I 
am  positive  no  arrangement  was  made.  I  intended  to  ask  you  to 
call  in  and  have  a  talk,  but  as  you  had  just  returned  from  Denver 
I  assumed  you  were  very  busy,  as  you  are  always  very  busy.  That 
is  all  there  is  to  that. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes;  thank  God,  I  am  always  busy.  I  was  trying 
to  narrate  just  our  own  position  in  the  matter  and  it  is  what  I  have 
stated,  except,  possibly,  Mr.  Johnson  may  have  been  under  the  im- 
pression that  it  was  simply  to  be  a  conference  between  the  two  of 
us  or  a  call  upon  my  part  upon  him.  I  have  no  dispute  v/ith  that 
statement;  he  may  be  right  and  I  assume  he  is.  But  I  repeat  that 
the  receipt  of  this  second  cablegram — and  then  at  the  conference 
with  Chairman  Johnson  of  this  committee  it  appeared  that  he  had 
information,  or  we  were  under  the  impression  that  he  had  a  copy  of 
the  cablegram,  or  that  a  copy  of  the  cablegram  had  been  sent  him, 
pr  at  any  rate  that  he  had  absolutely  accurate  information  as  to  the 
uurport  and  contents  of  the  second  cablegram — aroused  a  feeling  in 
is  that  these  two  men  were  not  toting  straight  with  the  white  workers 
on  Hawaii,  with  the  general  concept  and  policy  of  the  American 
people  and  of  the  American  labor  movement,  of  which  they  were  a 
part. 

Because  of  that  feeling  Mr.  Joseph  Valentine,  president  of  the 
International  Molders'  Union  of  America,  and  vice  president  and 
member  of  the  executive  council  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
being  in  California,  I  sent  him  a  telegram  asking  him  whether  he 
would  not  go  to  Hawaii  as  a  representative  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  and  make  an  investigation  of  all  conditions  prevailing 
there  as  to  Chinese  coolie  labor,  Japanese  labor,  and  white  labor, 
and  report. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  that  being  done  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  That  was  done.  I  am  narrating  the  story.  Mr. 
Valentine  was  not  in  San  Francisco  at  the  time;  he  had  gone  to  a 
conference,  I  think,  in  Los  Angeles,  and  I  received  a  telegraphic  reply 
from  the  secretary  of  the  local  union  of  molders  in  San  Francisco  to 
the  effect  that  Mr.  Valentine  would  return  in  a  fev/  days.  I  ought 
to  correct  my  statement  by  saying  that  my  first  telegram  was  to  the 
secretary  of  the  local  union  of  molders  in  San  Francisco  for  the  in- 
formation of  Mr.  Valentine.  I  received  a  reply  from  Mr.  Valentine 
a  few  days  later  stating  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  go. 

I  then  sent  a  telegram  to  Paul  SchaFrenberg,  of  San  Francisco,  the 
secretary  of  the  California  State  Federation  of  Labor,  and  asked  him 
whether  he  could  make  it  convenient  to  make  such  an  investigation 
in  Hawaii.     He  telegraphed  me  to  the  effect  that  it  would  be  impos- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  801 

sible  to  go  at  that  time,  but  that  he  might  go  very  shortly  and  would 
let  me  know.  He  informed  me,  too,  that  at  my  telegraphed  request 
he  had  had  a  conference  with  Mr.  Wright  and  Mr.  Chilton  in  San 
Francisco  shortly  after  their  arrival,  at  any  rate  within  two  days  of 
their  arrival  at  San  Francisco  from  Honolulu  and  their  departure 
on  the  train  for  Washington.  In  substance  his  telegram  stated  further 
that  he  believed  from  the  conference  with  them  that  these  men  were 
thoroughly  sincere.  He  informed  me  of  the  time  of  the  departure  of 
Mr.  Wright  and  Mr.  Chilton  from  San  Francisco  and  that  they  would 
be  due  in  Washington  about  July  26,  Mr.  Roberts  informs  me.  The 
following  morning  Mr.  Roberts  got  in  touch  with  Mr.  Wright  and  Mr. 
Chilton  over  the  telephone  and  learned  that  they  arrived  the  previous 
night  about  11  o'clock  and  then  went  to  the  National  Hotel  for  the 
night.  Mr.  Roberts  made  that  statement  to  me,  and  I  asked  him  to 
get  in  touch  with  the  men  again  and  ask  them  to  come  to  the  office 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  where  I  would  like  to  have  a 
chat  with  them.  They  came,  I  think,  about  11  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  there  were  present  at  the  conference  Mr.  Wright,  Mr.  Chilton, 
Mr.  Roberts,  Mr.  Oyster,  my  secretary,  Mr.  Chester  M.  Wright,  Mr. 
Edgar  Wallace,  and  Mr.  Frank  Morrison,  secretary  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  I  greeted  them  as  cordially  as  I  would  any 
men,  particularly  men  who  had  come  on  such  a  long  voyage  and  who 
were  about  to  pursue  a  course  entirely  in  accord  with  what  I  be- 
lieved, to  be  just  and  right  and  coming  with  the  assurance  from  Mr. 
Scharrenberg  that  they  were  sincere  men. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Scharrenberg,  by  the  way,  was  a  witness  in 
these  hearings.  He  attended  the  hearings  for  several  days  and  testi- 
fied before  the  committee. 

Mr.  GoxMPERS.  I  was  in  Denver  at  the  time  attending  the  conven- 
tion of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  We  had  a  conference 
lasting  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  I  informed  Mr.  Wright  and 
Mr.  Chilton  that  the  following  evening  there  was  to  be  a  regular,  or 
special  meeting,  called  several  days  before,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering labor  legislation,  legislation  as  it  affected  the  workers,  and 
that  if  they  cared  to  attend  the  meeting  an  invitation  was  extended 
to  them  to  be  in  attendance  so  that  they  might  see  the  character  of 
our  work,  might  understand  what  we  are  aiming  to  do,  probably  carry 
a  bit  of  it  back  to  Hawaii,  and  that  if  they  cared  to  make  a  statement 
upon  this  legislation  to  admit  Chinese  coolies  no  doubt  an  opportunity 
would  be  given  them.  With  that,  that  conference  ended.  The  fol- 
lowing evening  we,  having  under  consideration  three  or  four  bills 
before  Congress — I  may  say  none  of  which  was  of  a  constructive  or 
progressive  character  but  simply  a  fight  for  defense  against  legislation 
unfavorable  to  labor— Mr.  Wright  was  invited  to  make  an  address  or 
make  a  few  remarks;  it  was  probably  10  or  half  past  10  then.  Mr. 
Wright  made  some  interesting  observations  of  a  general  and  of  a 
specific  character,  and  read  the  proposals  which  the  Central  Labor 
Union  of  Honolulu  made  to  the  sugar  planters  or  other  business  men 
as  a  solution,  or  as  a  temporary  solution,  at  least,  of  the  labor  problem 
then  existing  in  Hawaii.  I  may  say  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  it  seemed 
to  impress  all  present,  as  I  know  it  impressed  me,  as  being  a  con- 
structive and  practical  proposition,  and  then  all  thought  that  these 
men  were  insincere  vanished  from  my  mind  and,  I  think,  vanished 
from  the  minds  of  my  associates. 

~AuT)4 — 21 — SEE  7,  PT  2 17 


802  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

I  received  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Scbarrenberg  about  a  week  ago^ 
probably  a  little  less,  in  which  he  said  he  was  then  prepared  to  go  to 
Hawaii  and  make  the  investigation  I  suggested  and  that  he  could 
afford  to  give  four  weeks  to  the  task.  I  telegraphed  him  in  sub- 
stance— I  think  this  was  on  last  Friday,  when  Mr.  Wright  was  on 
the  stand: 

Telegram  received.     Mr.  Wright  on  the  stand  to-day.     Made  an  excellent  witness. 

I  did  not  say  he  was  complimented  by  the  chairman,  but  that 
was  the  fact.  ''Made  an  excellent  witness/'  and  that  the  mission  to 
Hawaii  was  not  immediately  necessary. 

The  Chairman.  I  assumed  that  Mr.  Wright  was  telling  the  truth 
and  I  thanked  him  for  his  patience  in  answering  a  long  series  of  ques- 
tions, covering  several  hours. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Well,  Mr.  Chairman,  let  me  say  this  in  connection 
with  these  two  men— — 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  Have  you  sent  a  telegram  to  Mr.  Schar- 
renberg  stating  that  as  Mr.  Wright  has  shown  the  financial  arrange- 
ment it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  go  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  have  not,  because  there  is  no  investigation  of 
that  necessary.  These  men  have  stated  that  they  received  money 
which  came  through  contributions  from  Japanese,  and  the  testimony 
they  have  given  would  show  clearly  that  the  Japanese  have  not 
received  value  for  their  money.  They  have  shown  the  Japanese  in 
their  true  colors,  and  yet  I  can  understand  how  men  so  far  away 
would  grasp  at  almost  anything  in  order  to  carry  out  an  honest  and 
high  purpose. 

Mr.  Free.  May  I  ask  Mr.  Gompers  a  question  ? 

The  Cpiairman.  Unless  he  wants  to  complete  his  statement. 

Mr.  Free.  I  just  want  to  ask  whether  under  the  circumstances 
you  approve  of  a  man  grasping  at  anything  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  A  drowning  man? 

Mr.  Free.  In  this  situation. 

Mr.  Gompers.  A  desperate  man  ? 

Mr.  Free.  I  am  asking  whether  you  approve  of  men  in  this  desper- 
ate situation  doing  such  a  thing. 

Mr.  Gompers.  No;  I  think  I  have  disavowed  it,  and  I  do  not 
think  there  can  be  any  difference  of  opinion  as  to  my  position  upon 
the  matter  after  the  statement  I  made  yesterday  and  to-day. 

Mr.  Free.  I  thought  it  was  a  little  confused  by  that  suggestion. 

Mr.  Gompers.  No.  I  think  I  did  make  myself  clear,  but  if  I  have 
not  I  would  like  to  know  it.  If  there  is  any  member  of  this  com- 
mittee vfho  has  any  doubt  of  our  disavowal  of  knowing,  directly  or 
indirectly,  either  of  their  coming  here  or  of  their  raising  money  from 
anybody,  particularly  the  Japanese,  I  would  like  to  correct  it.  There 
is  not  anything  that  I  have  to  hide.  I  would  be  perfectly  willing  that 
the  members  of  this  committee,  or  any  committee,  should  come  over 
to  the  office,  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  any  bona  fide  com- 
mittee, and  our  books  will  be  thrown  open  to  them,  ail  our  books,  not 
some  books  but  all  our  books,  and  all  our  accounts,  as  well  as  all  our 
conduct.  I  have  never  written  a  confidential  letter  to  anybody 
which,  if  made  public,  would  reflect  upon  our  movement,  upon  my- 
self, or  any  of  our  officers  or  men.  If  I  have  marked  any  of  my  letters 
confidential,  it  has  been  because  it  would  be  impracticable  to  publish. 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  803 

the  contents  at  that  tmie,  but  the  copybooks,  kept  for  over  41  years 
of  the  existence  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  are  open  to 
anybody,  any  committee,  or  any  respectable  body  of  men.  I  have 
here  the  report  of  the  secretary  which  contains  a  financial  statement 
of  the  receipts  and  expenses  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  for 
three  months  ending  April  30,  1921. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  Mr.  Gompers,  let  me  say 

Mr.  Gompers  (interposing) .  May  I  finish  my  sentence  ? 

The  Chairman  (continuing) .  That  neither  myself  nor  any  member 
of  the  committee  wants  to  discredit  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor.  We  are  highly  pleased  to  learn  that  you  undertook  to  ascer- 
tain the  credibility  of  these  two  men  and  then  thought  their  motives 
were  sincere.  It  remained  for  the  committee,  however,  to  disclose 
the  fact  that  they  were  soliciting  money  and  getting  contributions 
from  the  Japanese,  and  that  one  was  the  editor  and  the  other  the 
business  manager  of  the  labor  paper  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  That 
is  on  them. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  not  on  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  If 
there  is  anything  I  can  say  to  make  that  clear,  we  will  wind  that  up, 
and  I  think  it  is  clear  to  all  the  members  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  would  like  to  finish  my  sentence.  This  is  a  report 
of  every  dollar,  more  or  less,  received  by  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  and  by  whom  or  which  organization  paid.  It  contains  an 
itemized  account,  with  the  dates,  of  every  penny  expended,  to  whom 
paid,  and  for  what  purpose  paid.  These  reports  are  issued  quarterly, 
and  a  summary  of  that  report,  of  the  full  reports  during  the  year, 
are  submitted  to  the  convention  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  prior  to  which  an  auditing  committee  is  created  after  this 
fashion:  The  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  di- 
rected, about  two  weeks  before  the  convention,  to  select  three  national 
or  international  unions,  from  each  of  which  the  executive  officer  is 
to  appoint  one,  and  neither  of  these  three  organizations  knowing 
which  has  been  selected,  and  each  of  them  independently  selecting 
an  auditor,  the  personnel  not  known  either  to  the  president  or  the 
secretary  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  or  the  treasurer, 
and  the  accounts  are  gone  over  penny  for  penny,  day  by  day,  all  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  Does  that  cover  defense  funds  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Defense  funds;  yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Like  the  McNamara  fund,  and  matters  of  that 
kind? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Well,  as  to  the  McNamara  fund,  I  think  we  have  a, 
few  copies  of  that,  and  we  will  very  gladly  show  you  one,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  I  would  like  to  see  it. 

Mr.  Gompers.  It  is  published  in  pamphlet  form;  it  shows  every 
penny  or  dollar  received,  and  every  penny  or  dollar  expended,  and 
a  copy  was  sent  to  the  donors  of  that  fund. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  the  quarterly  itemized  statement,  thus  described 
by  you,  available  to  all  members  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  They  are  sent  to  the  secretaries  of  all  unions. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  it  is  available  if  they  want  it  ? 


804  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Anyone  can  have  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  there  are  no  restrictions  upon  their  showing  it  to 
their  friends  or  anyone  else  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  There  are  no  restrictions  at  all.  I  may  say,  Judge, 
that  for  years  these  financial  accounts  were  published  in  the  monthly 
official  magazine  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  the  American 
Federationist,  but  because  we  were  publishing  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  the  American  Federationist  and  carried  a  bulk  of  matter 
in  these  financial  reports  in  which  no  one  seemed  to  be  interested,  it 
was  deemed  advisable  to  discontinue  their  publication  through  that 
medium. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  you  eliminated  it  from  the  magazine  and  put  it 
in  pampMet  form  so  that  anybody  could  see  it  who  wanted  to  see  it? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Before  we  get  clear  away  from  Wright  and  Chilton, 
how  did  it  happen  that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  or  did  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  revise  the  article  to  be  printed  in  the 
forthcoming  Federationist  and  insert  the  second  cablegram  from 
Wright  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Let  me  say  that  Mr.  Chilton  and  Mr.  Wright  have 
no  more  to  do  with  the  American  Federationist  than  you  have. 

The  ChairMx\n.  I  know  that,  but  the  report  of  the  legislative  com- 
mittee carried  the  original  cablegram  from  Mr.  Wright  and  did  not 
carry  the'  modified  cablegram. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  I  ptm  asking  you  whether  that  has  been  cor- 
rected in  the  publication  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  do  not  know,  sir;  I  do  not  know  whether  the 
report  of  the  legislative  committee  was  prepared  before  or  after  the 
receipt  of  the  second  cablegram;  I  do  not  know,  sir.  But  this  is  the 
report  of  the  legislative  committee  to  me,  through  me  to  the  executive 
council,  and  through  them  to  the  membersliip  of  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  and  to  those  who  are  concerned. 

Mr.  McClellan.  It  was  received  July  5. 

Mr.  Wallace.  How  did  you  get  that  knowledge,  sir  ? 

Mr.  McClellan.  From  the  evidence  given  by  the  witness  that  it 
was  sent  on  July  4,  and  cablegrams  are  customarily  delivered  on  the 
following  day. 

The  Chairman.  Proceed,  Mr.  Gompers. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Everybody  seems  to  have  inside  information. 

Mr.  McClellan.  That  is  not  inside  information;  it  was  given 
here. 

The  Chairman.  Never  mind  that.     Proceed,  Mr.  Gompers. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Perhaps  I  did  not  hear  accurately  the  translation 
of  the  article  in  the  Honolulu  labor  paper  from  the  Japanese  language 
into  the  English  language,  as  made  by  the  Library  of  Congress^  and 
I  am  not  quite  sure  whether  when  it  speaks  of  ^^we"  and  ''our"  it 
has  reference  to  the  Central  Labor  Council  of  Honolulu. 

If  Mr.  Wright  is  in  the  room,  I  think  I  should  like  to  ask-  him,  if  1 
may  be  permitted,  or  to  have  a  member  of  the  committee  ask  him,  in 
what  sense  the  editorial  ''we"  and  "our"  are  contained  in  that 
editorial  or  article  appearing  in  the  Labor  Review  in  the  Japanese 
language,  of  which  a  translation  was  read  here  this  morning. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  805 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Wright  does  not  appear  to  be  present.  I  will 
hand  these  papers  to  you.  To  my  mind,  it  appears  that  the  one 
headed  ^^An  Appeal  to  Our  Laborers"  is  a  Japanese  translation  in 
the  labor  paper  of  the  English  article  which  I  read  from  the  first 
column  of  the  paper.  The  other  article,  headed  ^'The  coolie  bill  (a 
side  view  of  the  program  of  importing  coolies) — Small  knowledge, 
small  wit,  small  policy,  not  wise  at  this  time — ^Farmers  need  farmers' 
spirit,"  is  a  straight-out  Japanese  editorial.  They  use  the  form  '^  we." 
That  makes  it  clear  enough,  I  think,  that  they  are  securing  funds 
from  all  hands  and  all  races. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  I  do  not  know  that  I  heard  it  correctly,  and  I  should 
prefer  to  examine  the  statement  itself  before  I  would  assume  that 
your  interpretation  was  correct. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  a  question  I  would  like  to  ask,  if  I  may  inter- 
rupt you  now 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  It  does  not  make  much  difference. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  felt  like  yourself  when  the  statement  was  made  by 
Mr.  Wright,  followed  by  the  statement  of  Mr.  Chilton,  regarding  con- 
tributions by  Japanese.  It  was  a  sort  of  thunderbolt  presented  to 
the  committee.  These  men  were  representing,  as  I  thought  from 
what  was  testified  to  by  Mr.  Wright,  the  American  organization  of 
labor  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Now,  you  heard  Mr.  Wright's  testi- 
mony, did  you  not,  or  practically  all  of  it  ? 

Mi'.  GoMPERS.  Yes,  sir;  every  word  of  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  stated  that  while  the  Japanese  contributed,  they 
did  not  get  the  worth  of  their  money;  or  I  so  understood  you.  I  have 
been  listening,  but  I  have  not  come  to  any  conclusion  on  that,  and 
I  am  wondering  now  if  you  would  tell  the  committee,  giving  careful 
attention  to  it,  whether  or  not,  to  your  mind,  there  was  any  testi- 
mony given  by  Mr.  Wright  that  reflected  upon  the  attitude  of  Ameri- 
can labor,  or  that  gave  any  advantage  to  the  Japanese  situation  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  as  against  the  attitude  that  American  labor 
is  taking  toward  their  presence  in  this  country,  and  the  position 
that  they  are  taking  in  Hawaii,  as  well  as  in  the  Pacific  Coast 
States  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  think  that  Mr.  Wright's  testimony  is  a  valuable 
and  accurate  contribution  to  the  discussion  of  this  question  of  Chi- 
nese coolies  and  having  them  to  enter  into  Hawaii.  If  I  have  any 
criticism  to  make  of  Mr.  Wright's  testimony — that  is,  so  far  as  he 
was  discussing  the  subject — it  is  that  he  was  too  modest  and  all  too 
conservative  in  his  statements,  and  it  was  upon  that  that  I  based 
my  remark  that  the  Japanese  got  very  poor  value  for  their  contri- 
butions toward  these  men  coming  to  the  United  States.  May  I  say 
this,  that  so  thoroughly  persuaded  were  my  associates  and  I  that  we 
suggested  to  Mr.  Wright  and  Mr.  Chilton  that  they  appear  before 
this  committee  and  make  their  statements,  and  we  stated  to  them 
that  a  plain  statement  of  the  facts  was  all  that  would  be  necessary 
for  them  to  make— that  is,  as  they  had  presented  them  to  us  or  in 
part  to  us;  and  I  think,  in  truth,  that  if  these  men  had  sent  on  the 
statement  as  made  by  Mr.  Wright  before  this  committee,  or  had 
sent  it  on  to  us  for  presentation  to  this  committee,  it  would  have  been 
better.  However,  I  can  understand  the  situation.  I  have  not  spoken 
to  those  gentlemen  since — not  that  I  will  not  do  so  or  that  I  will 
not  gladly  do  so,  and  seek  it  from  them  if  I  can  not  get  it  any  other 


806  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

way^ — but  the  fact  is,  as  I  thoroughly  believe,  although  I  have  not 
asked  them,  that  Mr.  Wright  having  business  before  the  naval  wage 
board  was  the  principal  incentive  for  his  coming,  and  that  later 
developed  the  thought  of  sending  these  two  men  of  the  commission 
here. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  want  to  interrupt  Mr. 
Gompers,  and  I  would  like  to  agree  with  him — - — 

The  Chairman.  I  would  rather  that  gentlemen  not  on  the  com- 
mittee would  not  interrupt  him,  unless  he  is  willing  to  be  interrupted. 

Mr.  Gompers.  At  any  time,  except  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  I 
am  perfectl}^  willing  to  be  interrupted. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  would  like  to  agree  with  Mr.  Gompers  that 
the  Japanese  will  not  get  their  money's  worth  out  of  the  trip  of  those 
men  here,  unless  Congress  decides  not  to  give  any  legislative  relief 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  Mr.  Chairman,  that  kind  of  stuff  pre- 
sented to  this  committee  is  an  insult  to  this  committee,  and  I  do  not 
propose  to  sit  here  and  listen  to  statements  of  that  kind.  I  say  that 
it  is  a  direct  personal  insult  to  every  member  of  the  committee,  and 
I  want  to  say  to  you,  sir,  that  you  have  no  right  to  make  any  such 
statement.  You  know  that  it  is  not  true  when  you  make  it,  and  I 
will  not  patiently  submit 

Mr.  Dillingham  (interposing).  I  know  that  it  is  true. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  know  it  is  not  true.  I  will  not  submit  to  that  kind 
of  statement.  We  have  some  rights  here  as  American  citizens  and 
as  Members  of  the  House,  and,  whether  those  men  told  the  truth  or 
told  lies,  that  does  not  affect  the  legal  phase  of  this  resolution,  and 
I  say  that  no  man  should  come  in  here  and  charge  that  unless  we 
grant  this  resolution,  we  are  in  sympathy  with  what  Wright  did 
with  reference  to  the  Japanese.     I  do  not  propose  to  submit  to  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  make  the  motion  that  the  witness, 
Mr.  Gompers,  be  permitted  to  proceed  without  further  interruption 
until  20  minutes  to  12  o'clock. 

The  Cpiairman.  You  have  heard  the  motion.  Is  there  any  dis- 
cussion ? 

(The  motion  of  Mr.  Cable  was  adopted  by  the  committee.) 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  have  here  a  copy  of  the  American  Federationist 
for  August,  1921.  On  page  628  is  published  '^American  Federation 
of  Labor  Warning  to  Advertisers."  Since  1901,  every  issue  of  the 
American  Federationist  has  carried  a  warning  to  business  men  and 
others  against  imposition  on  the  part  of  those  who,  without  sanction 
of  any  kind  from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  or  its  officers, 
assume  to  speak  in  the  name  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
The  credentials  given  to  men  who  solicit  advertisements  for  the 
American  Federationist  state  that  no  moneys  or  donations  of  any 
kind  can  be  received  for  any  purpose.  The  contract,  which  every 
advertiser  who  enters  into  a  contract  with  us  or  with  our  agents, 
contains  this  statement  in  red  ink: 

Make  all  remittances  to  Frank  Morrison,  secretary  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  American  Federation  of  Labor  Building,  Washington,  D.  C,  who  is  the  only- 
one  authorized  to  receive  payment  on  this  contract. 

All  the  payments  of  whatever  kind  are  published  in  these  quarterly 
reports.  I  think  I  have  made  that  clear,  or,  at  least,  sufficiently  so 
to  my  own  mind. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAAVAIL  SQ^ 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  our  Chinese 
problem  followed  the  Burlingame  treaty  of  July  28,  1868.  After  it 
came  myriads  of  Chinese  coolies  to  the  United  States  and  to  its  terri- 
tories. Later,  and  during  that  period,  quite  a  number  of  our  present 
American  possessions  were  independent  or  belonged  to  some  other 
country.  The  Burlingame  treaty  brought,  as  I  have  said,  myriads 
of  Chinese,  until  in  the  Pacific  Coast  States,  particularly  in  California, 
there  was  aroused  a  feeling  of  indignation  and  of  conscious  danger. 
I  wish  here  to  pay  tribute  to  the  sand-lot  orator  of  California,  Dennis 
Kearney,  who  helped  so  much  to  arouse  the  conscience  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  against  this  danger.  In  1881  the  first  convention  of  our 
federation  was  held,  and  we  had  several  delegates  from  the  Pacific 
coast.  One  of  them  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Charles  F.  Burgman, 
who  later  in  the  convention  was  made  a  member  of  our  executive 
committee.  At  that  convention  he  with  others  helping  him — and  I 
am  proud  of  having  been  of  some  assistance  in  advocating  the  passage 
of  the  preamble  and  resolution — had  this  resolution  adopted,  which 
I  shall  read.  This  is  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  first  convention 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  held  in  Pittsburg,  beginning 
November  15,  1881: 

Whereas,  The  experience  of  the  last  30  years  in  California  and  on  the  Pacific  coast 
having  proved  conclusively  that  the  presence  of  Chinese,  and  their  competition  with 
free  white  labor,  is  one  of  the  greatest  e^dls  with  which  any  country  can  be  afflicted: 
Therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  use  our  best  efforts  to  get  rid  of  this  monstrous  evil  (which 
threatens,  unless  checked,  to  extend  to  other  parts  of  the  union)  by  the  dissemination 
of  information  respecdng  its  true  character,  and  b;-  urging  upon  our  representati^/es 
in  the  United  States  Congress  the  absolute  necessitv  of  passing  laws  entirely  pro- 
hibiting the  immigration  of  (  hinese  into  the  United  States. 

That  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  being  one 
of  the  members,  or  the  vice  president,  of  the  executive  board  of  that 
Federation,  I  helped  materially,  I  think,  unless  I  overvalue  the 
service  I  rendered,  in  arousing  the  conscience  and  understanding  of 
our  people  in  the  United  States  against  this  further  encroachment 
upon  our  standards  of  life,  our  racial  standing,  and  our  civilization. 
Whether  that  helped  efi^ectively  or  not,  is,  perhaps,  immaterial,  but 
the  fact  is  that  Congress  did  pass  a  law  regulating  and  limiting  the 
coming  of  Chinese  coolies  into  the  United  States.  During  that 
period  when  the  Chinese  had  almost  full  sway  in  California  many 
trades  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  white  workingmen.  The  sugar 
industry  was  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  Chinese  coolies. 

The  cigar  manufacturing  industry,  which  is  my  trade,  or  the  trade 
of  cigar  making,  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  white  labor.  There  was 
not  a  white  man  in  California  who  was  in  the  cigar  business  so  far  as 
the  manufacture  of  cigars  was  concerned.  We  were  confronted  by 
many  conditions  in  my  trade.  One  of  them  was  the  convict  labor 
system,  by  which  in  prisons  cigars  were  made  under  contract  and 
-sold  on  a  constantly  depressing  market.  There  was  also  the  tenement 
house  system  or  home  work,  in  which  the  bed  rooms  of  the  workers 
were  cigar  factories.  Then  there  were  the  Chinese  cigar  manufac- 
turers. All  of  those  conditions  drove  our  business  very  nearly  to  a 
peddling  business  and  to  a  sweat  shop  and  Chinese  coolie  industry. 
There  were  a  few  of  us  who  were  willing  to  fight  against  what  we 
believed  was  a  gross  injustice  to  white  labor.     Let  me  tell  you  an 


808  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

instance  that  may  be  of  passing  interest  to  you.  Whatever  was  left 
of  the  cigar-makers'  union,  of  which  I  was  and  am  a  member  and 
officer,  is  due  to  this :  We  gathered  ourselves  together  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  and  entered  into  an  agreement  to  charter  one  or  two 
trains,  starting  from  the  Grand  Central  Station  in  New  York,  and 
gathering  men  all  along  the  road  in  every  locality,  and  I  mean  by 
that  white  men. 

That  train,  with  these  men  and  officers  of  the  International  Cigar 
Makers'  Union,  was  to  go  to  San  Francisco,  where  they  were  to  open 
up  factories^^mall  in  number,  small  in  size,  but  still  going  on — and 
that  caravan  of  humans  carried  the  message  of  white  labor  against 
coolie  labor  to  California.  They  went  into  every  part  of  that  State 
and  there  were  no  more  progressive  men  or  more  public  spirited  men 
than  those  men  who  went  there  and  those  who  followed  them,  in 
order  to  make  the  cigar  industry  a  white  man's  trade. 

If  I  fail  to  present  the  matters  which  I  have  in  mind  in  logical  form, 
I  hope  I  may  present  them  in  such  form  as  will  be  more  connected, 
one  with  the  other,  and  if  there  are  references  in  my  remarks  and 
testimony  that  are  not  immediately  relevant,  they  may  be  subse- 
quently supported. 

In  1892  the  convention  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
adopted  the  following  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  the  American,  Federation  of  Labor  indorse  the  position  of  the  labor 
organizations  of  the  Pacific  coast  in  asking  that  cheap  Japanese  laborers  to  be  placed 
upon  the  same  status  as  the  Chinese  laborers. 

In  1903,  the  following  was  also  adopted  by  the  convention  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor: 

Separate  and  apart  from  all  other  questions  of  immigration  is  the  one  that  confronts 
us  in  the  form  of  Mongolian.  We  have  a  law,  secured  through  our  efforts,  excluding 
Chinese  from  the  mainland  of  the  United  States,  and  by  proclamation  they  are  pro- 
hibited from  emigrating  to  the  United  States  possessions.  Efforts,  however,  have  been 
made  to  make  it  appear  that  Chinese  are  necessary  to  the  industry  of  the  American 
possessions. 

That  this  claim  is  unfounded  is  demonstrated  not  only  b}'  the  investigation  made 
by  the  representatives  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  sent  to  Hawaii,  China, 
Japan,  and  the  Philippine  Islands,  but  is  borne  out  by  the  statements  of  native  and 
American  workmen  to  the  effect  that  there  are  sufficient  numbers  of  men  to  perform 
all  the  work  and  all  the  time  to  work  which  now  or  which  may  in  the  near  future  be 
required;  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  in  the  Philippines  there  are  more  Chinamen,  half- 
breed  Chinamen,  than  is  good  for  either  the  industrial  development  of  the  island  or 
the  economic,  social,  and  political  interests  of  the  PhilUipine  people.  In  Hawaii 
the  Japanese  have  invaded  every  industry  and  calling,  and  there,  as  well  as  in  several 
sections  of  the  mainland  of  the  United  States,  have  become  and  are  a  growing  menace 
to  the  well-being  of  our  people.  From  every  section  comes  a  complaint  and  the 
warning  that  unrestricted  Japanese  immigration  is  as  grave  a  danger  to-day  as  was 
at  any  time  in  our  history  the  unrestricted  immigration  of  Chinese.  This  convention 
should  emphatically  declare  its  position  upon  the  immigration  question,  not  only 
from  continental  Europe  ])Ut  from  China  and  Japan  into  the  mainland  and  the  insular 
possessions  of  the  United  States. 

The  following  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  1903  convention  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor: 

Resolved  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  That  it  deem  it  absolutely  necesssary 
for  the  preservation  and  advancement  of  the  natives  of  the  Philippine  and  Hawaiian 
Islands,  to  whom  the  American  Government  has  made  solemn  pledges  of  protection, 
that  the  Chinese  exclusion  act  be  made  to  apply  to  the  Japanese  and  Koreans  and 
other  Asiatic  Mongolian  labor;  also  that  the  present  Chinese  exclusion  act  continue 
in  full  force  in  the  Philippine  and  Hawaiian  Islands;  and  further 


LABOK   THOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  809 

Resolied,  That  the  incorain"-  executive  council  is  hereby  required  to  instruct  the 
legislative  committee  to  have  introduced  in  Congress  a  bill  embodying  tlie  spirit  of 
these  resolutions. 

In  reference  to  a  part  which  Mr.  Cable,  a  member  of  this 
committee,  read,  I  think  it  has  reference  to  the  organic  act.  The 
provision  in  that  organic  act,  referring  to  the  abolition  of  peonage 
in  Hawaii,  and  that  a  marshal  of  the  United  States  Government 
should  go  to  the  Islands  and  inform  each  peon  that  he  is  free  and  no 
longer  a  bondman,  was  put  in  the  act  upon  the  request  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  made  to  Senator  Hoar, 
of  Massachusetts  who,  when  informed  by  our  representatives,  by 
representatives  of  labor,  that  peonage  would  continue  in  Hawaii 
unless  some  provision  was  made  in  the  organic  act  abolishing  it,  was 
astounded.  lie  then  immediately  proposed  it  either  before  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Senate  or  before  the  Senate,  and  it  became  a  part  of 
the  organic  act  passed  by  Congress  and  signed  by  the  President. 

For  about  a  year,  in  1902  or  1903,  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  was  considering  sending  some  one  to  Hawaii  and  to  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  to  ascertain  the  conditions  which  existed  there.  At 
last  we  found  a  man,  Mr.  Edward  Rosenberg,  a  sailor  of  many  years' 
experience  and  following  that  worthy  calling.  He  lived  at  that  time 
in  the  State  of  Washington,  I  believe.  For  one  reason  or  another — 
perhaps  that  he  had  been  overworked  on  land — he  desired  to  make  a 
visit  to  the  Orient,  and  he  merely  wanted  a  part  of  his  passage  paid, 
because  he  could  and  was  willing  to  work  his  way  over  as  a  first-class 
seaman.  Probably  the  chairman  may  know  of  Mr.  Rosenberg.  He 
is  a  Scandinavian  by  birth  but  has  lived  in  the  United  States  since 
his  young  childhood  and  is  an  American  in  every  way,  an  intelligent, 
upright,  and  conscientious  man.  When  I  was  in  San  Francisco  last 
July  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  there  and  he  was  then  in  good, 
robust  health.  We  arranged  to  pay  a  part  of  his  expenses,  his  hotel 
expenses  or  lodging  and  subsistence,  but  no  compensation  such  as 
wages  and  salary,  and  he  undertook  the  trip.  Pie  visited  Hawaii, 
he  visited  Hongkong,  and  he  visited  Tokyo.  His  visits  to  Hongkong 
and  Tokyo  were  simply  a  part  of  the  trip  which  he  undertook  on  his 
own  account.  He  then  went  to  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  there 
had  conferences  with  almost  every  one  with  whom  he  could  come  in 
contact,  with  no  less  a  personage  than  the  then  governor  of  the 
Philippine  Islands,  Hon.  William  H.  Taft.  I  would  like  to  read  to 
the  committee  a  part  of  Mr.  Rosenberg's  report  upon  his  investiga- 
tions, particularly  in  the  Philippine  Islands: 

It  has  been  my  aim  at  all  times  to  study  all  sides  of  the  problem.  I  have  talked 
with  Government  officials,  employers,  newspaper  men,  travelers,  and  workmen. 
Observed  the  latter  work  in  factory,  shop,  and  field,  and  wish  to  state  emphatically, 
at  the  outset,  that  considering  the  very  small  wages  paid  the  Filipino  workers,  the  poor 
and  scanty  food  they  necessarily  live  on,  they  are,  next  to  the  Chinese,  the  cheapest 
and  best  workers  of  the  Orient. 

Their  reluctance  to  work,  continually  harped  upon  by  many  employers,  is  simply 
the  natural  reluctance  of  a  progressive  people  to  work  for  low  wages  under  bad  treat- 
ment. When  wages  rise  above  the  level  of  the  barest  and  poorest  necessaries  of  life, 
and  where  treatment  is  fair,  there  Filipinos  are  at  work  in  any  number  required. 

Of  course,  the  Filipino  workers  can  not  successfully  compete — cheap  as  he  can  li^e— 
with  the  Chinese  standard  of  living,  hence  the  unceasing  vilification  of  the  Filipino 
workers  by  those  employers  and  their  following,  who,  seeing  near  by  the  unlimited 
supply  of  cheap  Chinese  labor,  wish  these  islands  to  be  thrown  open  to  such  labor, 
not  only  for  the  piupose  of  reducing  the  small  wages  of  the  Filipinos,  but  also  to  reduce 
that  of  the  Chinese  laborers  now  here. 


810  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

As  one  employer  stated  to  me,  "We  wajit  more  Chinese  to  keep  them  here  for  ono 
or  tvFo  years,  then  ship  them  back  and  get  another  lot,  for  the  Chinese  I  have  here 
now^  are  becoming  too  independent  and  want  more  pay." 

I  published  tliat  report  in  the  American  Federationist  of  October'  , 
1903,  and  it  has  been  available  to  anybody.  I  have  not  with  me, 
nor  was  it  imm.ediately  available,  a  copy  of  the  report  of  Gov.  Taft 
of  the  Philippine  Islands,  dated  October  1,  1902,  made  by  him  to  the 
Philippine  commissioners.  It  might  be  an  interesting  document  for 
the  members  of  this  committee  to  peruse.  There  are  some  parts  in 
which  Gov.  Taft  mentions  the  possibility  of  having  a  few  Chinese 
coolies  come  to  the  islands,  but  as  a  policy  and  as  a  principle  he 
attacked  it  in  severe  terms. 

As  I  say,  my  story  may  be  a  bit  disconnected  but  you  will  bear 
with  me.  You  have  stated  that  I  am  a  busy  man,  and  I  am,  and  I 
have  not  all  of  my  time  at  my  disposal  so  that  I  could  have  gone 
into  this  subject  in  a  way  as  to  present  it  in  chronological  order. 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  strike  of  the  Japanese  planta- 
tion workers  in  Hawaii,  the  strike  of  last  year.  Much  has  been  made 
of  the  fact  that  they  had  about  $900,000  or  $1,000,000  available  for 
their  support.  First,  you  will  bear  in  mind  that  there  were  6,000 
Japanese  on  strike  and  that  there  are  about  110,000  Japanese  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  It  was  also  stated  that  national  feeling  entered 
into  the  strike.  That  being  so,  what  difficulty  would  there  be  for 
104,000  Japanese  in  the  islands  in  that  period  of  time,  six  months, 
to  contribute  even  $1,000,000  in  support  of  their  fellow  countrymen, 
their  fellow  human  beings  and  men  engaged  in  a  strike  ? 

I  hold  the  labor  men,  the  Caucasian  labor  men  in  Hawaii,  culpable 
for  not  having  given  these  Japanese  on  strike  better  support  and  better 
sympathy.  I  think  no  man  is  justified  in  denying  the  claim  I  make 
of  being  100  per  cent  American.  If  I  had  been  in  the  islands  and  there 
had  been  any  support  I  could  have  given  or-  any  sympathy  that  I 
could  have  extended  toward  these  men  gaining  the  strike  I  should 
have  given  it  without  stint  or  reservation.  It  is  quite  easy  to  attrib- 
ute ulterior  motives  to  men.  There  is  not  a  group  of  men  in  the 
United  States  who  will  go  on  strike  for  better  conditions,  better 
standards,  or  a2:ainst  deterioration  in  their  standards  and  conditions 
but  who  meet  with  the  antagonism  and  aspersions  of  every  man 
hostile  to  labor.  There  is  brought  in  here,  made  over  his  o^vn  signa- 
ture and  published  in  one  of  the  Hawaiian  papers,  the  statement  of 
a  so-called  president  of  some  Filipino  organization,  in  which  he 
declared  that  that  strike  should  be  broken.  Only  a  few  days  ago 
there  was  published  in  the  press  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Washing- 
ton Post  and  in  the  New  York  Times,  to  a  greater  extent,  a  statement 
that  went  out  upon  the  authority  of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Paul 
Vaccarelii,  to  the  effect  that  he  and  a  few  others  had  formed  an  organ- 
ization of  labor  to  antagonize  and  destroy  the  American  trade-union 
movement,  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  but  he  gave  no  cause, 
no  em.ployer's  cause  for  that  propaganda  and  the  work  he  was 
undertaking. 

Is  that  a  reflection  upon  the  American  Federation  of  Labor?  No; 
it  is  to  its  honor.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  gone  down 
deep,  even  to  the  abyss  of  misery  and  despair,  among  the  working 
people  of  the  United  States  and  brought  them  up  to  a  better  con- 
dition than  that  in  which  they  were  before.     The  coal  miners  of  the 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  811 

United  States  from  1877  were  constantly  being  driven  down  and 
down  and  down  in  their  standards  of  life  and  conditions,  until  misery, 
poverty,  and  degradation  were  the  rule.  In  season  or  out  of  season, 
wages  were  cut  until  about  1896  or  1897,  when  a  conference  was 
called,  in  which  I  had  the  honor  to  participate,  for  the  purpose  of 
considering  the  demoralized  condition  of  the  miners.  We  decided, 
as  the  representatives  of  an  organization  which  at  that  time  had 
about  8,000  members  in  all  the  United  States,  that  the  officers  of 
this  organization  should  present  a  demand  upon  the  coal  operators 
for  a  restoration  of  the  last  reduction  in  wages;  that  unless  that  was 
restored  they  would  call  upon  the  miners  of  the  country  to  lay  down 
their  picks  and  stop  work.  A  communication  was  sent  to  the  oper- 
ators and  made  public,  and  that  was  ignored  wherever  it  was  pos- 
sible to  ignore,  until  the  organizations  called  upon  the  men  in  the 
mining  industry  to  lay  down  their  picks  on  July  4. 

The  employers,  knowing  that  the  miners  were  practically  unorgan- 
ized, defied  them  and  believed,  as  they  declared,  that  the  miners 
would  not  respond,  but  they  did  respond;  much  to  our  o\\ti  surprise 
they  did  respond.  As  a  result  of  that  strike  every  mother's  son  of 
us  went  into  the  field  and  defied  injunctions  v/hich  enjoined  us  from 
speaking  to  the  men  and  from  holding  meetings.  But  we  went 
among  them  and  took  the  chance,  whatever  the  chance  might  be 
or  whatever  the  consequences  might  be.  The  result  of  it  was  that 
there  was  a  conference  between  the  miners  and  the  operators  months 
and  months  afterwards  and  an  agreement  reached,  and  from  that 
time  there  came  into  the  lives  of  the  miners  a  spark  of  hope,  a  stream 
of  betterment.  The  miners  were  not  legally  but  actually  held  in 
bondage  by  the  truck  system,  by  the  peonage  system,  and  by  the 
company  store  system,  by  which  the  men  scarcely  ever  saw  a  dollar. 
But  to-day  the  miners  of  America  stand  with  heads  erect.  They 
are  men,  a  magnificent  body  of  citizens  of  the  United  States.  The 
United  Mine  Workers  alone  during  the  w^ar  had  over  18,000  men  in 
the  expeditionar}'  force  in  France.  No;  77,000.  I  am  corrected  by 
Mr.  Edgar  Wallace,  who  is,  by  the  way,  a  miner,  a  member  of  the 
United  Mine  Workers  of  America  and  for  many  years  the  editor  of 
their  official  journal.     So  I  am  corrected  b}^  a  man  who  knows. 

I  remember  that  in  Tomlinson  Hall,  Indianapolis,  when  I  attended 
the  convention  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  there  was 
upon  the  ceiling  of  that  great  hall,  covering  the  entire  ceiling,  a  flag 
containing  stars  representing  the  men  who  had  served  their  country 
in  the  great  stress.  If  that  war  had  taken  place  during  the  previous 
condition  of  the  miners  you  would  have  found  a  lot  of  anemic,  weak, 
and  colorless  rnen  who  could  not  have  served  even  had  they  wanted 
to  do  so.  During  that  strike  of  the  miners  from  $2,000,000  to 
$3,000,000  poured  into  the  treasury  of  these  men;  men  contributed 
foodstuffs,  anything  that  would  help  the  miners  in  their  struggle. 
Even  the  miners  of  Great  Britain  made  a  substantial  contribution 
to  the  miners  of  America  engaged  in  that  strike.  So  I  am  not  proud 
of  the  fact  that  the  Caucasian  workers  of  Honolulu  gave  such  little 
attention,  such  little  sympathy,  and  such  little  support  to  these 
men  who  were  engaged  in  a  strike  on  the  plantations. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  have  referred  to  this  or  not,  but  the  Legis- 
lature of  Hawaii  created  this  commission  or  granted  authority  for 


812  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

the  appointment  of  the  commission.  Yet  not  a  labor  man  was 
appointed  to  be  a  member  of  that  emergency  labor  commission. 

I  regard  the  proposals  made  by  the  representatives  of  labor  in  the 
conference  with  the  sugar  planters  or  their  representatives  in  Hono- 
lulu as  being  practical,  as  being  progressive,  and  as  being  such  as 
would  have  met  the  situation.  The  trouble  with  these  men  is  this: 
Intellectually  they  are  living  in  the  year  1921  but  industrially  they 
are  400  years  behind  the  times  and  imagine  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  will  consent  to  the  introduction  of  a  feudal  system,  or 
peonage,  or  a  bondman  system.  Well,  if  nothing  else,  the  war 
should  have  taught  them  a  different  lesson.  The  lessons  of  the  war 
and  what  is  going  on  all  over  the  world  have  taught  these  sugar 
planters  of  Hawaii  nothing.  American  organized  labor  has  done 
everything  within  its  power — and  in  many  instances  exceeded  its 
strength — to  stabilize  the  industrial  conditions  and  to  help  so  that 
America's  workers  shall  work  out  a  progressive  and  constructive 
course  toward  the  maintenance  of  American  ideas  and  American 
ideals,  but  this  movement,  inaugurated  by  the  sugar  planters  and 
other  big  interests  in  Hawaii,  will  tend  to  provoke  discontent,  provoke 
unrest,  and  provoke  America's  workers  into  a  condition  that  they  do 
not  want  to  enter,  and  against  which  they  protested  and  fought 
during  the  war  and  against  which  they  have  been  protesting  and 
fighting  since  the  war,  and  I  say  advisedly,  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
full  responsibility  that  carries  with  my  words,  that  we  w^ill  not  stand  it. 

There  is  some  spirit  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  America's  workers 
and  we  are  not  going  to  stand  idly  by  and  see  an  attempt  made  to 
''Chinaize"  the  Hawaiian  possessions  as  a  remedy  for  Japanese  evils. 
Look  all  over  the  world  in  ever}^  country  you  know.  The  masses 
are  kept  down  by  repression,  by  force,  but  everywhere  you  will  find 
that  the  people,  the  masses,  the  toilers,  have  their  hands  upon  the 
throats  of  their  governments,  except  in  the  United  States.  We  are 
Americans  in  ideas  and  in  ideals.  Our  movement  is  organized  and 
based  upon  the  American  type  of  government.  Just  before  we 
entered  the  war  there  was  a  very  interesting  page  in  American 
history  that  has  not  yet  been  written  as  to  the  services  rendered  by 
labor  to  the  United  States,  so  that  we  might  be  better  prepared  for 
the  war  if  we  were  dragged  into  it. 

We  are  entitled  to  something  else  than  having  our  minds  and 
activities  diverted  to  Chinaizing  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Our  con- 
stant danger  is  from  greed  and  profiteering,  and  once  they  get  their 
entering  wedge  into  any  part  of  the  United  States  or  its  possessions 
it  simply  means  that  that  wedge  wdll  be  driven  in  further.  We  have 
made  our  sacrifices;  we  have  made  our  contributions  to  the  Govern- 
ment, to  our  cause,  and  to  the  common  cause,  fighting  against  an 
imperial  militaristic  autocracy,  and,  having  finally  crushed  it,  we 
are  not  going  to  supinety  submit  to  the  introduction  of  industrial 
slavery  into  the  United  States  or  into  any  part  of  it. 

Having  had  the  conference  to  which  I  previousl}"  referred  and  which 
was  reported  to  this  committee  dispassionately  and  compreh^ensively^ 
it  was,  at  least  to  my  mind,  one  which  should  have  received  the 
consideration  and  approval  of  the  sugar  planters  and  other  interests 
in  Hawaii.  Suppose  Congress  should  pass  this  joint  resolution. 
You  could  not  throw  the  Japanese  into  the  ocean;  they  are  there,  and 
you  could  not  deport  them.     We  have  not  the  power,  or  the  Govern- 


J.ABOK    PHOBLEMS    TN    HAWAir.  818 

ment  has  not  the  power,  to  deport  them.  They  are  there  in  their 
la^sH'ul  right  to  be  there.  What  then  ?  Is  not  such  a  proposal  cal- 
culated to  further  arouse  the  ire  of,  not  only  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii, 
but  also  the  Japanese  people  in  charge  of  the  Government  in  their 
country  ? 

You  know  as  well  as  and  perhaps  better  than  I  do  that  the  only 
exclusion  at  all  of  Japanese  is  by  the  form  of  the  gentlemen's  agree- 
ment made  by  President  Roosevelt,  during  his  administration,  and 
the  Japanese  Government.  If  you  open  up  the  ports  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  to  Chinese  coolies,  then,  clearly,  the  gentlemen's  agreement 
is  practically  at  an  end,  and  Japan  has  the  same  right  as  any  other 
countrj^  under  the  most  favored  nation  clause  of  the  treaties  existing 
between  Japan  and  the  other  countries.  They  would  seem  to  have 
justification  to  end  this  gentlemen's  agreement,  and  then  they  might 
come,  not  only  to  our  possessions,  but  to  our  mainland  without  any 
restrictions  and  without  any  supervision.  You  may  answer  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  can  pass  a  Japanese  exclusion  act. 
That  is  quite  true,  but  then  you  would  have  passed  a  Japanese 
exclusion  act  and  would  have  enacted  a  law  to  admit  Chinese  coolies. 

About  25  years  ago,  when  the  question  of  the  annexation  of 
Hawaii  was  in  progress,  there  was  a  meeting  held  in  the  Ebbitt  House, 
I  think,  in  which  Mr.  Spreckles  participated.  I  will  ask  my  secretary 
to  read  this  statement. 

(The  following  statement  was  read:) 

Some  25  years  ago,  when  the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  was  under  con- 
sideration, a  conference  was  held  at  the  Ebbitt  House  between  ]\Iembers  of  Congress, 
the  sugar  interests  of  the  United  States,  and  representatives  of  Hawaii. 

( laus  Spreckles  informed  the  Hawaiians  that  if  the  Islands  were  permitted  to  come 
into  the  United  States  the  people  of  the  Islands  would  have  to  accept  the  labor  laws 
of  the  United  States  as  well  as  the  tariff  laws.  They  would  have  to  swallow  the  bitter 
with  the  sweet,  and  that  they  must  take  their  chance  -with  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  The  Hawaiians  said  that  they  knew  they  would  have  to  do  that  and  would 
accept  the  conditions. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  That  is  not  only  within  the  knowledge  of  those  men 
who  participated  in  that  conference,  but  it  was  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge  at  the  time,  and  some  people  have  fairly  good  memories. 
I  am  accused  of  having  one. 

In  1903,  Mr.  Bishop,  the  present  chairman  or  president  of  the 
Sugar  Planters  Association  of  Hawaii,  had  a  suit  brought  against  him 
for  a  violation  of  the  immigration  laws  of  the  United  States  in  bring- 
ing Koreans  here  in  violation  of  the  law.  That  is  to  say,  he  made  an 
arrangement  with  banks,  or  with  a  bank  in  Korea,  which  then 
existed  as  an  independent  government,  so  that  Koreans  should  come 
to  Hawaii.  I  have  a  summar}^  of  that  case  here  published  in  the 
'September,  1903,  issue  of  the  American  Federationist,  that  I  would 
be  glad  to  have  inserted  in  the  record  without  reading. 

The  Chairman.  That  may  be  done. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follow^s:) 

[From  September,  1903,  Federationist.] 

Honolulu,  July  6,  1903. 
Mr.  Samuel- GoMPERS, 

President  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
Sir:  In  accordance  with  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Carl  M.  Taylor,  secretary  of  the 
labor  council  of  Honolulu.  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  brief  statement 
of  "the  Korean  cases,"  now  pending.     The  fight  in  these  cases  is  not  so  much  on  the 


814  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

facts  as  on  the  law,  although,  every  step  is  being  hard  fought.  It  is  claimed  by  the 
defendant,  among  other  things,  that  the  present  immigration  law  is  unconstitutional. 
For  this  reason,  as  well  as  because  of  the  other  matters  involved,  it  seems  a  certainty 
that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  will  consider  these  cases  as  of  vital  concern 
to  its  welfare  and  the  maintenance  of  those  principles  for  which  it  has  always  con- 
tended. 

Allow  me  to  .state  that  a  reading  of  the  new  law,  together  with  the  record  of,  the 
board  of  special  inquiry,  shows  conclusively  the  flagrant  violation  of  the  law  for  which 
the  suits  were  ])rought. 
Respectfully, 

John  Albert  Mathewman. 

On  May  25,  1903,  there  were  filed  in  the  United  States  District  Court  for  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii  113  separate  suits  concerning  the  assisted  importation  of  that  number 
of  "Koreans  to  work  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii.  These  suits  were  brought 
against  E.  Faxon  Bishop,  representing  the  planters,  by  Frederick  V.  Berger,  of' 
Honolulu,  under  section  5  of  the  act  of  March  3,  1903,  allowing  any  person  to  sue  for 
and  recover  $1,000  for  his  own  use  upon  proving  a  violation  of  the  law.  The  new  law 
differs  materially  from  the  old  one.  in  that  now  no  contract  has  to  be  shown,  and  it 
is  made  illegal  to  assist  even  skilled  labor. 

It  is  freely  rumored,  and  even  boasted,  in  Honolulu,  that  the  only  reasons  why  an 
investigation  of  the  Korean  importation  has  not  been  pushed  by  the  attorney  general's 
department  is  to  be  found  in  the  pull  which  the  Hawaiian  planters  have  at  Wash- 
ington. It  was  this  phase  of  the  question  which  so  much  provoked  Mr.  Sargeant, 
Commissioner  General  of  Immigration ,  on  his  recent  visit  to  the  Islands.  The  planter's 
association  of  the  Ha'»vaiian  Islands  can  hardly  hope  to  maintain  that  the  immigration 
law  has  not  been  violated,  especially  after  the  damaging  evidence  given  by  Mr.. 
Bishop  before  the  board  of  special  inquiry  convened  to  investigate  this  particular 
matter.  It  expects,  however,  to  exhaust  both  the  patience  and  the  resources  of  the 
plaintiff  by  prolonging  litigation,  well  knowing  the  limited  means  now  at  the  disposal 
of  its  opponents. 

It  is  openly  contended  by  some  of  the  Hawaiian  planters  that,  while  an  immigration 
law  of  this  kind  may  be  Well  enough  for  the  mainland,  still  it  is  disastrous  to  the  new 
Territory  and  if  they  have  to  choose  between  a  ^dolation  of  Federal  law  and  the  ruina- 
tion of  the  sugar  industry  they  will  unhesitatingly  prefer  the  former. 

The  defendant  pleaded  in  bar  to  these  suits  that  the  matters  therein  involved  had 
already  been  fully  considered  and  passed  upon  by  a  board  of  special  inquiry  \^v^hose 
decision  was  final.  This  plea  has  already  been  overruled  by  Judge  Estee.  The 
developments  in  and  after  the  trial  of  the  plea  in  the  bar  showed  clearly  the  incom- 
petency of  Mr.  Stackable,  collector  of  the  port  of  Honolulu,  and  ex  officio,  local  com- 
missioner of  immigration,  and  also'  certain  conduct  on  his  part  which,  to  say  the 
least  was  questionable. 

In  the  first  place,  from  March  3,  1903,  up  to  the  bringing  of  these  suits,  not  a  single 
board  of  special  inquiry  had  been  constituted  according  to  the  plain  directions  of  the 
law.  About  May  15,  in  response  probably  to  a  message  from  Honolulu,  a  cable.gram 
was  received  here  from  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  making  an  appoint- 
ment of  three  persons  to  serve  on  future  boards  of  special  inquiry. 

There  had  been  five  on  these  boards  under  the  old  law,  the  appointments  having 
been  made  by  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration.  In  the  second  place  the 
"personal  history  sheets"  of  these  Koreans,  all  answered,  signed,  and  sworn  to  by 
the  aliens  themselves,  were  indorsed  by  the  immigration  officials  as  follows:  "Assistants 
admitted  by  Mr.  Bishop."  Notwithstanding  this  finding,  the  matter  was  hushed  up, 
and  the  113  aliens,  only  two  of  whom  were  called  before  the  board  of  special  inqairy 
were  admitted. 

At  present  a  demurrer  to  plaintiff's  complaint  is  under  consideration  by  the  court, 
the  probalbilities  being  that  the  plaintiff  will  be  allowed  to  amend  by  setting  out  the 
particular  acts  of  solicitation  and  assistance.  At  the  plaintiff's  motion,  the  com- 
plaint in  each  case  has  already  been  amended  by  setting  out  the  true  name  of  the 
Korean  who  v/as  assisted. 

A  lack  of  funds  handicaps  the  plaintiff  in  preparing  for  the  trial  on  the  merits,  but 
the  record  of  the  case  is  already  in  such  condition  as  to  warrant  that  even  if  victory 
should  not  be  secured  in  the  district  court,  it  would  be  on  appeal,  provided  the  plaintiff 
can  find  means  to  meet  the  necessary  expenses. 

It  is  contended  by  the  defendant  that  the  la%v  is  unconstitutional,  and,  for  that  reason , 
these  cases  involve  the  very  existence  of  the  immigration  law." 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  That  those  Korean  workers  were  assisted  in  their 
passage  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  was  not  only  in  evidence  by  others 


LABOll   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  815 

but  was  ..  .mittcd  by  the  Koreans  themselves,  and  I  am  under  the 
impression  that  it  was  admitted  by  Mr.  Bishop.  The  effort  made  has 
been  not  simply  to  get  workers  to  toil  upon  the  plantations  of  Hawaii 
l)ut  to  obtain  cheap  men  anywhere,  no  matter  where  they  might  be 
found,  the  cheapest  being  orientals.  The  United  States  did  not  foist 
the  Japanese  upon  the  sugar  planters  of  Hawaii,  but  it  was  their 
own  act. 

I  would  not  tire  the  patience  of  the  members  of  the  committee  by 
reading  some  matters  that  might  as  well  be  inserted  in  the  record 
without  reading,  and  with  your  permission,  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentle- 
men, I  will  do  that.  This  matter  bears  upon  the  intention  of  the 
i  American  labor  movement  to  try  and  prevail  upon  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  exclude  from  the  United  States  the  immigra- 
tion of  the  Mongolian  race. 

The  Chairman.  Without  objection,  it  will  be  inserted  in  the  record. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 

In  1905  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  convention  adopted  the  following  report 
of  President  Gompers: 

"Perhaps  one  of  the  most  momentous  questions  which  will  confront  the  American 
people,  and  of  which  this  convention  must  take  cognizance  and  deal  v/ith  earnestly, 
intelligently,  and  emphatically  is  the  campaign  inaugurated  in  several  quarters  for 
what  is  called  a  m.odification  of  the  law  excluding  Chinese  from,  entry  into  the  United 
States  or  its  possessions.  Within  the  past  year  manifest  efforts  have  been  made  in  this 
direction,  particularly  inaugurated  and  stimulated  by  antagonistic  em.ployers  and  som.e 
of  their  associations. 

"Information  of  an  authentic  character  and  from  various  sources  has  been  com- 
municated to  our  office  showing  that  a  carefully  devised  policy  h'as  been  agreed  upon 
and  is  being  carried  out.  Labor's  antagonists  realize  the  fact  that  American  public 
opinion  and  sentiment  are  fully  expressed  in  the  existing  Chinese  exclusion  law. 
They  also  realize  that  if  the  application  of  the  law  was  sought  to  be  modified,  so  far  as  it 
applies  to  our  mainland,  it  would  arouse  the  opposition  of  the  Am.erican  people,  and 
the  effort  is  therefore  subtly  screened  by  arrangem.ent  with  the  sugar  planters  of  Hawaii 
placing  them,  in  the  position  of  agitating  for  a  modification  of  the  law  so  as  to  perm.it 
the  immigration  of  Chinese  to  that  island. 

"It  is  seldom  that  a  bold  front  attack  is  made  in  any  effort  of  human  activity,  and 
our  opponents,  through  the  pretense  of  the  necessity  for  Chinese  laborers  to  work 
upon  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii,  entertain  the  belief  that  once  the  law  is  success- 
fully attacked  by  so-called  modification  its  entire  structure  may  be  eliminated. 

"An  agitation  involving  the  expenditure  of  vast  sums  of  money  has  been  set  on 
foot  by  the  sugar  planters  of  Hawaii,  to  which  our  antagonists  on  the  mainland  have 
largely  contributed,  all  for  the  purpose  of  impressing  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  particularly  the  Members  of  Congress,  with  the  supposed  necessity  for  a  change 
in  the  law  so  as  to  allow  the  immigration  of  Chinese  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Not  a 
fraction  of  money  has  been  contributed  or  expended  by  the  government  of  Hawaii 
toward  the  immense  amounts  that  have  been  and  are  involved  in  the  appointment  of 
commissions,  delegations,  in  printing  reports,  and  other  matter  involved  in  the  pro- 
pagation of  thought  favorable  to  Chinese  immigration.  In  their  desperation,  the  sugar 
planters  have  endeavored  even  to  suborn  some  representatives  of  labor. 

"There  can  be  no  question  but  that  Japanese  immigration  into  Hawaii  has  had  a 
most  baneful  influence  and  result;  but  it  is  a  queer  notion  that  will  seek  relief  from 
the  evils  resulting  from  Japanese  immigration  and  work  by  turning  to  the  Chinese, 
and  it  shows  a  perverted  conception  of  real  economy,  justice,  and  Americanism. 

"The  information  also  reaches  us  that,  in  carrying  out  our  opponents'  policy,  the 
sugar  planters  have  sent  an  agent  to  visit  various  countries  for  tbe  ostensible  purpose 
of  securing  immigrants  to  work  on  the  Hawaiian  plantations.  The  word  "ostensible  " 
is  used  advisedly,  for  the  instructions  are  given  that  few,  if  any,  laborers  are  to  be  so 
secured,  so  that  the  claim  may  be  made  that  no  workmen  caii  be  obtained  from  either 
the  United  States  or  Europe,  thereby  making  it  appear  that  the  only  recourse  is  to  the 
Chinese.  A  part  of  the  plan  of  action  is  to  maintain  at  the  Capitol  in  Washington  a 
lobby  coming  from  Hawaii  for  that  purpose. 

"It  will  be  remembered  that  for  a  few  years  a  similar  effort  was  made  in  the  Philip- 
pines, and  that  the  conditions  were  presented  in  such  a  light  as  to  make  it  appear 
that  there  was  a  real  necessity  for  the  admission  of  Chinese  to  those  islands.     Since 


816  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

the  enactment  of  our  present  effective  Chinese  exclusion  law  and  iU  complete  applica- 
tion to  the  Philippines  and  the  other  insular  possessions  of,  as  well  as  the  United 
States  itself,  practically  a  quietus  has  been  given  to  that  agitation  and  supposed  de- 
mand for  Chinese  immigration  to  the  Philippine  Islands,  but  the  activity  of  the  pro- 
Chinese  is  none  the  less  to-day  than  it  was  some  years  ago.  They  have  simply  changed 
their  plan  of  campaign  from  the  Philippines  to  Hawaii." 

''That  tliere  is  no  dearth  of  workmen  in  Hawaii  is  plainly  evident  from  the  figures 
contained  in  tlie  census  reports  and  from  enumerations  of  the  population  made.  The 
difficulty  which  presents  itself  is  the  fact  tliat  the  sugar  planters,  when  deprivedby 
law  from  securing  Chinese  laborers,  turned  their  attention  to  the  Japanese  and  im- 
ported them  by  shiploads.  These  are  now  found  to  be  undesirable  and  destructive 
to  the  interests\:>f  labor,  business,  as  well  as  the  social  well-being  of  Hawaii,  its  natives 
and  residents.  No  serious,  honest  effort  has  thus  far  been  made  to  Caucasianize,  to 
Americanize  Hawaii. 

"If  Hawaii  is  to  remain  American,  and  there  are  few  who  now  doubt  this  is  tobe 
for  at  least  some  long  period  of  time,  then  it  must  become  American  indeed,  sharing 
in  whatever  progress  and  civilization  are  enjoyed  by  our  people  on  the  mainland,  as 
well  as  bearing  whatever  burdens  mav  thereby  be  entailed  in  the  process  of  the  at- 
tainment of  a  higher,  our  commoii,  goal. 

"To-day  the  great  preponderance  of  Hawaiian  inhabitants  is  Japanese  and  Chinese, 
a  small  number  of  Europeans,  with  a  small  minority  of  Americans.  With  its  position 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  it  is  the  outpost  to  our  American  Continent.  In  its  economic 
and  political  aspects  it  must  be  made  the  barrier  to  Mongolian  deterioration  of  the 
peDple  of  the  island  itself  as  well  as  the  barrier  to  protect  Ameiica's  workers.  Amer- 
ica's people,  and  America's  civilization. 

The  convention  also  declared  : 

"At  this  late  day  it  is  scarcely  necessary  or  profitable  to  present  the  reasons  for 
Chinese  exclusion.'  Surely  thev  are  not  appropriate  here;  but  we  can  not  stand 
idly  by  and  without  protest  permit  the  machinations  of  some  who,  lost  to  all  conscious 
responsibility  to  their  fellows  and  for  an  apparent  immediate  greed  of  gain,  scheme 
to  inaugurate  a  vicious  policy  which  would  inevitably  lead  to  the  deterioration  of  our 
race,  undermine  our  civilization,  and  destroy  our  very  lives. 

"We  mike  no  pretense  that  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  can  be  defended  upon  a  high 
ideil,  ethical  ground ,  but  we  insist  that  it  is  our  essential  duty  to  miintain  and  preserve 
our  physical  condition  and  standard  of  life  and  civilization,  and  thus  to  assure  us  the 
opportunity  for  the  development  of  our  intelle:tual  and  moral  character.^  Self- 
preservation  has  always  been  regarded  as  the  first  law  of  nature.  It  is  a  principle 
and  a  necessity  from  which  we  ought  not  and  must  not  depart. 

"Surely  America's  workmen  have  enough  to  contend  with,  have  sufficient  obstacles 
confronting  them  in  their  struggle  to  maintain  themselves  in  their  humanizing  move- 
ment for  a  higher  and  a  better  life,  without  being  required  to  meet  the  enervating, 
killing,  underselling,  and  underliving  competition  of  that  nerveless,  wantless  people, 
the  Chinese. '' 


In  1905  the  convention  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  adopted  the  following 
resolution : 
"Whereas  Congress,  after  the  most  thorough  investigation,  lasting  for  over  30  years, 

has  passed  laws  excluding  Chinese  laborers  from  the  United  States;  and 
"Whereas  it  is  apparent  that  powerful  agejicies  are  now  at  work  to  have  the  Chinese 
exclusion  law  so  modified  as  to  admit  Chinese  laborers  into  the  LTnited  States,  and 
especially  into  its  possessions  in  the  Pacific,  we  holding  that  this  agitation  is  fos- 
tered— 

"First.  By  the  steamship  and  railroad  companies  owning  vessels  engaged  in  the 
trans- Pacific  trade,  which  hope  to  reap  a  rich  harvest  in  the  transportation  of  Chinese 
laborers. 

"Second.  That  the  Hawaiian  sugar  planters,  unwilling  to  pay  current  wages  to 
prevailing  labor  in  the  islands,  desire  cheap  Chinese  labor  at  lower  wages, 

"Third.  That  a  certain  class  of  German,  British,  and  American  capitalists  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  are  clamoring  for  Chinese  labor  to  displace  Filipino  labor,  knowing 
full  well  that  all  classes  of  Filipinos  hate  the  Chinese  worse  than  the  Americans  do, 
and  that  the  importation  of  Chinese  labor  into  the  Philippines-  would  be  the  signal 
for  a  general  uprising  of  the  Philippine  people  against  American  rule,  but  for  which 
calamity  the  capitalists  do  not  care,  believing  that  the  American  Government  would 
at  all  hazards  put  down  such  uprising  to  uphold  the  prestige  of  the  Nation,  and  that 
then  these  capitalists  would  have  a  free  hand  to  exploit  with  Chinese  labor  these 
islands  and  their  people. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAW  AIL  817 

'Fourth.  That  certain  monetary  interests  in  this  country  desire,  for  soKisJi  reasons, 
to  lower  the  standard  of  living  and  the  independence  of  the  American  workingmen,  and 
are  asking  for  the  admission  into  this  country  of  Chinese  servants  and  laborers,  to  be 
under  contract  for  a  number  of  years,  and  to  be  confined  to  these  callings  only,  which 
in  effect  would  mean  slavery  of  such  Chinese  to  their  masters  if  the  laws  were  enforced , 
or,  what  is  more  likely,  would  result  in  such  imported  Chinese  labor  drifting  into  all 
callings,  as  enforced  labor  of  one  man  to  another,  though  the  slave  be  a  Chinese,  is 
repugnant  to  present  American  sentiment  and  custom. 

''Fifth.  That  the  so-called  Chinese  boycott  against  American  goods  is,  according  to 
our  best  information  and  belief,  a  manipulation  by  the  before-mentioned  monetary 
interests,  to  force  Congress  to  so  modify  the  C-hinese  exclusion  laws  as  to  permit  the 
importation  of  Chinese  into  the  United  States  and  its  possessions  in  the  Pacific: 
Therefore  be  it 

"Resolved,  By  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  in  convention  assembled,  that  it 
not  only  protests  against  any  attempt  to  open  our  country  or  its  possessions  to  Chinese 
labor,  but  also  most  emphatically  urges  that  the  exclusion  laws  now  in  force  against 
Chinese  laborers  should  be  applied  by  Congress  to  Japanese  and  Koreans,  for  the  ad- 
mission of  these  Mongolians  to  our  country  is  l)ound  to  be  followed  by  the  lowering  of 
wages  and  the  deterioration  of  the  people  of  the  Caucasian  race;  further,  be  it 

''Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  resolutions  are  the  unanimous  expression  of  the 
Central  Labor  Council  of  Seattle  and  vicinity,  adopted  at  its  regular  meeting  October 
18,  1905,  and  to  be  introduced  at  the  Pittsburgh  convention  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  by  the  delegates  of  that  council. " 


REBNACTING  CHINESE-EXCLUSION  LAWS;  REGULATING  COMING  OF  CHINESE  PERSONS 
FROM  INSULAR  POSSESSIONS;  AND  PROVIDING  FOR  ADMISSION  TO  PARTICIPATE  IN 
EXPOSITION. 

[Act  of  Apr.  29,  1902,  as  ameiided  and  reenacted  by  sec.  .5  of  the  deficiency  act  of  Apr.  27,  1604  (.32  Stat. 

L.,  pt.  1,  176;  33  Stat.  L.,  .394-428).] 

Section  ].  All  laws  in  force  on  the  29th  day  of  April,  1902,  regulating,  suspending, 
or  prohibiting  the  coming  of  Chinese  persons  or  persons  of  Chinese  descent  into  the 
United  States,  and  the  residence  of  such  persons  therein,  including  sections  5,  6,  7, 
8,  9,  10,  11,  13,  and  14  of  the  act  entitled  "An  act  to  prohibit  the  coming  of  Chinese 
laborers  into  the  United  States,"  approved  September  13,  1888,  be,  and  the  same 
are  hereby,  reenacted,  extended,  and  continued,  without  modification,  limitation, 
or  condition:  and  said  laws  shall  also  apply  to  the  island  territory  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States,  and  prohibit  the  immigration  of  Chinese  laborers,  not 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  from  such  island  territory  to  the  mainland  teiTitory  of 
the  United  States,  whether  in  such  island  tenitory  at  the  time  of  cession  or  not,  and 
from  one  portion  of  the  island  territorj^  of  the  United  States  to  another  portion  of  said 
island  territory. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  China  had  denounced  the  treaty  with  the  United 
States  providing  for  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  coohes  from  our  country 
and  its  possessions.  China  gave  notice  that  the  treaty  would  come  to 
an  end  at  a  certain  time  when  it  could  be  denounced  and  ended.  The 
purpose  the  Chinese  Government  had  was  plainly  stated,  that  is,  that 
they  not  only  opposed  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  coming  into  the  Unitrcd 
States  upon  an  equality  with  any  other  men,  or  men  from  any  other 
countrv,  but  that  if  the  United  vStates  would  exclude  the  Chinese 
coolies,  at  least,  it  would  not  be  with  the  treaty  consent  of  China. 
It  was,  as  they  said,  a  sufficient  humiliation  for  that  situation  to  have 
to  exist  without  their  being  further  humiliated  by  signing  their  names 
to  a  solemn  treaty  containing  such  a  provision. 

Now,  there  was  another  agitation  on  the  part  of  sugar  planters  in 
Hawaii  and  big  business  men,  whose  sole  interest  and  purpose  seemed 
to  be  profits — not  manhood,  not  progress,  not  civilization,  not  the 
Republic,  not  its  ideals,  but  profits,  and  profit  alone. 

Men  who  had  something  of  an  ideal  and  hope  for  America  more  than 
dollars  joined  with,  or,  rather,  helped  in  their  own  way  the  labor 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  2 18 


818  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

movement  to  have  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  pass  a  law  tha  t 
would  exclude  the  Chinese.  After  months  and  months  and  months 
of  organization,  education,  discussion,  and  appeals  before  Congress, 
that  was  done.  A  delegation  from  California  headed  by  the  son  of 
an  admiral  whose  name  I  do  not  now  recall,  came  to  Washington. 
Edward  C.  J.  Livernash  came,  with  others  whose  names  do  not  now 
come  to  me.  A  representative  of  California's  labor  movement,  Mr.  Chas. 
F.  Burgman,  came  here.  He  was  in  San  Francisco  in  1882  and  1883, 
in  that  crowd  of  cigar  makers  sent  to  the  coast  in  the  movement 
which  I  tried  to  describe  to  vou  a  little  while  ago.  He  and  this  com- 
mission were  kept  here.  They  stayed  here  for  months — I  think  it 
must  have  been  not  less  than  10  or  il  months.  This  man  was  paid  a 
small  salary  while  here  for  that  work.  The  commission  appointed 
by  California  was  sustained  by  the  California  or  the  San  Francisco 
government.  It  was  sustained  either  by  the  State  or  the  munici- 
pality. They  did  work,  however,  and  worked  hard,  and  all  of  us 
helped,  and  it  finally  resulted  in  the  enactment  of  the  Chinese  exclusion 
law,  which  was  extended  to  apply  to  the  insular  possessions  and  to 
the  Territories  of  the  United   States. 

In  1904,  Mr.  John  I.  Nolan,  then  a  working  iron  molder,  living  in 
San  Francisco,  and  who  has  been  for  the  past  three  terms  a  Member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  one  of  the  San  Francisco  dis- 
tricts, went  to  Hawaii  because  of  the  condition  of  the  molders'  union, 
which  was  not  good.  It  seemed  that  their  work  was  lagging,  or  that 
their  interest  was  lagging.  He  went  there,  and  you  can  get  the  infor- 
mation from  him  at  first  hand.  But  inasmuch  as  this  is  not  a  hearing 
or  trial  in  which  the  legal  forms  of  evidence  are  closely  followed  or 
observed,  I  may  be  permitted  to  state  it.  It  is  hearsay — that  is,  he 
told  me  that  when  lie  was  in  Hawaii,  the  movement  for  the  intro- 
duction of  Chinese  coolies  in  the  islands  for  the  sugar  planters  was  in 
full  swing,  and  men  in  the  labor  movement  there  were  corrupted 
suborned,  and  perverted  from  the  true  defense  of  Americanism  in 
favor  of  Chinese  coolies  being  brought  into  Hawaii.  He  said  there 
was  a  coachman  or  hack  driver  belonging  to  the  local  union  there 
whom  he  thought  might  be  the  most  easily  won  over  by  smiles,  by 
cakes,  by  biscuits,  or  by  kisses  and  other  things,  but  he  was  the  man 
who  stood  up  and  exposed  the  conditions  existing  in  the  Honolulu 
Federation  of  Trades.  It  broke  up  the  entire  gathering,  and  put  the 
agitation  of  the  sugar  planters  for  Chinese  coolies  entirely  out  of 
business.  If  Congressman  Nolan  has  not  given  that  evidence  it 
might  be  a  good  thing  to  have  him  appear  before  the  committee. 

Mr.  Box.  He  has  testified  before  the  committee  in  opposition  to 
this  resolution. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Did  he  testify  in  regard  to  this  incident? 

The  Chairman.  No. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  have  here  the  report  of  the  executive  council 
which  was  indorsed  by  the  1918  convention  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  held  in  St.  Paul.  It  bears  upon  this  subject,  and  I 
think  it  would  be  an  interesting  contribution  to  this  record. 

The  Chairman.  Without  objection,  it  will  be  inserted  in  the  record. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows :) 


LABOR  PEOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  819 

Report  of  the  Executive  Council  Indorsed  by  the  1918  Convention  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  Held  in  St.  Paul,  June  10  to  20. 

CHINESE    coolie    LABOR. 

On  May  29,  1917,  Mr.  Kalanianaole,  Delegate  in  the  Hou^e  of  Representatives  from 
Hawaii,  introduced  House  Resolution  93.  The  purpose  of  this  resolution  was  to  "pro- 
vide for  the  admission  into  the  Territorv  of  Hawaii  from  the  Republic  of  China,  with- 
out right  to  proceed  to  any  part  of  the  United  States,  under  such  terms  and  conditions 
and  subject  to  such  rules  and  restrictions  as  it  deems  ad\isable,  30,000  Chinese  labor- 
ers.'' On  January  17,  1918,  this  resolution  came  before  the  House  Immigration  Com- 
mittee, where  representations  were  made  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  resolution.  A 
representative  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  vigorously  opposed  the  resolution, 
and  it  is  still  retained  by  the  House  Immigi'ation  Committee,  no  action  having  been 
taken. 

As  the  result  of  agitation  fi'om  sources  which  can  be  easily  divined,  there  emanated 
from  numerous  portions  of  the  country  letters,  pamphlets,  and  communications  in  the 
press  advocating  the  abrogation  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  law.  On  December  7,  1917, 
Senator  Gallinger  of  New  Hampshire  introduced  Senate  Resolution  160,  which  is  as 
follows : 

''Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Agiiculture  and  Forestry  is  hereby  directed  to 
make  careful  investigation  into  the  ad^^.sability  of  recommending  legislation  that  will 
permit  the  importation  of  Chinese  farmers  into  the  United  States  under  proper  restric- 
tions and  regulations  during  the  continuance  of  the  war." 

The  various  reasons  assigned  in  favor  of  the  modification  of  the  Chinese  exclusion 
law  were  partially  predicated  upon  the  fact  that  Chinese  have  been  shipped  into 
England  and  France  to  perform  menial  tasks,  and  partially  because  it  is  assumed  by 
advocates  of  cheap  labor  that  war  conditions  present  a  favorable  opportunity  to  break 
down  ^restrictive  immigration  legislation.  The  urgent  necessity  for  transporting  im- 
m9n?e  supplies  of  food  to  our  allies,  and  with  a  consequent  necessity  for  the  stimula- 
tion of  production  of  farm  products,  was  seized  upon  by  cheap  labor  advocates  to  give 
support  to  this  campaign;  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Department  of  Labor 
(based  upon  final  reports)  emphatically  stated  that  during  the  harvest  of  1917,  there 
Avas  not  a  single  bushel  of  grain  lost  because  of  a  dearth  of  labor. 

(Joatemporaneous  with  the  consideration  of  these  resolutions  a  considerable  number 
of  communications  were  addressed  to  the  headquarters  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  urging  the  necessity  for  the  abrogation  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  upon  the 
pretense  of  need  for  farm  labor.  In  order  to  meet  the  campaign  just  starting,  to 
moJif /,  suspend,  or  abrogate  the  Chinese  exclusion  law,  President  Gompers  answered 
these  communications  at  some  length.  Following  will  be  found  an  excerpt  from  one 
of  thsse  letters,  which  succinctly  presents  the  attitude  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor : 

'"There  has  been  for  some  time  an  effort  to  create  a  sentiment  favorable  to  the  sus- 
pension or  abrogation  of  the  law  prohibiting  the  immigration  of  Chinese  coolie  labor. 
Despite  your  expressed  desire  to  advocate  nothing  that  woud  be  detrimental  to  the 
best  interest  of  organized  labor  or  all  of  America's  workers,  the  plan  you  suggest  would 
bring  deplorable  consequences.  Our  Nation  is  already  confronted  by  an  unsolved 
race  problem  that  is  acute  and  exigent  in  many  localities.  It  wouid  be  an  inexcusable 
error  of  judgment  to  intensify  the  present  involved  situation  by  a  still  further  addition 
of  racial  complications. 

''Prior  to  the  declaration  of  war  and  immediately  subsequent  thereto,  the  employers 
of  labor  from  every  section  of  the  country  A'ociferously  began  an  agitation  for  the  repeal 
of  all  the  labor  laws  of  the  various  States  and  importuned  governmental  officials  to 
recommend  the  repeal  of  the  labor  laws  which  applied  to  industries  controlled  by  the 
Government.  In  other  words,  the  employers  of  labor  attempted  to  use  the  opportu- 
nity afforded  by  a  declaration  of  war  to  destroy  the  standards  of  li^dng  and  of  work- 
which  had  been  brought  about  through  the  suffering  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  organized 
labor  movement  of  our  country.  The  men  and  women  of  labor  of  this  Nation  have 
struggled  in  their  organized  capacity  for  over  50  years  to  secure  and  to  maintain  a 
reasonable  American  standard,  and  it  was  urged  that  the  benefits  which  have  been 
secured  to  all  the  people  of  our  country  as  a  result  of  their  ei^'ort  be  nullified  by  re- 
pealing all  the  protective  laws  which  have  been  secured  as  the  result  of  humane 
efforts  and  the  awakening  of  the  public  conscience  to  the  imperatiA'e  needs  of  our 
present  civilization.  These  laws  do  not  represent  arbitrary  regulations  that  can  be 
abandoned  Avith  impunity,  but  are  founded  upon  principles  of  human  welfare  and 
conservation  of  producing  poAver.     To  protect  human  workers  by  properly  conserving 


820  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

their  creative  power  is  the  basis  for  highest  production.  These  protective  measures 
adopted  by  legislative  bodies  after  considered  judgment,  are  the  safeguards  of  the  life 
of  the  Republic,  and  can  be  abandoned  only  with  serious  hazards  to  the  future  virility 
and  potentiality  of  the  Nation. 

"Now  comes  the  demajid  that  our  country  be  flooded  with  Chinese  coolie  labor, 
which  is  not  assimilable  and  which  because  of  its  docility  will  constitute  a  means 
through  which  employers  in  this  country  will  drive  the  standards  of  American  working 
people  to  the  level  of  the  Chinese  coolie.  That  very  docility  is  justification  of  serious 
apprehension,  for  as  you  say,  'These  coolies  will  he  the  servants  of  labor  and  in  no 
sense  competitors.'  The  historv  of  this  country  has  demonstrated  that  it  can  not  exist 
part  slave  and  part  free.  Serxdle  labor  cost  us  one  bloody  Civil  War.  It  is  our  hope 
that  wise  policies  may  prevail  and  conditions  averted  that  might  result  in  another  such 
conflict. 

'•J  have  wondered  whether  you  have  considered  the  j)olyglot  character  of  our 
population.  This  country  is  made  up  of  the  races  of  the  entire  world.  It  is  the  great 
international  melting  pot  from  which  there  will  be  transmuted  a  race  which  will 
deserve  characterization  as  American.  If  your  observation  has  led  to  a  study  of  the 
heterogeneous  elements  of  America's  population,  you  must  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  we  have  before  us  a  tremendous  task  to  weld  these  elements  into  a  homogene- 
ous whole,  an  essential  characteristic  of  a  nation. 

"We  are  in  a  world  war  and  no  one  has  the  prophetic  wisdom  to  interpret  the  out- 
come, but  if  we  are  fighting  for  justice,  freedom,  and  democracy,  then  we  should  have 
a  particular  and  distinct  regard  for  the  ultimate  welfare  of  our  own  country  and  not 
employ  means  and  methods  which  will  leave  us  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  a  still 
greater  problem  than  we  had  in  facing  the  responsibilities  imposed  upon  us  by  war. 

"Organized  labor  is  unalterably  opposed  to  the  modification  of  the  Chinese  exclu- 
sion law  in  order  to  permit  Chinese  coolies  to  enter  this  country,  no  matter  for  what 
purpose.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  for  many,  many  years  fought  for  a 
restrictive  immigration  law,  and  assisted  in  securing  the  Chinese  exclusion  act.  An 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  Members  of  Congress  enacted  the  immigration  law  con- 
taining a  literacy  test.  Our  advocacy  of  restricted  immigration  was  based  upon  our 
knowledge  of  the  economic  situation  and  conditions  in  this  country,  and,  in  addition, 
having  a  due  regard  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  institutions  of  our  country.  If,  for  any 
reason,  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  was  modified  or  suspended,  it  must  carry  with  it  the 
modification  or  the  abrogation  of  the  gentlemen's  agreement  now  existing  between 
this  country  and  Japan,  which  would  permit  large  numbers  of  Japanese  to  also  enter 
this  country. 

' '  In  addition  to  our  opposition  to  the  modification  or  the  suspension  of  the  Chinese 
exclusion  act,  it  has  not  been  demonstrated  that  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor  which  would 
justify  the  resorting  to  extreme  measures.  Whatever  may  be  your  opinion  as  to  the 
effect  of  the  importation  of  cheap  and  do(>ile  labor  into  this  country,  the  history  of  the 
eSorts  of  the  working  people  everywhere  unmistakably  demonstrates  that  the  high 
standard  built  up  and  maintained  by  intelligent  and  cooperative  action  must  succumb 
to  the  insiduous  influences  of  a  race  of  people  whose  hopes,  ambitions,  and  desires  are 
gratified  by  a  standard  of  living  which  falls  far  below  that  of  a  growing  and  fructifying 
citizenship. 

"Even  though  we  may  be  in  the  midst  of  war,  and  even  though  it  were  possible  to 
adopt  some  measure  whereby  a  large  body  of  Chinese  might  be  imported  into  this 
country  for  the  period  of  the  war  and  then  deported  at  its  close,  the  impress  and  results 
of  coolie  labor  would  still  remain  and  constitute  an  added  b\uden  in  the  coming 
reconstruction  days.  Under  present  conditions  of  war,  the  organized  labor  movement 
has  expressed  itself  as  willing  to  meet  the  responsibilities  imposed  upon  it,  and  in 
carrying  out  this  policy,  we  are  demonstrating  to  the*Government  and  the  people  of 
the  United  States  our  loyalty  to  its  institutions.  No  labor  movement  of  any  belligerent 
country  has  taken  a  more  advanced  position  than  has  the  American  labor  movement. 
Even  before  war  was  declared,  representatives  of  our  movement  promulgated  a  decla- 
ration in  which  its  position  was  made  clear. 

•'While  it  voiced  its  opposition  to  war,  yet  it  also  declared  that  if  events  finally 
drew  this  country  into  the  maelstrom  of  war,  it  would  stand  solidly  behind  this 
Government.  In  view  of  the  attitude  of  the  men  and  women  of  labor,  I  am  justified 
in  expressing  the  thought  that  our  movement  is  absolutely  and  unalteral:>ly  opposed 
to  Chinaizing  any  of  the  industries  of  this  country. 

"I  therefore  dissent,  and  emphatically  dissent,  from  any  plan  looking  toward  the 
introduction  of  coolie  labor  into  this  country,  and  the  organized  labor  movement  will 
use  every  means  at  its  command  to  thwart  any  attempt  to  modify  or  suspend  the 
Chinese  exclusion  act." 


I 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  821 

Neither  the  resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Kalanianaole  nor  Senator  Gallinger's  has 
been  reported  by  the  committees  to  which  they  were  referred  up  to  the  time  of  closing 
this  report.  It  is  believed  that  the  interests  behind  the  program  of  employing  ChincKe 
coolies  in  this  country  liave  been  checkmated  for  the  moment;  but  if  not  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  will  vigorously  oppose  any  efforts  made  in  the  future  to  break 
down  our  immigration  laws. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Until  about  10  or  12  years  ago  the  president  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  made  his  individual  reports  to  the 
convention.  I  recommended  to  the  executive  council,  which,  in 
turn,  recommended  to  the  convention,  that  individual  reports  of 
officers  be  omitted  in  the  future.  I  will  give  you  my  reason  for  it: 
So  long  as  I  am  the  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  I 
want,  of  course,  to  safeguard  the  future  of  the  American  labor  move- 
ment. I  felt  that  if  in  any  eventuality  another  man  should  be 
elected,  as  necessarily  will  be  the  case,  to  the  presidency  of  the 
Federation,  who  might  not  be  just  as  clear-minded  as  he  should  be, 
or  who  might  not  have  full  self-control,  or  who  might  have  some 
other  peculiarity,  it  probably  would  not  be  well  for  him  to  make  an 
individual  report.  If  the  individual  report  of  such  a  president  were 
made,  it  might  have  a  bad  influence  upon  our  movement.  The 
convention  adopted  that  proposal,  so  that  from  that  time  on  the 
president  of  the  Federation  has  not  made  any  individual  official 
report  or  any  other  kind  of  report  to  the  convention.  I  make  this 
explanation  so  that  you  may  know  something  of  what  I  am  trying 
to  do  in  having  the  labor  movement,  to  which  I  have  given  consid- 
erable of  my  life,  safeguarded  from  within  as  well  as  from  its  enemies 
without.  The  executive  council  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  made  a  report  to  the  convention  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  which  was  held  during  the  month  of  June,  1921,  a  little 
more  than  a  month  ago.  As  a  part  of  that  report  bears  upon  this 
question  so  intimately,  I  would  like  to  read  it  : 

Report  of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  to 

THE    FOETY-FIRST    AnNUAL    CONVENTION,    WhICH    WAS    APPROVED. 
CHINESE    AND    JAPANESE    EXCLUSION    AND    LAND    LAWS. 

In  its  first  convention  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  declared  that  30  years' 
experience  on  the  Pacific  coast  with  Chinese  had  proven  that  the  competition  of 
orientals  with  whites  was  the  greatest  evil  with  which  a  country  can  be  afflicted. 
Thereafter  Congress  was  petitioned  to  enact  an  exclusion  act.  In  1892  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  declared  that  the  Japanese  should  be  placed  in  the  same  category 
with  the  Chinese. 

Because  of  the  efforts  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  an  exclusion  law  was 
finally  enacted  bv  Congi-ess.  This  act  brought  to  America's  workers  some  relief  from 
oriental  immigration  and  its  otherwise  deteriorating  results.  Since  that  time  contin- 
uous and  persistent  demands  have  been  made  by  Chinese  agencies  and  plutocratic 
interests  to  amend  or  repeal  these  laws. 

A  national  organization  is  actively  at  work  carrying  on  an  extensive  propaganda 
for  amendments  to  the  Chinese  exr-lusion  act  and  a  number  of  similar  organizations 
have  been  formed  to  supplement  this  campaign.  In  a  letter  sent  broadcast  to  em- 
ployers, the  chairman  of  the  National  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Levelopment 
Committee,  on  the  pretense  of  fighting  bolshevism  and  the  like  said: 

''These  raids  of  the  reds,  communists,  and  the  I.  W.  "W.'s  emphasize  the  desirability  / 
of  bringing  into  this  country  hereafter  a  class  of  labor  that  does  not  organize,  has  no 
foolish  notions  of  6-hour  days  or  5-day  weeks,  atfd  does  not  wish  to  upset  our  present 
form  of  government.     The  raising  of  the  ban  on  Chinese  labor  will,  we  believe,  go  far 
to  solve  the  pi'oblem  of  our  present  danger." 

The  Western  States  Agricultural  Development  Committee  is  engaged  in  a  similar 
campaign. 


822  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

A  like  campaign  has  been  started  in  Hawaii.  In  that  country  where  the  greater 
number  of  the  inhabitants  are  Japanese,  labor  employed  on  plantations  is  paid  about 
77  cents  per  day.  When  an  increase  was  demanded  and  denied  many  of  these  workers 
left  the  countr/.  It  was  then  that  the  sugar  planters  advocated  the  admission  of 
30,0)0  Chinese,  both  for  tlie  purpose  of  breaking  the  strike  as  well  as  to  retain  the  low 
wage  standard. 

Within  the  past  year  coraDlaints  have  been  received  that  the  Japanese  are  en- 
croaching upon  the  work  of  the  men  employe!  in  the  shipbuilding  industr*/  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  Manv  local  unions  have  passed  resolutions  calling  upon  Congress  to 
extend  the  Chinese  exclusion  act  to  cover  all  orientals.  This  subject  was  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  Members  of  Congress  and  the  request  was  made  for  a  definite 
statement  as  to  the  number  of  Japanese  workers  employed  in  the  shipyards  on  the 
Pacific  coast. 

About  this  time  California  Senators  and  Representatives  were  also  urged  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  not  to  t  :ke  anv  drastic  action  against  Japanese  immigration  pending 
negotiations  with  the  Japanese  Government.  The  Senators  and  Congressmen  agreed 
to  withhold  any  action,  thus  permitting  t]ie  Government  to  enter  into  negotiations 
looking  to  an  agreement  with  Jarjan  on  the  question  of  immigration,  including  "picture 
brides, "  now  coming  into  the  United  States.  Up  to  the  present  time  no  agreement 
has  been  reached  on  this  subject  and  no  legislation  has  been  considered  pending  these 
negotiations. 

Because  of  the  extensive  campaign  again  to  open  wide  tlie  gates  to  orientals,  by 
reason  of  the  unjust  criticism  directed  against  the  attitude  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  on  this  question  and  on  account  of  the  strained  relations  which  exist 
at  this  time  between  Japan  and  our  Government,  the  executive  council  deemed  it 
essential  that  a  careful  survey  be  made  of  the  immigration  and  land  laws  and  policies 
which  now  prevail  in  Japan  and  China. 

This  investigation  discloses  that  in  1899  Japan  promulgated  a  new  set  if  immigra- 
tion laws.  These  laws  prohibited  the  immigration  of  laborers  from  all  countries  to 
any  part  of  the  Japanese  Empire,  with  the  exception  of  the  treaty  ports,  winch  are 
Kobe,  Yokohama,  Tok'/o,  Ozaka,  Nagasaki,  Hakodate.  While  at  the  present  time 
there  are  by  lack  of  enforcement  some  European  laborers  working  in  Japan,  they  are 
very  few  in  numbers.  Under  no  conditions  are  Chinese  laborers  admitted  into  Japan 
except  by  spe:ial  permit.  Alien  laborers  are  forbidden  to  engage  in  any  kind  of 
manual  labor,  such  as  agric^ulture,  fishing,  mining,  engineering,  architecture,  manu- 
facture, carriage  and  vehicle  pulling,  stevedore  and  other  miscellaneous  work.  Aliens 
of  all  classes  are  als )  forbidden  to  become  promoters  of  political  meetings  or  to  become 
members  of  a  political  party.  Then,  too,  aliens  are  prohibited  from  engaging  in  the 
organization  of  banks.  Aliens  are  forbidden  to  construct  railways,  or  to  engage  in  tlie 
carrying  trade  (coasting  trade)  between  native  ports.  Thev  are  not  permitted  to 
become  brokers  in  exchange,  or  to  engage  in  mining  and  placer  mining,  or  to  fish  or 
hunt  in  the  territorial  seas  of  Japan.  Neither  may  aliens  nor  any  firms  with  which 
aliens  may  be  connected  or  in  which  they  may  be  interested  as  partners  or  share- 
holders manufacture  gun  powder  or  explosives. 

Individual  foreigners  are  not  allowed  to  own  land  in  any  part  of  the  Empire. 
Foreigners  may  own  land  by  forming  a  company,  the  company  being  required  to 
register  under  the  imperial  laws  of  Japan.  In  that  way  these  companies  may  enjoy 
perpetual  leases  over  lots  of  land  in  the  former  foreign  settlements  in  the  open  ports 
which  were  leased  by  the  Government  to  aliens  in  the  early  days  of  the  opening  of 
the  country  to  foreign  trade.  However,  these  leases  have  been  taken  largelv  over 
by  Japanese.  Foreigners  may  also  lease  land  for  industrial  or  residential  purposes, 
but  no  agricultural  lands  can  be  leased  under  any  circumstances.  If  a  Japanese 
subject  for  any  reason  loses  his  nationality  and  becomes  an  alien,  heat  once  loses  his 
rights  to  land  ownership,  and  in  the  latter  case  he  must  transfer  all  his  property  rights 
to  Japanese. 

The  foregoing  clearly  evidence  the  amazing  facts  that  the  Japanese  immigration 
and  land  laws  are  as  strict  as  those  of  any  nation  in  the  world  and  much  more  so  than 
are  the  laws  of  many  of  the  nations.  In  the  face  of  the  above  facts  Japan  does  not 
come  into  court  with  clean  hands  when  she  objects  to  the  land  laws  passed  by  the 
State  of  California  or  when  she  protests  against  the  inclusion  of  Japanese  in  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  orientals  from  this  country, 

Japan  h  s  left  no  stoie  unturned  in  her  anxiety  to  protect  her  subjects  against 
supposed  injurious  competition  or  to  prevent  the  operation  of  any  influence  whatso- 
ever upon  their  domestic,  national,  and  international  policies,  conduct  or  relations 
from  the  peoples  of  other  nations.  If  she  takes  this  right  unto  herself,  how  can  she 
deny  the  same  right  to  anv  other  nation? 

The  citizens  of  California  are  justified  in  viewing  with  alarm  and  apprehension  the 
results  of  the  Japanese  invasion  in  that  State.    The  Japanese  colonize  together  and 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  823 

have  gradually  driA-en  out  American  citizens  from  the  most  fertile  farm  lands  in  the 
State.  Thej^  already  have  under  cultivation  92  per  cent  of  the  celery,  89  per  cent  of 
the  asparagus,  79  per  cent  of  the  onions,  76  per  cent  of  the  tomatoes,  66  per  cent  of  the 
cantaloupes,  79  per  cent  of  seeds,  etc.  They  undersell  the  American  farmer  because 
of  their  low  standards  of  living.  Not  only  have  they  acquired  large  areas  of  agricultural 
lands  but  they  are  gradually  getting  into  the  trades. 

The  "gentlemen's  agreement "  has  proven  to  be  a  failure  because  the  Japanese  in  a 
cunning  and  stealthy  manner  have  outwitted  the  intent  of  the  law.  In  1918,  11,143 
new  arrivals  came  to  America  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  above  agreement  is  supposed 
to  exclude  all  except  diplomats,  merchants,  and  legitimate  students.  In  California 
alone  there  are  over  100,000  Japanese. 

This  peril  is  not  only  a  serious  condition  for  California  but  ift  is  a  positive  menace  to 
our  entire  Nation.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  fully  justified  in  taking  a 
firm  stand  to  do  away  with  the  ' '  gentlemen's  agreement "  and  in  iits  place  inaugurate  a 
de^nite  policy  calling  for  total  exclusion  of  Japanese  with  all  other  orientals.  We 
should  also  go  on  record  as  favoring  any  legislation  of  the  above  character  that  may  be 
presented  in  Congress  by  the  California  delegation  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. 

The  Chinese  immigration  laws  absolutely  prohibit  Japanese  of  any  class  from  enter- 
ing the  country  except  by  special  permit.  This  practically  bars  not  only  laborers 
but  students,  business  men,  travelers,  etc.,  from  entering  the  country  except  for  a 
very  short  period  of  time. 

Unquestionably,  the  workers  of  different  races,  colors,  or  nationalities  throughout 
the  world  have  a  com.mon  interest  in  their  respective  countries.  It  is  only  by  further- 
ing that  common  interest  that  we  can  obtain  the  true  objective  of  the  labor  move- 
ments the  world  over.  While  the  methods  of  industrial  and  commercial  enterprise, 
the  supply  of  rav/  materials  and  of  capital  may  have  an  equalizing  tendency  between 
nations,  the  interchange  of  viev^^points  and  the  establishing  of  friendly  relationship 
between  workers  of  the  various  nations  are  of  far  greater  importance  and  tend  more 
readily  and  eTiectively  to  cement  the  peoples  of  all  nations  in  a  peaceful  concord. 

To-day,  our  people  are  confronted  not  alone  with  the  possibility  of  greater  competi- 
tion with  oriental  labor  and  manufacture;  they  are  also  facing  the  development  of 
tendencies  leading  to  the  possible  dangers  of  war.  No  one  recognizes  more  fully  than 
do  the  American  workers  the  burdens  and  sacrifices  entailed  in  a  contest  between  na- 
tions. We  have  just  emerged  from  a  war  out  of  which  it  is  hoped  that  the  opportunity 
for  future  wars  would  be  lessened  to  the  lowest  possible  degree,  if  not  foreclosed  for 
all  time  to  com'e.  We  are  confident  that  the  Japanese  workers  are  equally  desirous  for 
continued  peace  as  are  the  American  wage  earners.  We  feel  sure  that  the  workers  of 
Japan  would  welcome  whatever  influence  might  be  set  at  work  to  prevent  a  possible 
clash  between  the  peoples  of  Japan  and  our  country.  Limited,  suppressed,  and 
tyrannized,  the  opportunity  of  these  workers  for  protest  is  rendered  almost  voiceless 
and  the  American  labor  mo^vement  is  looked  to  in  the  hope  that  existing  industrial, 
commercial,  and  financial  differences  and  difficulties  may  not  be  molded  into  tend- 
encies leading  to  international  conflict. 

The  executiA^e  council  is  of  the  belief  that  this  entire  subject  should  receive  the  most 
careful  consideration  and  attention  and  that  no  effort  be  spared  in  protecting  the 
interests  of  the  workers  here  at  home  and  in  promoting  good  will  and  peacefurrela- 
tions  with  the  workers  and  nations  abroad. 

That  report  of  the  executive  council  was  referred  to  a  committee 
and  reported  upon  favorably  to  and  adopted  by  the  convention  by 
unanimous  vote. 

Here  are  two  resolutions,  which  I  shall  not  take  the  time  to  read, 
definitely  declaring  upon  the  subject  of  oriental  immigration. 

(Said  resolutions  follow:) 

RESOLUTIONS   ADOPTED   BY  THE   FORTY-FIRST  ANNUAL  CONVENTION   OP  THE   AMERICAN 

FEDERATION    OF   LABOR, 

[Resolution  106,  by  Delegate  T.  A.  Reardon,  San  Francisco  Labor  Council.] 

Whereas  there  is  a  most  persistent  and  determined  effort  to  open  the  doors  of  the 
United  States  to  Chinese  coolies;  and 

Whereas  those  leading  the  campaign  ox:»enly  declare  that  the  motive  in  breaking  down 
the  Chinese  exclusion  act  is  because  the  Chinamen  know  nothing  of  the  8-hour 
day  and  will  work  for  wages  upon  which  an  American  would  starve ;  and 


824  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    PJAWAll. 

Whereas  the  plan  being  followed  is  first  to  obtain  the  admission  ol  Chinese  coolies 

into  Hawaii  on  the  plea  that  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor  in  those  islands;  and 
Whereas  the  real  truth  is  that  the  laborers  of  Hawaii  refused  to  work  for  77  cents  a  day 

and  demanded  a  suflicient  wage  upon  which  to  support  themselves  and  families ; 

and 
Whereas  the  Legislature  of  Hawaii  in  furtherance  of  the  conspiracy  to  degrade  Ameri- 
can labor  has  adopted  a  resolution  appealing  to  Congress  to  permit  the  immigration 

of  Chinese  into  the  islands;  and 
Whereas  a  national  organization  of  the  enemies  of  labor  and  the  people  of  this  country 

have  been  working  secretly  for  several  years  to  break  down  the  Chinese  exclusion 

laws  of  the  United  States;  and 
Whereas  there  are  said  to  be  500  Chinese  coolies  a  month  smuggled  into  the  United 

States  with  or  without  the  connivance  of  the  Government  or  its  agsnts;  and 
Whereas  the  neople  of  the  LTnited  States  should  awaken  to  the  dangers  threatened  by 

the  influx  of  a  race  that  can  not  be  assimilated  and  will  be  a  curse  instead  of  a  benefit 

to  the  Nation:  Therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Federation  of  I^abor  condemns  this  must  despicable 
conspiracy  to  break  down  American  standards  in  order  that  a  few  of  the  enemies  of 
labor  and  the  people  may  profit  from  the  labor  of  Chinese  coolies  to  the  detriment  of 
all  honest  employers;  and 

Resolved,  That  we  call  upon  Congress  to  indignantly  refuse  the  appeal  of  the 
Hawaiian  Legislature  in  the  interests  of  the  sugar  planters  to  modify  or  amend  in  any 
manner  whatever  the  laws  that  were  enacted  after  years  of  agitation  to  forever  exclude 
the  Chinese;  and 

Resolved,  That  the  executive  council  be  directed  to  oppose  by  every  means  in  its 
power  any  attempt  to  change  the  exclusion  laws  so  that  they  would  permit  the  ad- 
mission of  a  single  Chinaman  to  enter  the  United  States  and  its  possessions  under  any 
circumstances  or  excuse  whatever;  and,  be  it  further 

Resolved.  That  protests  be  made  to  the  Department  of  La])or  against  the  leniency 
that  permits  the  smuggling  into  the  United  States  of  500  or  more  Chinamen  every 
month. 


[Resolution  132,  by  Delegate  M.  M.  McGuire,  of  Boiler  Makers"  Union.] 

Whereas  Japanese  Exclusion  League  of  California,  representing  officiallv  such  organ- 
izations as  American  Legion  War  Veterans'  Native  Sons  and  Native  Daughter 
of  Golden  West  State  Federation,  Women's  Clubs,  State  Federation  Labor,  and 
various  other  patriotic,  ci^dc,  and  fraternal  bodies  have  adopted  statement  of  policy 
recommended  for  adoption  by  Government  of  United  States  as  urgently  required  in 
protection  of  Nation's  interest  against  growing  menace  of  Japanese  immigration  and 
colonization;  and 

Whereas  said  declaration  has  been  approved  by  organizations  affiliated  with  League, 
Los  Angeles  Anti-Asiatic  Association,  and  Japanese  Exclusion  League  of  Washing- 
ton; and 

Whereas  said  declaration  is  in  words  and  figures  as  follows:  First,  absolute  exclusion 
for  future  of  all  Japanese  immigration,  not  only  male  but  female,  and  not  only 
laborers,  skilled  and  unskilled,  but  farmers  and  men  of  small  trades  and  professions, 
as  recommended  by  Theodore  Roosevelt.  Permission  for  temporary  residence  only 
for  tourists,  students,  artists,  commercial  men,  teachers,  etc.  Second,  such  exclu- 
sion to  be  enforced  by  United  States  officials  under  United  States  laws  and  regula- 
tions as  done  mth  immigration  admitted,  or  excluded,  from  all  other  countries  and 
not,  as  at  present,  under  an  arrangement  whereby  control  and  regulation  is  surrenderee} 
by  us  to  Japan.  Third,  compliance  on  the  part  of  all  departments  of  the  Federal 
Government  vidth  the  Constitution  and  abandonment  of  threat,  or  attempt  to  take 
advantage  of  certain  phrasing  of  that  document  as  to  treaties,  which  it  is  claimed 
gives  the  treaty-making  power  authority  to  violate  plain  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  statutes  in  the  following  matters: 

A.  To  nullify  state  rights  and  State  laws  for  control  of  lands  and  other  matters 
plainly  within  the  States'  jurisdiction. 

B.  To  grant  American  citizenship  to  races  of  yellow  color,  which  are  made 
ineligible  for  such  citizenship. 

Fourth;  for  the  Japanese  legally  entitled  to  residence  in  California  fair  treatment, 
protection  in  property  rights  legally  acquired,  and  the  privilege  of  engaging  in  any 
business  desired,  except  such  as  may  be  now  or  hereafter  denied  by  law  to  all  aliens, 
or  to  aliens  ineligible  to  citizenship,  and,  provided  particularly  they  may  not  here- 
after buv  or  lease  agricultural  lands. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAW  ATT.  825 

Mr.  Raker.  Those  resolutions  were  passed  in  what  year  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  The  same  year,  at  the  last  convention  held-  in 
June,  1921,  and  on  the  particular  case  under  discussion  hefore  this 
committee. 

The  fact  that  several  thousand  aliens  have  been  released  from  the 
Federal  works  in  Hawaii,  construction  and  otherwise,  would  seem,  in 
addition  to  the  proposals  made  by  the  labor  committee  at  the  con- 
ference in  Honolulu,  and  to  which  Mr.  Wright  in  his  testimony  gave 
ample  evidence,  to  help  very  materially,  but  in  any  event  there  are  the 
Filipinos  who,  from  the  report  of  the  Filipino  labor  commissioner, 
would  undoubtedly  have  a  splendid  influence  in  bringing  any  number 
of  workers  which  may  be  actually  required  by  the  sugar  planters  of 
Hawaii.  But  we  can  not  expect  that  they  will  go  from  the  Philippine 
Islands  to  Honolulu  or  any  other  part  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  or  that 
they  will  transmigrate  to  any  other  country  unless  there  is  something 
which  may  come  to  them  of  a  better  life  than  they  have  had  to  endure 
or  enjoy  in  their  own  country.  Men  do  not  go  from  place  to  place 
where  conditions  and  standards  are  only  equal;  the  trend  is  to  go 
where  conditions  are  better.  I  believe  that  with  a  better  concept  on 
the  part  of  the  sugar  planters  as  to  the  rights  of  these  men  a  better 
understanding  will  result,  because  better  will  begets  better  will.  The 
story  of  Will  Fern  in  ^'  The  Chimes,''  b}^  Dickens,  would  apply  here. 

Let  me  say  this,  that  the  Japanese  Laborers'  Association,  of  Hawaii, 
made  application  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  about  a  year 
ago  for  a  charter,  but  issuance  was  declined.  If  war  should  come 
between  Japan  and  America — and  let  us  pray  and  hope  that  it  never 
will — American  labor  will  take  the  same  position  it  took  in  the  last 
great  war.  Three  weeks  before  the  President  of  the  United  States 
appeared  before  a  joint  session  of  Congress;  that  is,  on  March  12,  1917, 
American  labor,  through  its  official  representatives  and  bona  fide 
representatives,  met  in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  in  the  executive 
council  chamber  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  we  discussed  at 
length  the  dangers  which  confronted  our  country,  the  dastardly  acts 
committed  by  Germany  against  not  only  American  rights  and  prop- 
erty, but  against  the  concepts  of  civilization.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  session  we  declared,  in  substance,  that  come  what  may,  whether 
we  should  be  drawn  into  the  maelstrom  of  the  war  or  are  dragged  into 
it  or  whether  we  should  enter  it,  American  labor  pledged  its  loyal 
support  upon  any  field  of  action,  whether  it  be  upon  the  battlefield,  in 
industry,  or  in  commerce,  and  in  making  the  supreme  sacrifice  \i  neces- 
sary. If  there  shall  come  a  struggle  between  Japan  and  the  United 
States  American  labor  will  stand  foursquare  upon  that  principle. 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  not  wise  to  take  the 
heart  and  the  spirit  out  of  America's  workers.  It  is  not  wise  to  lead 
them  into  a  position  of  fear,  anguish,  and  anger  where  no  IojslI  sup- 
port comes,  because  no  voluntary,  loyal  support  comes  to  a  Govern- 
ment that  uses  oppression  and  suppression. 

Now,  there  was  discussed  before  this  committee  the  question  of 
the  suppression  of  reports  of  officials,  and  the  name  of  Daniel  J. 
Keefe,  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration,  was  brought  in  as  one 
who  had  visited  Hawaii  and  made  investigations  and  reports  and  his 
reports  were  suppressed.  Well,  not  only  were  Daniel  J.  Keefe's 
reports  suppressed,  but  the  reports  of  Frank  P.  Sargent,  who  was 
Commissioner  General  of  Immigration  before  him,  a  fine  man  and  a 


826  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

man  of  splendid  physique.  He  was  appointed  Commissioner  General 
of  Immigration.  The  suppression  of  his  reports  and  the  diversion  of 
his  reports  were  such  that  it  broke  the  man's  spirit  and  broke  the 
man's  heart,  and  he  died  very  shortly  after.  For  years  before  that  he 
was  the  president  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  and 
Enginemen  and  could  have  held  that  position  for  life  or  so  long  as 
his  mind  was  clear  and  his  body  capable  of  carrying  on  the  work. 
He  became  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  I  repeat  and  emphasize  that  he  was  broken 
in  spirit  and  health  by  reason  of  the  perversion  and  suppression  of 
his  reports.  Frank  Sargent  and  I  were  intimate  friends,  and  he  told 
me  the  situation  with  which  he  was  confronted  with  reference  to  his 
reports  as  to  his  visit  to  Hawaii  and  his  investigation  of  Hawaiian 
conditions. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  date  of  that? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Well,  that  is  easily  ascertainable,  Mr.  Chairman;  I 
can  not  readily  recall,  but  probably  20  years  ago. 

Let  me  say  this:  I  do  not  know  whether  any  of  you  gentlemen 
have— but  more  than  likely  you  have— read  a  book  which  has  made 
its  appearance  recently.  The  Rising  Tide  of  Color. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  has  been  sent  to  all  the  members  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  commend  to  you  gentlemen  who  have  not  read  it 
the  reading  of  that  book. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  all  read  it,  and  when  you  get  time  that 
is  the  very  phase  of  this  matter  we  want  to  discuss  with  you. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  We  appeal  to  you,  as  we  have  the  right  as  men  and 
as  citizens,  to  maintain  the  American  policy  of  Chinese  exclusion  by 
law  and  to  make  by  law  the  exclusion  of  the  Japanese  and  all  other 
orientals.  In  my  opinion  the  people  of  the  Republic  of  the  United 
States  have  only  just  entered  upon  the  real  mission  of  our  Republic, 
to  be  the  leader  in  industrial  progress,  in  democratic  government  and 
humanitarian  ideals.  Do  not  let  us  depart  from  that  policy,  sound, 
good,  and  progressive,  but,  rather,  strengthen  it. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  concluded  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  just  come  in  possession  of  a 
book  published  by  the  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association,  Honolulu, 
T.  H.,  July,  1920,  and  entitled  ^' Facts  about  the  strike  on  Sugar 
Plantations  in  Hawaii."  May  I  read  the  first  two  paragraphs, 
which  are  not  more  than  about  20  lines  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  GoMPERS  [reading:] 

We  are  laborers  working  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii. 

People  know  Hawaii  as  the  paradise  of  the  Pacific  and  as  a  sugar-producing  country, 
but  do  they  know  that  there  are  thousands  of  laborers  who  are  suffering  under  the  heat 
of  the  equatorial  sun,  in  field  and  in  factory,  and  who  are  weeping  with  10  hours  of 
hard  labor  and  with  a  scanty  pay  of  77  cents  a  day? 

Hawaii's  sugar.  When  we  look  at  Hawaii  as  the  country  possessing  44  sugar  mills 
with  230,000  acres  of  cultivated  land  area,  as  a  region  producing  600,000  tons  of  sugar 
annually,  we  are  impressed  with  the  great  importance  of  the  position  which  sugar 
occupies  among  the  industries  of  Hawaii.  We  realize  also  that  50,000  laborers  who 
together  with  their  families  number  about  160,000  are  a  majority  of  the  total  popula- 
tion of  250,090  in  Hawaii.  We  consider  it  a  great  privilege  and  pride  to  live  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  which  stands  for  freedom  and  justice,  as  a  factor  of  this  great 
industry  and  as  a  part  of  the  labor  of  Havv^aii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  is  supposed  to  have  gotten  that  out  ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  827 

The  Chairman.  I  am  trying  to  ascertain  that.  It  says,  '^Hawaii 
Laborers'  Association,  Honoluhi,  T.  H."  There  is  a  resolution  at 
the  bottom  of  the  last  page  and  it  is  certified: 

I  hereby  certify  that  the  above  is  the  true  copy  of  the  resolution  passed  by  the 
special  meeting  of  the  delegates  of  the  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association,  held  in  Honolulu, 
T.  II.,  June  30,  1920. 

T.  KoYAMA,  Chairman. 

G.  Kawahara,  Vice  Chairman. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  dated  1920? 

The  Chairman.  Yes;  during  the  strike.  This  is  the  plea  and 
statement  of  the  strikers,  probably  the  Japanese  strikers. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes;  these  are  Japanese  strikers,  and  it  is  issued  by 
their  own  association. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  is  promulgated  by  the  Japanese  laboring  people 
of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes.  I  saw  it  for  the  first  time  within  the  past  15 
minutes;  it  was  handed  to  me  by  Mr.  Roberts. 

The  Chairman.  I  see  no  objection  to  putting  the  whole  document 
in  the  record,  and  if  there  is  no  objection  it  will  be  inserted. 

(Said  document  follows :) 

Facts  About  the  Strike  on  Sugar  Plantations  in  Hawaii. 

[By  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association,  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  July,  1920.] 
WE    ARE    plantation    LABORERS. 

We  are  laborers  working  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii. 

People  know  Hawaii  as  the  paradise  of  the  Pacific  and  as  a  sugar-producing  country, 
but  do  they  know  that  there  are  thousands  of  laborers  who  are  suffering  under  the 
heat  of  the  equatorial  sun,  in  field  and  in  factory,  and  who  are  weeping  with  10  hours 
of  hard  labor  and  with  a  scanty  pay  of  77  cents  a  day? 

Hawaii's  sugar!  Wherj  we  look  at  Hawaii  as  the  country  possessing  44  sugar  mills, 
with  230.000  acres  of  cultivated  land  area,  as  a  region  producing  600,000  tons  of  sugar 
annually  we  are  impressed  with  the  great  importance  of  the  position  which  sugar 
occupies  among  the  industries  of  Hawaii.  We  realize  also  that  50,000  laborers  who, 
together  with  their  families  number  about  160.000,  are  a  majority  of  the  total  popula- 
tion of  250,000  in  Hawaii.  We  consider  it  a  great  privilege  and  pride  to  live  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  which  stands  for  freedom  and  justice,  as  a  factor  of  this  great  indus- 
try and  as  a  part  of  the  labor  of  Hawaii. 

We  love  production.  Fifty  years  ago,  when  we  first  came  to  Hawaii,  these  islands 
were  covered  with  ohia  forests,  guava  fields,  and  areas  of  wild  grass.  Day  and  night  did 
we  work,  cutting  trees  and  burning  grass,  clearing  lands  and  cultivating  fields  until 
we  made  the  plantations  what  they  are  to-day.  Of  course,  it  is  indisputable  that 
this  would  haA^e  been  impossible  if  it  were  not  for  the  investments  made  by  the  wealthy 
capitalists  and  the  untiring  efforts  of  the  administrators.  But  we  believe  that  the 
impartial  public  will  not  only  magnify  and  praise  the  efforts  of  the  capitalists,  but 
will  not  hesitate  to  recognize  the  work  of  the  laborers  who  have  served  faithfully  with 
sweat  on  their  brows.     We  are  faithful  laborers  who  love  labor  and  production. 

Look  at  the  silent  tombstones  in  every  locality.  Few  are  the  people  who  visit  these 
graves  of  our  departed  friends,  but  are  they  not  emblems  of  Hawaii's  pioneers  in 
labor?  Turn  your  eyes  to  the  ever  diligent  laborers.  They  are  not  beautiful  in 
appearance,  but  are  they  not  a  great  factor  of  Hawaii's  production? 

We  are  faithful  laborers,  willing  to  follow  the  steps  of  our  departed  elders  and  do 
our  part  toward  Hawaii's  production.  We  hear  that  there  are  in  Hawaii  over  a  hun- 
dred millionaires,  men  chiefly  connected  with  the  sugar  plantations.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  to  complain  and  envy,  but  we  would  like  to  state  that  there  are  on  the  sugar 
plantations  which  produced  these  fortunes  for  their  owners  a  large  number  of  laborers 
who  are  suffering  under  a  wage  of  77  cents  a  day. 


828  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

When  asked,  "What  is  a  laborer?"  a  certain  plantation  manager  is  said  to  have 
replied,  "A  laborer  is  an  ignorant  creature."  We  do  not  wish  to  believe  such  a  state- 
ment, but  when  we  look  back  over  our  own  experience  in  Hawaii  we  regret  to  state 
that  the  above  fact  is  undeniable. 

Impartial  and  just  ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  are  laborers  working  on  the  plantations 
of  Hawaii,  ('ertain  capitalists  may  regard  us  as  ignorant  creatures,  but  as  laborers 
working  seriously  and  faithfully  we  wish  it  understood  that  we  are  willing  to  do  our 
part  toward  Hawaii's  production  and  welfare  the  best  we  know  how,  hoping  for  the 
progress  of  civilization  and  endeavoring  to  safeguard  justice  and  humanity  as  mem- 
bers of  the  great  human  family. 

WHAT    THE    LABORERS    DEMANDED. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  repeat  here  the  words  so  often  heard  and  quoted  con- 
cerning the  price  of  commodities  during  and  after  the  great  war.  even  in  this  paradis- 
of  the  Pacific.     We  encountered  hardships  and  sufferings  in  supporting  ourselves 
during  the  war,  but  not  desiring  to  cause  any  trouble  to  the  industrial  world  in  the  j 
midst  of  that  struggle  we  endured,  persevered,  and  waited  until  the  year  1919. 

The  dark  clouds  of  war  were  dispersed  and  peace  came,  but  living  conditions  became 
more  pressing  every  day.  Fortune  appeared  to  those  concerned  in  the  ownership  of 
the  sugar  world,  and  things  looked  brighter  even  after  the  dreadful  war.  The  abolition 
of  war  taxes,  the  lowering  of  freight  rates,  the  reduction  of  prices  of  fertilizers  increased 
the  net  profits  of  the  sugar  planters. 

We  did  not  desire  to  entirely  disregard  the  prolits  for  the  planters,  but  we  did  believe 
that  our  demands  for  increased  wages  at  such  a  prosperous  time  were  reasonable  and 
justifiable.  Was  not  this  the  reason  that  the  cry  for  higher  wages  was  raised  throughout 
the  islands  in  the  latter  part  of  1919? 

The  desires  of  the  laborers  throughout  the  territory  at  that  time  were:  Wages  $3 
per  day,  eight  hours  work  per  day,  changes  and  amendments  to  agreements  between 
the  various  contractors,  cane  growers,  etc.,  with  the  plantations.  If  we  are  to  make  a 
true  confession  in  regard  to  the  reasons  for  demanding  $3  per  day,  we  must  say  that  that 
demand  was  made  with  the  amount  of  living  expenses  of  a  common  laborer  with  a  wife 
and  two  children  taken  as  the  basis  for  computation  (the  large  majority  of  the  laborers 
are  married  and  have  several  children).  We  only  feared  the  rise  from  77  cents  to  $3 
per  day  was  too  great  a  leap.  Without  doubt  the  amount  of  bonus  is  exceedingly 
great  when  conditions  in  the  sugar  world  appear  favorable,  but  bonus  itself  is  far  from 
being  secure  and  reliable  and  can  not  always  be  made  to  take  the  place  of  regular 
wages.  Just  in  proportion  as  it  is  magnified  and  overemphasized  by  the  capitalists 
it  is  so  much  the  less  certain.  For  this  reason,  we  have  earnestly  desired  to  obtain 
the  stability  of  our  living  by  properly  paid  wages  rather  than  through  the  beneficence 
of  bonus  with  conditions.  Why  then,  you  may  ask,  did  we  not  make  this  proposal 
for  $3  per  day  in  the  beginning.  In  order  to  answer  this  question,  we  must  make  clear 
to  you  the  situation  and  the  reason  which  prompted  us  to  demand  $1.25  per  day 
with  bonus. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  laborers  of  all  the  islands  held  in  the  early 
part  of  December,  1919,  when  we  were  about  to  make  the  final  decision  in  regard  to 
the  demands  to  be  presented  to  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  the  follow- 
ing agreement  was  reached  by  the  majority  of  the  representatives  present: 

■'It  being  our  purpose  not  to  disregard  the  sliding  scale  bonus  system  and  the  method 
used  in  encouraging  the  laborers'  continued  service,  we  deem  it  unbecoming  for 
laborers  whose  interest  lies  in  the  hearty  cooperation  of  capital  and  labor  to  present 
the  new  plan  immediately,  although  S3  per  day  is  quite  reasonable.  It  should  there- 
fore be  agreed  upon  that  the  amount  of  wages  to  be  demanded  be  computed  from  the 
sum  needed  for  a  laborer  to  support  himself.  The  bonus  is  to  be  left  for  the  support  of 
wife  and  children." 


LABOR  PliOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 
FOR  UNMARRIED  MAN. 


829 


Plantations. 


Hawaii: 

Ookala 

Kukaiau 

Kau,  Pahala 

Pepekeo 

Kukuihaele 

Honokaa 

Kohala 

Kohala  Union  Mill. . 

Kohala,  Hawi 

Hamakuapoko 

Hakalau,  Honohina. 
Kamuela 


A V erase. 


Maui: 

Waimalu. 
Pauela . . . 
Kahuliii. . 
Lahaina. . 


Average. 


Oahu: 

Kahuku.. 

Wahiawa . 

Do... 

Aiea 


Average. 


Kauai: 

McBryde. 
Kilauea . . 
Hanalei . . 

Kauaa... 


Average. 


Board, 


$15.  00 
15.  00 
15.  00 
15.  00 
15.  00 
15.  00 
14.00 
13.  .50 
15.  50 
14.00 
15.00 
15.  50 


15.00 
13.  50 
15.00 
15.00 


14.50 
13.00 
13.00 
15.  00 


12.  50 
13.00 

13.  00 
18.  50 


Cloth- 
ing. 


$16.  70 
6.45 

13.  50 
6.00 

16.70 
9.65 
5.  45 
5.60 
9.55 
4.90 
8.40 
5.90 


7.60 
6.55 
7.05 

8.  75 


3.80 

6.05 

6.90 

11.  35 


7.35 
8.  45 
5.20 
8.05 


Tax. 


,40 
,50 
,40 
,40 
,40 
45 
45 
40 
50 
40 
45 
45 


Pa[)ors 
and 
maga- 
zines. 


Clubs. 


$1.00 

.35 

1..50 

1.70 

1.00 

1.50 

.80 

1.00 

1.00 

1.25 

1.00 

.75 


,43 
,40 
,45 
,42 


,42 
,50 


,40 


,45 
45 
40 
46 


1.50 

.85 

1.00 

l.oO 


.85 
.85 


75 


1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 


$1.  00 

.50 

1.00 

1.50 

1.00 

1.70 

.40 

.90 

1.00 

.70 

.70 

.  75 


.50 

1.00 

.25 

.10 


1.00 
.25 
.20 


,50 
,30 
.50 
30 


Social. 


S6.20 
1.85 
5.75 
4.70 
6.20 

10.50 
4.65 
5.50 
7.00 
2.65 
8.75 
3.  75 


4.00 
4.25 
4.10 
8.20 


3.40 
4.50 
3.10 


4.  75 
2.40 
5.75 
4.10 


Sun- 
dry. 


$5. 05 
0.20 
4.95 
3.85 

5.  05 

6.  .30 
5.25 

;b.65 

6.  30 
5.90 
4.90 
3.00 


4.  55 
4.25 
2.35 
3.00 


2.40 
2.55 
4.80 
1.65 


7.00 
6.20 
1.95 
5.40 


Total. 


$45.  05 
30.85 
42.10 
32.20 
45.  05 
45.10 
31.  00 
30.  55 
40.  85 
29.80 
39.50 
30.10 


36.  93 


33.58 
30.80 
30.20 
36.  97 


32.  89 


25.37 
28.45 
28.90 
31.  90 


28.65 


33.  55 
31.  80 
27.80 
32.81 


31.49 


FOR  MARRIED  MAN. 


Hawaii: 

Ookala 

$31.  75 
35. 60 
34.00 
30.00 

28. 65 
25.  50 
28.00 
28.50 
25.00 
28.50 
30.  50 

$22. 10 
7.  85 

15.  50 
6.00 
6.55 

12.90 

6.40 

10.10 

12.  55 

6.45 

16.  55 

$0.40 
.50 
.40 
.45 
.40 
.42 
.45 
.40 
.50 
.40 
.45 

$1.50 

.50 

2.00 

1.  25 

1.75 

2.00 

.80 

•1.00 

1.00 

.50 

1.00 

$1.50 
1.00 

.75 
1.50 
1.50 
2.00 

.40 

.95 
1.25 
1.00 

.50 

$9.20 
2.60 
7.25 
6.50 
6.00 

15.  50 
7.15 
8.75 

11.00 
5.90 

12.  25 

$4.  20 
4.10 
7.  05 

5.  50 
16.35 

7.50 
4.10 
3.25 

6.  85 
2.90 
6.35 

$70. 65 

Kukaiau 

52.15 

Kau,  Pahala 

Kamuela 

66.95 
51.20 

Pepekeo 

64.80 

Honokaa 

65.82 

Kohala 

47.30 

Kohala  Union  Mill 

52.95 

Kohala,  Hawi 

58.15 

Hamakuapoko . 

45.65 

Hakalau,  Honohina 

67.60 

Average 

59.38 

Maui: 

Waimalu 

29.  55 
27.  50 
33.00 
39.85 

9.05 
8.  45 

12.  50 

13.  40 

.45 
..50 
.43 

1.00 

.85 

1.75 

.25 
1.00 
2.25 

6.10 

8.50 

12.00 

4.05 
4.80 
.5.95 

50.  45 

Pauela 

■  51.  60 

Kahului 

67.88 

Lahaina 

Average. 

56.28 

Oahu' 

Kahuku 

23.00 
30.  00 
30.00 
32.30 

6.75 
10.  25 

8.05 
24.20 

.42 
•      .50 

""'.'-io' 

.85 
.85 
.85 
.75 

.25 
2.00 
2.55 

.20 

3.65 
7.00 
6.65 
2.55 

4.98 
4.20 
6.60 
2.95 

40.40 

Wahiawa 

Do 

54.80 
56.70 

Aiea 

63.35 

Average 

53.81 

McBrvde 

27.10 

28. 10 
13.  50 

28.75 

10.  55 
9.  95 
5.  85 

10.  95 

.45 
.45 
.40 
.46 

1.00 

""i.'oo" 

1.00 

.75 

.50 

1.00 

.45 

8.  Sr, 

3.75 

10.50 

7.30 

8.45 
4.45 
3. 15 
5.80 

57. 15 

Kilauea 

47.40 

Hanalei 

45.40 

Kapaa 

54.71 

830 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 
FOR  MARRIED  MAN  WITH  TWO  CHILDREN. 


Plantations. 

Board. 

Cloth- 
ing. 

Tax. 

Papers 
and 
maga- 
zines. 

Clubs. 

Social. 

Sun- 
dry. 

Total. 

Hawaii: 

Ookala 

$46.  85 
35.85 
48.00 
38.  55 
43.90 
48.40 
35.  50 
35.  50 
42.  75 
48.  50 
38.00 
41.  75 

$27.  60 
7.85 

17.  50 
8.65 
8.20 

10.40 

19.70 
7.90 

17.00 

19.  50 
8.  95 

20.  55 

$0.40 
.50 
.40 
.40 
.45 
.45 
.42 
.45 
.10 
.50 
.40 
.45 

$1.50 
.50 
2.00 
1.75 
1.25 
1.50 
2.00 
.80 
].00 
1.00 
1.  50 
1.00 

$3.  00 
1.00 
2.75 

2.  00 

3.  50 

4.  50 
4.00 
1.  15 

5.  75 
5.  50 
1.00 
2.00 

$11.80 
2.60 
8.25 

14.40 

7.  00 

.50 

17.00 
7.65 
9.75 

14.00 
8.20 

16.  75 

$5.  45 
4.10 
7.05 
4.85 
7.25 

4.  50 
10.  m 

5.  25 
4.85 
9.80 
4.65 
7.20 

$96. 60 

Ktikaiau 

52.  40 

Kau,  Pahala 

85.  95 

Pepekeo 

76.85 

Kamuela 

71.  55 

Kukuihaele 

74.  75 

Honokaa 

88. 92 

Kohala 

58.  70 

Kohala  Union  Mill 

•      81. 50 

Kohala,  Hawi 

98.  80 

Hamakuapoko 

60.  70 

Hakalau,  Honohina 

89.  70 

Average 

78.  03 

Maui: 

Kahului 

48.65 

12.10 

.45 

1.00 

2.50 

7.10 

5.  .50 

77.30 

Pauela .   . 

75.  00 

Waimalu 

77.80 

Lahaina 

54.  35 

17.  80 

1.00 

.75 

6.25 

5.10 

84.  25 

Average 

78.  59 

Oahu: 

Kahuku 

.33.  50 
40.00 
34.00 

10.  05 

11.  25 
31.  35 

.42 

"".'■io" 

.85 
.85 
.  75 

1.  55 

2.  55 
1.20 

4.65 
6.65 
2.65 

5.78 
6.75 
:3.40 

56.  70 

Wahiawa 

68.  05 

Aiea 

73.  75 

Averas;e 

66.17 

Kauai: 

McBryde 

35.70 
41.  50 
37.00 
35.  20 

14.45 

17.30 

8.60 

13.35 

.45 
.45 
.40 
.46 

1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 

.75 

.25 

3.  50 

1.20 

18.  85 

.90 

17.50 

7.80 

11.50 
8.10 
4.80 

7.85 

85.  45 

Kilauea 

69.  50 

Hanalei 

72.80 

Kapaa , 

66.  86 

Average 

1 

73.  65 

1 

THE    DEMANDS — RESOLUTIONS    OF   THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    REPRESENTATIVES. 

1.  The  wages  of  common  man  lal^orers,  which  at  present  are  77  cents  per  day,  shall 
be  increased  to  $1.25,  and  those  of  the  higher-salaried  men  shall  be  increased  in 
proportion : 

And  minimum  wages  for  women  laborers  shall  le  fixed  at  95  cents  per  day: 
However,  it  is  to  be  understood  that  the  present  lionus  system  shall  he  retained 

with  changes  hereinafter  mentioned,  and  same  to  be  paid  in  addition  to  the  wages 

already  mentioned  above. 

2.  The  present  l)onus  system  shall  be  changed  in  the  following  particulars,  viz: 

(a)  That  the  principal  of  the  bonus  system  shall  be  made  so  that  the  lal)orers  may 
claim  the  same  in  court  of  justice  as  of  right  if  it  is  not  already  so. 

(b)  That  all  men  laborers  who  shall  work  15  days  or  more  and  all  women  laborers 
who  shall  work  10  days  or  more  per  month,  shall  be  entitled  to  the  bonus;  and  that 
all  cane-grov/ing  contractors  who  may  be  employed  by  the  plantations  to  do  work 
for  them,  shall  be  paid  their  bonus  irrespective  of  number  of  days  they  work  for  the 
plantations : 

(c)  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  bonus  shall  be  paid  to  lalwrers  every  month,  the  re- 
maining 25  per  cent  to  be  retained  by  the  j)lantation  to  be  paid  at  the  end  of  each 
bonus  year:  Provided,  however,  That  wheneA^er  the  la'oorers  shall  le.ave  the  planta- 
tions because  of  their  intention  of  returning  to  Japan,  or  change  of  place  of  work,  or 
of  discharge,  they  shall  be  paid  at  once  the  whole  remainder  of  the  bonus,  which  has 
been  so  retained. 

3.  Eight  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work,  with  the  wages  and  bonuses  here- 
inabove mentioned. 

4.  Women  laborers  shall  be  excused  from  their  work  for  two  weeks  before  and  six 
weeks  after  their  delivery,  during  which  time,  however,  they  shall  be  entitled  to  their 
wages  and  bonuses  as  if  they  were  actually  at  vrork. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  AIL  831 

5.  I^'or  work  on  Sunday b,  legal  liolidays,  or  overtime  services  the  laborers  shall  ])e 
paid  double  their  regular  wages  and  bonuses. 

().  Regarding  the  cane-groAong  contract,  it  is  requested  that  the  same  be  so  changed, 
after  deducting  the  merketing  expenses,  that  the  share  of  companies  shall  be  40  per 
cent  and  that  of  the  planters  shall  be  fiO  per  cent  of  the  gross  value  of  the  market  price 
of  sugar. 

7.  That  the  price  of  cane  paid  to  the  cane-growing  contractors  be  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  the  increase  of  wages  and  bonus  as  outlined  hereinabove. 

8.  That  the  planters  shall  further  improve  the  provisions  made  for  the  health  and 
amusement  of  laborers. 

RESOLUTIONS    SUBMITTED    TO    PLANTERS'    ASSOCIATION. 

The  assembly  of  the  representatives  of  Japanese  laborers,  w^hich  passed  the  above 
resolutions,  submitted  the  same,  accompanied  by  a  letter,  to  the  ])lanters'  association 
on  Deceni])er  4,  1919,  through  a  delegation  consisting  of  one  representative  from  each 
island.  It  should  be  remembered  that  similar  demands  were  also  presented  to  the 
same  association  by  the  rili])ino  Laborers'  Union  on  the  same  day. 

It  was  our  firm  belief  that  a  request  so  moderate  in  its  nature  as  the  one  above 
referred  to  would  naturally  be  accepted  by  the  planters'  association.  This  belief  we 
held  not  without  reason,  for  words  and  actions  of  the  various  plantation  managers 
revealed  in  unofficial  manner,  the  assurances  that  the  dem^ands  would  be  accepted 
But.  contrary"  to  our  expectation,  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Hawaiian  Fugar  Planters' 
Association  resulted  in  the  total  rejection  of  our  demands,  excepting  that  single 
clause  relating  to  the  bonus  system. 

.  It  was  an  unexpected  issue.  However,  we  were  not  entirely  disappointed.  Be- 
lieving that  an  honest  explanation  of  our  situation  would  cause  our  sincere  desires 
to  be  acknowledged,  we  again  submitted  a  similar  request  with  the  following  reason 
in  support  of  it  on  December  27,  1919. 

REASONS    IN    SUPPORT    OF    REQUEST    FOR   HIGHER    WAGES.    SHORTER   HOURS.    ETC..    FOR 

PLANTATION    LABORERS    OF    HAWAII. 

There  is  something  astonishing  in  the  price  moA^'ement  of  living  staples.  In  order 
to  ascertain  what  effect  the  present  high  prices  have  had  upon  the  life  of  the  planta- 
tion laborers,  our  federation  has  chosen  45  articles  of  provisions,  clothing,  and  kindred 
commodities,  and  has  investigated  the  retail  prices  thereof.  We  find  that  the  highest 
has  increased  as  much  as  207.70  per  cent  and  even  the  lowest  40  per  cent,  averaging 
an  increase  of  115  per  cent  as  compared  with  normal  prewar  prices. 

Unfortunately,  there  are  no  authentic  figures  available  which  refer  to  the  few  years 
immediately  preceding  1916.  We  have  therefore  adopted  the  latter  as  a  basis  of  com- 
parison with  the  present;  but,  in  doing  so,  would  ask  you  to  remember  that,  even  in 
1916,  the  increase,  as  compared  with,  say,  1912,  was  already  strongly  marked. 

Increased  cost  of  livim/. — It  is  inevitable  that  such  increase  in  prices  should  bring 
about  an  increased  cost  of  living,  and  according  to  our  investigation  the  present  cost 
of  living  per  month  is  about  as  follows,  viz: 

1.  Single  persons,  Mav,  1916,  ,<?24.81;  November,  1919,  335.19;  increase,  41.8  per 
cent.  2^  Married  couples.  May,  1916,  ,146.81;  November.  1919,  $57.05;  increase  27.6 
per  cent.  3.  Married  persons  with  2  children,  May,  1916,  $52.36;  November,  1919, 
$75.72;  increase  44.5  per  cent. 

Incomes  nf  labor ers. —No \'i ,  turning  to  the  incomes  of  laborers  at  the  present  time, 
men  earning  |20  per  month  are  common  and  there  are  not  a  few  who  are  working  at 
77  cents  per  day.  Of  course  there  is  a  bonus  which  increases  quite  materially  their 
earnings.  But  the  bonus  is  not  sufficient  to  supply  the  discrepancy  between  the 
increased  cost  of  living  computed  at  prewar  rates  and  the  low  present  wages.  And 
for  those  v.'ho,  from  sickness  or  other  reasons,  can  not  obtain  the  benefit  of  the  bonus, 
their  difficulty  is  still  more  emphasized. 

A  laborer's  wage  should  be  sufficient  to  support  him  and  his  family  in  decency  and 
in  comfort.  Only  so  can  his  physical  energies  be  reasonably  conserved.  But  a  mere 
existence  or  subsistence  is  not  enough,  and  the  laborer  who  mu.st  spend  his  entire 
earnings  for  living  expenses  is  insufficiently  paid.  There  should  always  be  available 
a  reasonable  margin  of  earnings  in  excess  of  necessary  expenses  to  set  aside  as  an 
insurance  fund  to  provide  against  the  hazards  of  misfortune  and  the  approach  of  old 
age.  To  provide  less  than  this  for  a  laborer  is  to  place  him  in  a  class  beneath  the  beasts 
of  burden  which  are  used  on  the  plantations,  and  to  treat  him  with  less  consideration 
than  is  accorded  to  a  working  mule.  The  latter  beast,  whether  from  motives  of  selfish- 
ness or  of  humaneness,  is  fairly  certain  of  not  only  adequate  support  during  his 


832  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HA  WAIL 

working-  career,  but  of  a  humane  provision  for  his  needs  when  old  age  or  accident 
shall  have  incapacitated  him  for  further  service.  But  where,  let  us  ask,  in  the  wages 
scale  as  now  existing,  can  the  plantation  laborers  in  Hawaii  find  a  guaranty  or  even  a 
promise  of  provision  for  his  maintenance  when  age  or  misfortune  shall  have  placed  a 
period  upon  his  earning  capacity?  His  condition  in  this  respect  compares  unfavorably 
with  that  of  the  beasts  of  burden  now  in  use  upon  your  plantations.  But  if  the  laborer 
from  the  inadequate  wage  now  in  vogue  should  nevertheless  endeavor  to  set  aside 
something,  even  a  trifle,  each  month  to  assist  in  such  provision  for  the  future,  he 
can  do  so  only  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  comforts,  necessities,  and  even  features  of  decency, 
of  which  he  should  not,  upon  grounds  of  morality  and  justice,  ]>e  deprived.  In  short, 
then,  and  to  epitomize  the  present  situation,  the  plantation  laborer  is  enabled  to  exist 
but  not  to  live  and  support  those  dependent  upon  him  in  any  just  and  reasonable 
sense  of  those  terms. 

To  enforce  upon  labor,  here,  a  M-age  scale  that  forl^ids  a  reasonable  provision  for  the 
future  as  well  as  for  the  present,  is  tantamount  to  the  destruction  of  the  very  basis  of 
their  lives,  degree  of  contentment  and  for  that  absence  of  unrest  among  the  laboring 
element,  which  are  so  desirable  as  promoters  of  efficient  service. 

The  profits  to  the  planters  in  Hawaii  for  years  past,  have  been  most  generous,  and 
late  press  dispatches  indicate  the  certainty  of  enormously  increased  prices  for  our 
great  sugar  staple.  In  the  light  of  these  profits,  and  of  this  prospec-t,  we  again  respect- 
fully but  urgently  invite  your  reconsideration  of  your  announced  ])osition  upon  this 
subject. 

And  it  is  for  the  skilled,  and  semiskilled  labor  now  employed  by  you  that  we  request 
this  increase,  as  well  as  for  the  men  and  vv'omen  who  serve  in  the  humblest  capacities. 
The  same  arguments  will  readily  apply  to  each  and  all  of  them. 

Re  request  for  partial  revision  of  the  bonus  system. — We  recognize  that  the  bonus 
system  is  an  advantageous  scheme  for  the  planters,  as  it  will  compel  automatically 
the  laborers  to  perform  more  labor,  and.  also  from  the  laborers'  point  of  view,  we  are 
not  slow  to  recognize  in  it  a  virtue  as  a  means  of  increasing  their  incomes.  But  as  it 
is  not  obtainable  unless  the  laborers  shall  work  20  days  or  more,  if  male,  and  15  days  or 
more,  if  female,  in  each  month,  it  often  happens  that  the  laborers  whose  physical  con- 
dition unfits  them  for  labor  in  the  field  go  to  work  in  order  to  protect  their  bonus, 
which  is  inimical  to  their  health.  In  order  to  avoid  such  conditions,  we  ask  you  to 
cut  the  number  of  days  necessary  to  be  worked  in  order  to  entitle  them  to  bonus  by 
5  days  per  month  for  both  men  and  women. 

Re  demand  for  an  8-hour  day. — We  observe  throughout  the  world  a  general  move- 
ment for  shorter  hours,  some  trades  demanding  even  6  hours  a  day.  In  view  of  the 
fact  that  Hawaii  is  a  tropical  country  where  physical  labor  has  the  most  exhausting 
effect  upon  the  health  and  sti'ength  of  workers,  we  do  not  doubt  that  our  request  for 
an  8-hour  day  is  a  most  proper  and  reasonable  one.  Such  a  change  will  not  only  have 
a  very  salutary  effect  upon  the  laborers,  by  bringing  them  a  greater  degree  of  content- 
ment, but  it  can  not  fail  to  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon  the  interests  of  the  employers 
as  well  by  increasing  the  efficiency  of  labor. 

Re  protection  of  women  laborers. — -The  women  laborers,  while  on  the  one  hand  per- 
forming work  in  the  field  for  the  plantations,  are  under  a  very  important  responsibility 
in  giving  birth  to  and  rearing  the  succeeding  generation.  It  is,  therefore,  becoming 
that  they  should  he  allowed  a  quiet  rest  for  a  period  of  time,  both  before  and  after 
their  delivery.  This  is  demanded  from  the  humanitarian  point  of  view. 
p»  Re  extra  day  for  work  on  Sundays  and  legal  holidays  and  for  overtime. — America  is  a 
Christian  Nation,  wdiere  very  strict  Sunday  laws  are  vigorously  enforced.  Is  it  not 
most  unbecoming  for  the  Christian  employers  to  offer  a  double  pay  for  labor  performed 
on  Sunday,  which  their  Lord  God  has  ordained  specially  as  a  day  of  rest?  The  work 
performed  on  legal  holidays,  and  also  overtime  labor,  are  performed  beyond  the  usual 
exactions  upon  the  life  and  strength  of  the  laborer,  and  we  feel  that  it  is  most  fitting 
that  the  laborers  should  request  doul)le  pay  for  it — and  that  the  employers  should 
meet  such  a  just  request. 

Re  increased  compensation  for  cultivation  coiitroctors.— The  wages  of  the  laborers 
should  be  increased  for  reasons  stated  hereinabove,  and  in  case  their  request  be  com- 
plied with  the  cultivation  contractors  will  be  obliged  to  pay  higher  wages  to  their 
employees,  which  in  turn  will  require  a  greater  fund  to  draw  upon,  and  this  is  the 
reason  why  we  ask  for  higher  compensation  for  the  cultivation  contractors. 

Reprovisions  for  health  and  amusements. — It  is  highly  desirable  that  not  only  ade- 
quate provisions  be  made  for  the  sanitation  of  camps  and  other  plantation  quarters, 
but  also  that  the  reasonable  demands  of  the  employees  for  recreation  and  amusement 
in  their  hours  of  respite  from  labor  should  be  recognized  and  appreciated,  as  a  material 
contribution  toward  their  contentment,  and,  therefore,  of  their  efficiency.  WTiile 
we  are  not  slow  in  recognizing  1hat  certain  efforts  are  being  made  in  this  direction 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  833 

by  some  of  the  plantations,  we  would  respectfully  suggest  a  greater  and  more  intensified 
endeavor  in  carrying  this  feature  to  a  still  more  uniform  and  complete  degree  of  effi- 
ciency. 

Reproportion  of  distribution  of  profits  between  the  Japanese  cane  growers  and  sugar 
companies. — -We  request  that  the  division  of  profits  between  independent  Japanese 
cane  growers,  cultivating  their  own  land,  and  the  sugar  companies  (capitalists), 
should  be  in  the  ratio  of  60  per  cent  for  the  former  and  40  per  cent  for  the  latter.  We 
do  not  believe  that  we  are  making  any  exorbitant  demand  in  this  respect.  This 
proportion  of  division  is  generally  recognized  as  a  just  one.  The  governor  of  this 
territory  has  recognized  its  justice  and  applied  the  same  to  the  contracts  of  home- 
steaders. We  simply  adopt  the  governor's  position  and  request  you  to  revise  out- 
standing contracts  accordingly. 

In  reply  to  the  above  request,  we  received  from  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters' 
Association  on  January  14,  1920,  a  note  in  which  they  put  great  emphasis  on  the 
bonus  system,  but  flatl)^  refused  to  grant  our  request  for  higher  wages  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  merely  the  product  of  '-agitators."  We  were  simply  astounded.  What 
an  absurd  idea!  How  can  the  laborers  who  are  in  the  very  midst  of  the  struggle 
with  high  cost  of  living,  be  so  reckless  as  to  cry  for  increased  pay  for  the  mere  purpose 
of  feeding  the  so-called  "agitators"?  We  began  to  cast  some  doubt  on  the  sincerity 
of  the  planters  who,  we  thought,  should  be  better  acquainted  with  the  conditions 
of  the  laborers.  Still  we  did  not  lose  hope.  Trusting  that  a  clear  understanding 
of  each  other's  situation  would  amicably  settle  the  question,  we  submitted  our  demands 
for  the  third  time.  AVhen,  on  January  20,  the  laborers  of  all  the  sugar  plantations 
of  the  four  islands  appeared  before  their  respective  managers  and  explained  their 
cause,  we  received  the  impression  that  the  majority  of  the  managers  did  not  regard 
our  demands  unreasonable.  We  waited  for  a  reply  from  the  Hawaii  Sugar  Planters' 
Association  with  great  expectation. 

GENERAL    LAY-OFF    ON    FIVE    PLANTATIONS 

On  January  19,  the  members  of  the  I^ilipino  Labor  Union  on  the  six  plantations 
of  Aiea,  Waipahu,  Ewa,  Waialua,  Waimanalo,  and  Kahuku,  went  on  a  strike.  In 
reality,  under  the  name  of  Filipino  Labor  Union,  a  large  number  of  Spaniards,  Portu- 
guese, and  Chinese  were  also  among  the  number  who  struck.  The  50  Koreans  on 
Waipahu  were  probably  the  only  ones  who  kept  out.  We  the  Japanese  laborers, 
then  awaiting  the  planters'  replv  to  our  last  req  uest,  knew  very  well  that  it  was  not 
due  time  for  us  to  join  the  strike.  But  we  acknowledge  the  existence  of  morality 
among  laborers.  It  would  be  against  one  of  the  codes  of  that  morality  for  us  to  remain 
silent  and  watch  the  strike  of  our  fellow  workers  who  have  lived  and  labored  with  us, 
who  have  undergone  the  same  struggles  with  us,  and  who  have  endeavored  to  reach 
the  same  goal  with  us.  Therefore,  with  the  object  of  keeping  faith  ^vith  our  fellow 
laborers  and  bringing  about  proper  adjustment  to  the  confused  industrial  circle,  we, 
the  laborers  of  the  six  plantations  above  mentioned  called  a  general  lay-off  on  January 
23.  We  had  not  yet  gone  on  a  strike  against  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Associa- 
tion. The  fact  of  our  lay-off  was  notified  to  the  different  managers  beforehand,  while 
the  entire  procedure  was  conducted  in  an  orderly  manner,  giving  little  or  no  dis- 
turbance to  the  work  on  the  plantations. 

THE    INEVITABLE    STRIKE. 

The  industrial  disorder  gradually  increased  in  its  intensity.  As  yet  we  had  received 
no  sincere  answer  from  the  planters'  association.  We  passed  through  uneasy  days. 
We  could  no  longer  keep  our  patience.  Hoping  to  bring  about  the  long  desired  result 
in  the  shortest  possible  space  of  time  by  direct  appeal  and  frank  talk,  we  sent  two 
of  our  secretaries  to  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  office  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  the  privilege  of  an  interview  between  the  officers  of  Hawaiian  Sugar 
Planters'  Association  and  our  directors  who  truly  represent  the  laborers.  Unfor- 
tunately, Mr.  R.  D.  Mead,  the  secretary  of  the  planters'  association,  refused  to  grant 
the  opportunity  of  such  an  interview.  With  the  words  ' '  The  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters' 
Association  will  settle  its  own  industrial  troubles,"  our  third  request  was  once  more 
turned  down.  The  door  was  closed  before  our  eyes;  there  was  no  more  room  for 
negotiation.  The  time  had  finally  come  when  we  were  compelled  to  resort  to  our  last 
means.  For  two  months,  ever  since  our  first  request,  we  had  been  pleading  for  our 
cause  sincerely,  honestly,  seriously,  and  earnestly  without  a  thought  of  plot  or  scheme. 
We  had  tried  every  peaceful  method  we  knew  of,  with  the  hearty  cooperation  of 
capital  and  labor  constantly  in  mind.  We  do  not  wish  to  strike.  We  want  peace 
and  order;  we  love  labor  and  production.     But  when  we  think  of  the  group  of  capi- 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 ^19 


834 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 


talists  who  show  no  sympathy  whatever  toward  tlie  struggling  laborers,  turn  deaf 
ears  to  their  cries  and  reject  their  just  and  reasonable  demands  under  the  pretense 
that  they  are  formulated  by  "agitators,"  we  can  not  remain  silent.  We  must  act. 
And  so  we  went  on  strike. 

In  speaking  of  the  capitalists  we  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood.  We  do  not  mean 
that  all  the  members  of  the  planters'  association  are  merciless  and  antagonistic ;  we 
admit  that  there  are  a  number  of  sugar  capitalists  and  plantation  managers  with  clear 
understanding  and  full  sympathy.  We  only  regret  that  there  was  an  undesirable  ele- 
ment which  went  to  work  very  intelligently,  instigating  the  capitalists  and  constantly 
endeavoring  to  separate  capital  from  labor.  This  element,  we  believe,  was  to  a  large 
measure  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  deplorable  result.  But  we  were  com- 
pelled to  strike.  So,  strike  we  did,  honorably  and  bravely,  as  laborers  living  under 
the  great  flag  of  freedom  and  justice.  We  were  obliged  to  strike.  This  is  a  strike  we 
disliked,  a  strike  we  tried  to  evade.  We  trust  that  the  unprejudiced  public  will  find 
out  the  true  source  wherein  the  fault  lies  before  forming  any  judgment. 

THE   COURSE    OF  THE    STRIKE. 

On  February  2,  1920,  we  formally  went  on  strike  against  the  planters'  association. 
This  meant  that  with  the  exception  of  about  50  Koreans  on  Waipahu  plantation, 
practically  the  whole  labor  forces  on  Waimanalo,  Aiea,  Ewa,  Waipahu,  Kahuku,  and 
Waialua  were  on  strike.  Some,  however,  from  financial  and  other  reasons  were 
©■bliged  to  go  back  to  work,  but  these  numbered  very  few.  It  was  to  our  great  surprise 
that  on  the  10th  of  the  same  month,  Mr.  Manlapit,  who  was  the  president  of  the  Filipino 
labor  union,  issued  orders  to  the  effect  that  all  the  Filipino  laborers  then  on  strike 
return  unconditionally  to  their  former  positions.  But  knowing  very  well  that  the 
strike  was  not  planned  out  by  the  so-called  agitators  as  some  believe,  we  were  con- 
fident that  such  an  order  as  that  issued  by  Mr.  Manlapit  would  not  have  any  effect 
whatever  upon  the  morale  of  our  laborers  for  Mr.  Manlapit  was  not  a  laborer.  It  was 
our  pride  that  none  of  our  laborers  were  influenced  by  his  words.  Their  spirits  were 
unmoved  and  dauntless  as  ever.  The  18th  of  January  is  a  day  we  can  never  forget. 
It  was  the  day  when  we  were  expelled  from  our  Homes  on  the  plantation,  just  as  the 
terror  of  that  cruel  "flu"  had  reached  its  height.  A  pitiable  and  even  frightful  scene 
that  day  presented  to  us — household  utensils  and  furniture  thrown  out  and  heaped 
up  before  our  houses,  doors  tightly  nailed  that  none  might  enter,  sickly  fathers  with, 
trunks  and  baggage,  mothers  with  weeping  babes  in  arms,  the  crying  of  children, 
and  the  rough  voices  of  the  plantation  police  officers.  Across  the  wide  ocean  did  we 
travel  at  the  request  of  the  sugar  capitalists;  and  here  we  were,  3,000  miles  from 
home  and  country,  and  this  was  the  situation  in  which  we  found  ourselves — "be 
satisfied  with  77  cents  a  day,  or  get  out."  Alas,  poor  wanderers,  where  were  we  ta 
find  ourselves  at  the  next  break  of  day? 

THE    EXPULSION. 

We  are  laborers.  We  do  not  wish  to  consider  ourselves  as  wanderers.  The  desolate 
camps  which  we  were  first  given  had  been  colored  and  beautified  with  flowers  and 
plants  carefully  nursed  by  our  hands.  There  were  pretty  vegetable  gardens  to  adorn 
the  back  yard,  and  pet  dogs  for  the  babies  to  play  with.  But  this  severe  order  to  leave 
gave  us  no  time  to  look  over  these  things.  We  had  to  leave  them.  We  hesitated 
and  reconsidered  only  to  find  our  resolutions  wax  stronger.  Yes;  we  must  go,  we 
must  stand  for  our  cause;  77  cents  per  day  is  too  cruel.  And  so  we  left  our  camp 
homes.  When  we  thought  of  the  cruel,  unsympathetic  treatment  which  we  received 
at  the  hands  of  the  plantation  officers,  and  the  merciful,  tender  care  with  which  some 
of  our  fellow  laborers  received  us  at  their  homes,  our  hearts  were  moved  with  anger 
and  gratitude  at  the  same  time.  The  following  will  show  the  number  who  were 
forced  to  evacuate  their  camp  homes: 


Plantation. 

Men. 

"Women. 

Children. 

Total. 

Kahuku 

229 
746 
1,171 
812 
170 
911 

170 
478 
680 
')94 
92 
628 

377 
681 

1,075 
499 
183 

1,041 

766 

Aiea                                        .               

1, 905 

Wa'pabu  .                                   .           

2,926 

Ewa 

1,906 

Waimanal  o    .                          

445 

Waialua                                                   

2,  5S0 

Total...  .                              

4,039 
1,038 

2. 643 
153 

3,  856 
281 

10, 53S 

Filipinos      .                               

1, 472 

Grand  total   .                 

5. 087 

2, 790 

4. 137 

12,010 

LABOR  PROBLEMS   IK   HAWAII.  835 

besides  the  above,  there  were  about  300  who  were  compelled  to  leave  their  plan- 
tations because,  out  of  their  sympathy  toward  us  they  also  struck,  although  their 
plantations  had  no  connection  with  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association. 

THE    INFLUENZA — A   TRAGEDY. 

The  expulsion  order  mercilessly  brought  us  to  the  heart  of  the  "fiu"  district.  In 
our  new  homes  in  Honolulu  the  great  epidemic  made  its  appearance.  One  by  one  it 
grasped  us  Avith  its  mighty  hands.  Out  of  the  5,000  who  took  up  their  temporary 
abode  in  the  city,  over  1,200  were  made  victims  of  the  horrible  monster,  a  large  number- 
having  been  struck  down  to  the  ground  where  they  will  remain  silent  forever.  Imme- 
diately after  this,  the  dreadful  disease  threatened  the  plantations  of  Aiea,  Waialua,. 
Waimanalo,  and  a  few  other  districts.  There  were  in  Waialua  on  one  occasion  800 ■ 
patients;  there  were  deaths  every  day;  43  died  in  10  days.  With  one  plantation- 
hospital  and  one  Japanese  physician,  these  poor  laborers  struggled  and  suffered. 
Matters  became  worse  and  worse  each  day.  The  school  building  was  changed  into  a 
temporary  hospital.  Wives  weeping  with  their  sick  babies  over  the  loss  of  their 
husbands,  children  made  orphans  overnight,  husbands  burying  sons  and  "wives  on 
the  same  day— these  could  not  be  looked  upon  without  tears.  Lives  \vent  out  like- 
candle  flames  in  a  gust  of  wind.  Standing  at  the  edge  of  the  sea  of  death,  these  daunt- 
less people  were  nevertheless  firm  and  unmoved  in  their  determination;  their  last 
words  were  always:  "Don't  give  up.  Fight  for  the  righteous  cause."  What  tragedyl! 
What  spirit! 

THE    FEDERATION    OF   JAPANESE    LABOR    IN    HAW.^II. 

Feeling  the  need  of  cooperative  bodies  among  the  laborers  working  on  the  plan- 
tations, we  had  made  attempts  to  form  such  bodies  in  various  districts  since  several' 
years  ago.  The  young  men's  association  and  the  cane-growers'  association  could  be 
cited  as  fruits  of  such  attempts.  During  1919,  when  the  cry  for  higher  wages  was  raised , 
the  necessity  and  the  importance  of  lal^or  unions  were  proclaimed  throughout  the 
islands.  At  this  time  Mr.  Pablo  Manlapit,  beginning  his  campaign  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  labor  unions,  with  Oahu  as  the  center,  succeeded  in  forming  the  Filipino  Labor 
Union  including  Filipinos,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  Hawaiian.  Almost  simultane- 
ously Japanese  labor  unions  begun  by  young  men  were  formed  on  nearly  all  planta- 
tions, and  in  the  early  part  of  December  of  that  year,  with  the  meeting  of  the  delegates 
in  Honolulu,  the  Federation  of  Japanese  I^abor  in  Hawaii  came  into  existence.  Thus 
it  is  evident  that  the  movement  to  organize  labor  unions  was  launched  almost  at 
the  same  time  by  laborers  of  all  races.  Some  may  question  the  reason  for  the  existence 
of  two  separate  labor  federations  and  may  insist  on  the  advisability  of  the  consolida- 
tion of  these  two  unions,  but,  unfortunately,  the  circumstances  which  then  existed 
and  the  conditions  in  Hawaii  have  not  permitted  such  amalgamation.  In  case  of  the 
Japanese  labor  federation,  the  indi^ddual  plantation  labor  union  is  the  unit  of  organi- 
zation. This  organization  is  a  self-governing  body.  It  takes  up  and  settles  all  ques- 
tions of  the  plantation  where  it  exists.  This  individual  organization,  together  with 
the  others  on  the  same  island,  combines  to  form  the  labor  association  of  the  island, - 
and  of  these  island  associations  the  Federation  is  composed.  Therefore  this  Federar 
tion  has  no  power  beyond  that  of  representing  the  opinions  of  the  various  island- 
associations  in  regard  to  problems  which  touch  all  in  common.  On  the  other  hand,, 
the  Filipino  union  was  a  well-ordered  organization,  with  the  local  associations  as- 
branches,  from  the  beginning.  Moreover,  this  union  grew  up  with  Oahu  as  its  center,, 
while  our  Japanese  Federation  sprung  up  from  the  different  plantations.  For  these 
reasons  we  were  unable  to  unite  at  least  in  body.  But  the  affinity  and  good  will 
between  the  two  federations  increased  as  days  passed  by.  It  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  to-day,  when  the  Filipino  union  is  totally  dismembered,  we  are  helping  each  other 
and  striving  together  for  the  victory  of  our  cause.  We  believe  that  in  time  there 
will  spring  up  in  every  district  a  labor  union  including  laborers  of  all  races. 

OBJECTS    OF   LABOR   ASSOCIATIONS. 

Our  labor  associations  were  organized  with  the  object  of  bringing  about  a  closer- 
cooperation  of  capital  and  labor,  of  increasing  production  by  increasing  labor  effi- 
ciency, improving  living  conditions,  and  rendering  mutual  aid.     It  would  probably 
be  of  interest  to  refer  to  a  section  of  the  constitution  governing  the  labor  association: 
of  the  islands  of  Hawaii  as  a  typical  example. 


836  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IK    HAWAII. 

Art,  11.  The  objects  of  this  association  shall  be  as  follows: 

(1)  To  labor  for  the  progress  of  Hawaii's  productive  industries. 

(2)  To  cultivate  sound  moral  character  of  laborers,  to  train  their  working  skill, 
broaden  their  knowledge  and  thereby  increase  labor  efficiency. 

(3)  To  work  for  the  change  and  improvement  of  wages,  working  hours,  and  other 
laboring  conditions. 

(4)  To  strive  for  the  just  distribution  of  the  fruits  of  labor,  proper  execution  of 
contracts,  and  thereby  increase  the  rights  of  laborers. 

(5)  To  protect  women  and  aged  laborers. 

^6)  To  help  and  support  the  sick,  the  crippled,  and  the  .bereaved  families. 

We  are  ignorant  laborers,  but  fortunately  we  were  given  the  intellect  to  comprehend 
the  opinions  of  our  elders  and  the  ability  to  get  in  touch  with  the  general  trend  of 
societ3^  We  were  not  satisfied  with  the  behavior  of  the  laborers  in  Europe  and  America 
immediately  after  the  war— strike  after  strike  with  little  or  no  thought  for  the  progress 
■of  the  industrial  world  or  the  peace  of  society.  For  this  reason,  from  the  time  of  our 
organization,  it  has  always  been  our  aim  to  look  for  the  harmonious  cooperation  of 
capital  and  labor,  the  growth  of  industries,  and  the  improvement  of  social  life.  It  is 
because  of  this  that  we  have  selected  the  most  peaceful  methods  in  submitting  our 
requests  to  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  negotiation  after  negotiation,  for 
two  long  months,  without  threat  or  force.  It  was  because  of  this  that  we  have  been 
able  to  endure  all  persecutions  and  harsh  words  heaped  on  us  and  intended  to  hurt  or 
defame  us.  We  sincerely  request  the  fair-minded  public  not  to  misunderstand  our 
associations.  The  Federation  of  Japanese  Labor  exists  for  the  mere  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing unity  and  connection  among  the  many  independent  labor  unions. 

HEAD   OFFICE    OF  THE   FEDERATION    OF  JAPANESE   LABOR. 

The  head  office  of  the  Federation  of  Japanese  Labor  has  been  attracting  the  eyes  of 
the  people  both  Americans  and  Japanese,  lately.  The  head  office  department  is  very 
simple  in  its  organization.  It  is  composed  of  eight  directors  elected  by  the  different 
island  labor  unions  and  a  few  secretaries.  All  important  matters  are  discussedd  an 
settled  by  the  delegates.  The  directors  either  represent  the  federation  or  act  as  an 
executive  body.  The  secretaries  carry  out  the  orders  of  the  directors.  _  When  occasion 
does  not  permit  the  calling  of  a  meeting  of  the  delegates  for  the  discussion  of  any  grave 
questions,  the  directors  usually  assume  the  responsibility  of  settling  the  matter 
involved.  Of  course,  the  directors  being  common  laborers,  can  not  always  be  required 
to  remain  in  the  office.  For  this  reason,  they  remain  here  alternately,  and  decisions 
are  rendered  by  the  directors  who  happen  to  be  in  Honolulu  at  the  occasion.  The 
delegates  and  the  directors  are  ail  common  physical  laborers.  ^  We  do  not  insist  that 
they  be  such,  but  since  the  labor  unions  are  associations  consisting  of  laborers  (only 
laborers  are  recognized  as  regular  members),  we  believe  that  the  above  fact  is  a  natural 
result.  The  secretaries  who  do  office  work,  could  not  be  found  among  the  laborers, 
and  we  were  therefore  obliged  to  look  for  them  from  outside  source. 

The  following  will  show  the  officers  at  present: 

Delegates:  Maui,  6;  Oahu,  6;  Kauai,  6;  Hawaii,  8 

Directors:  Oahu,  Mr.  B.  Kato  (Waipahu),  Mr.  G.  Abe  (Waimanalo),  Mr.  K.  Korogi 
(Ewa),  Mr.  S.  Hanaoka  (Waipahu).  Kauai,  Mr.  T.  Nishikawa  (Hanapepe),  Mr.  R. 
Kanzaki  (Waimea).  Maui,  Mr.  Y.  Mizutari  (Lahaina),  Mr.  K.  Umemoto  (Makawao), 
Mr.  K.  Saito  (Paia).  Hawaii,  Mr.  C.  Hoshino  (Pahala),  Mr.  S.  Tamura  (Papaaloa), 
Mr.  M.  Nishimura  (Papaiko).  * 

Secretaries:  Mr.  I.  Goto,  Mr.  H.  H.  Miyazawa,  Mr.  T.  Tsutsumi. 

MISUNDERSTANDINGS   AND   ERRONEOUS    OPINIONS   ABOUT  THE   FEDERATION    OF  LABOR 

AND  THE    STRIKE. 

It  is  to  our  great  regret  that  there  has  been  circulated  a  great  deal  of  erroneous 
matter  in  regard  to  our  federation  and  the  present  strike.  Believing  that  facts  would 
reveal  all  truth,  we  have  not  attempted  to  go  into  any  discussion  with  the  sophistical, 
prejudiced,  and  irresponsible  persons  who,  either  knowingly  or  otherwise,  have 
spread  such  misunderstandings  and  erroneous  opinions  concerning  our  stand.  But 
that  the  public  may  not  ^orm  wrong  conclusions  and  misjudge  us,  we  shall  here  explain 
ourselves. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IK   HAWAII.  837 

1.  "The  Federation  of  Japanese  I>abor  is  working  to  obtain  control  of  the  sugar 
1  ndustry  of  Hawai  i . " 

This  is  a  statement  which  was  widely  published  at  the  time  of  the  calling  of  the 
strike,  and  which  is  at  present  believed  by  some  people.  Those  who  know  the  true 
situation  in  these  islands  will  not  for  a  moment  hesitate  to  deny  a  statement  so  absurd. 
They  know  that  the  Japanese  laborers  have  no  such  ambition  and  that  for  poor  Japanese 
to  attempt  such  a  tremendous  work  is  impossible  and  unbelievable.  But  the  English 
papers  which  seem  to  believe  that  to  exaggerate  is  their  duty,  have  constantly  insisted 
that  the  statement  is  true,  and  have  tried  to  incite  strong  anti-Japanese  feeling  among 
the  English-speaking  community.  But  we  only  asked  that  our  wages  be  raised  from 
77  cents  to  $1.25  per  day.  Seeing  that  the  honest  public  would  not  be  fooled  by  them, 
the  English  papers  then  created  a  new  idea,  stating  that  the  Japanese  with  their 
great  numbers  were  going  to  bring  pressure  upon  the  Americans.  A  very  clever 
fabrication!  From  the  indications  of  the  present  and  past,  it  seems  that  the  oppres- 
sion comes  from  the  other  side.  The  Japanese  are  a  people  who  do  not  hesitate  to 
champion  the  cause  of  justice,  to  die  for  a  righteous  cause.  If  the  planters  vv^ill  be 
broad-minded  and  sympathetic  enough  to  grant  the  laborers  their  request,  the  latter 
will,  without  doubt,  perform  diligent  labor  in  return.  For  justice,  for  favor  shown, 
they  will  do  their  utmost. 

2.  "The  present  movement  does  not  involve  any  economic  question;  it  was  started 
out  of  the  antagonism  of  the  Japanese  against  the  Americans." 

When  we  submitted  our  demands  for  increased  wages,  the  public  sympathized 
with  the  laborers  and  considered  our  requests  reasonable.  But  the  local  English 
papers,  which  have  always  tried  to  create  an  anti-Japanese  feeling,  either  in  defense 
of  the  Planters'  Association  or  in  the  effort  of  crushing  the  strike,  have  skillfully 
transformed  this  purely  economic  movement  into  one  of  racial  antagonsim.  This 
has  brought  about  great  misunderstanding  on  the  part  of  the  public  and  even  among 
some  of  the  laborers.  But  that  this  is  not  a  Japanese  nationalistic  movement  based 
upon  political  considerations,  we  trust,  is  clear  to  those  who  truly  understand  the 
situation.  Some,  moreover,  charge  this  strike  as  being  of  racial  character  on  the 
ground  that  some  outside  Japanese  are  aiding  the  strikers.  The  great  majority  of  the 
Japanese  in  these  islands  have  come  here  as  laborers,  worked  as  laborers,  and  there- 
fore understand  the  sufferings  of  the  laborers.  Furthermore,  they  have  all  witnessed 
with  what  cruelty  and  terror  the  "flu  "  has  ravaged  the  people.  Who  under  such  con- 
ditions and  circumstances  will  not  sympathize  and  aid  the  poor  struggling  laborers? 
Is  this  a  racial  question?  If  that  were  so,  we  grieve  for  Hawaii,  which  boasts  of  being 
the  melting  pot  of  the  races,  and  as  a  land  of  humanity  and  brotherly  love.  It  is  out 
,of  love  and  sympathy  that  some  of  the  Japanese  are  aiding  the  strikers.  Yet  there 
are  some  cold-hearted,  stubborn  people  who  insist  on  branding  this  as  a  racial  agita- 
tion and  who  are  secretly  engaged  in  persuading  American  citizens  of  Japanese 
parentage  not  to  join  the  labor  unions.  We  presented  our  demands  for  higher  wages 
simply  as  laborers,  without  regard  to  race  or  color. 

3.  "The  cry  for  higher  wages  is  not  the  true  voice  of  the  laborers  but  that  of 
agitators." 

This  was,  a  clause  contained  in  a  note  from  Secretary  Mead  of  Hawaiian  Sugar 
Planters'  Association  to  us,  and  one  frequently  published  afterwards.  We  believe 
wehave  not  yet  lost  our  senses  to  allow  ourselves  to  be  fooled  by  so-called  agitators, 
losiug  our  jobs  and  struggling  under  all  sorts  of  adverse  corcumstances  now  and  in  the 
time  to  come.  The  Planters'  Association  has  constantly  attacked  the  Japanese  lan- 
guage press,  Japanese  teachers,  and  priests  as  agitators.  Our  federation  has  no  con- 
nection whatever  with  the  Japanese  press.  For  fear  of  any  misunderstanding,  we 
have  always  followed  the  policy  of  rejecting  it,  for  which  reason  we  have  been  criticized 
as  being  narrow-minded.  There  are  instances  where  the  Japanese  teachers  and  priests 
have  stood  on  the  planters'  side,  endeavoring  to  stop  the  strike,  but  as  for  their  agitat- 
ing the  strike  there  is  no  evidence.  We  feel  sorry  for  the  representatives  of  the  press, 
the  teachers,  and  priests  who  are  looked  upon  as  agitators,  and  at  the  same  time  are 
surprised  at  the  lack  of  reason  and  sagacity  on  the  part  of  certain  capitalists  who  so 
accuse  them. 

4.  "The  laborers  are  satisfied.     They  can  live  easily  on  their  bonus." 

We  have  heard  wonderful  lectures  on  the  existing  bonus  system  from  the  members 
of  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association,  but  we  have  a  far  better  knowledge  of  the 
bonus  by  having  actually  received  it  than  what  Secretary  Mr.  Mead  possesses.  We 
have  too  strongly  felt  the  unreliableness  of  the  present  boDus  system. 

On  the  ]2th  of  February  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  posted  bills 
which  read  as  follows; 


838  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

A    GREAT    LOSS    WHEN    LED    7JY   AGITATORS. 

January: 

For  26  davs '  work — 

Wages $20.  00 

Bonus 23.  00 

Total 43.  00 

For  20  days '  work- 
Wages  15. 40 

Bonus 17.  71 

Total 33. 14 

The  remaining  bonus  will  be  paid  in  October. 
February: 

For  26  davs '  work — 

Wages 20.  00 

Bonus 35.  00 

Total : . .  55.  00 

For  20  days '  work- 
Wages  . 15.  40 

Bonus 26.  85 

Total 42.  25 

The  remaining  bonus  will  be  paid  in  October. 

When  we  read  the  above  notice,  we  were  at  once  able  to  figure  out  as  follows: 
For  10  years  without  change : 

Wages  for  1  day $0.  77 

Wages  for  1  week 4.  62 

Wages  for  2  weeks 9 .  24 

Wages  for  19  days 14.  63 

Wages  for  19.75  days 15.  20 

One-fourth  day's  leave  for  births,  children's  sickness,  friends'  visit,  disease,  or 
mishap. 

No  bonus. 

We  know  that  the  amount  of  bonus  is  enormous,  but  bonus  is  bonus  and  can  not  be 
regarded  the  same  as  wages. 

OTHER    WILD    RUMORS    AND    FALSE    OPINIONS. 

Besides  the  foregoing  statements,  numerous  wild  and  false  ideas  are  current.  We 
regret  that  the  actions  taken  by  the  members  of  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association 
have  largely  been  prompted  by  sentiment  rather  than  by  reason.  "We  were  irritated 
by  irreverent  words  used  in  the  laborers'  note."  "W^e  will  not  increase  their  wages 
even  at  the  sacrifice  of  all  Oahu. ' '  "Crush  the  unions  " — these  expressions,  we  believe, 
are  too  sentimental.  We  grieve  to  hear  them.  Will  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters' 
Association,  the  largest  corporation  in  Hawaii,  will  the  gentlemen,  the  officers  of  the 
association  manage  Hawaii's  greatest  industry  by  emotion  and  sentiment?  Is  it  their 
purpose  to  quarrel  with  the  la]3or  unions  which  have  organized  under  a  just  and  peace- 
ful principle  even  at  the  loss  of  Oahu's  sugar?  Is  it  not  too  rash;  too  narrow-minded? 
We  sincerely  hope  that  the  planters  will  come  to  face  the  question  with  cool-headed 
reason,  and  lend  their  ears  to  the  honest  voice  of  the  laborers  with  sincerity  and 
good  v/ill. 

REV.    palmer's    suggestion. 

One  ef  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  controversy  between  the  laborers  and  the 
sugar  planters  is  the  so-called  Palmer  plan,  which  Rev.  Palmer  and  a  few  others 
suggested  in  February,  1920.     The  following  is  the  text  of  the  proposal: 

A    PROPOSAL    FOR    THE    COMMON    GOOD. 

To  the  Federation  of  .Iapanese  Labor. 

Gentlemen:  The  undersigned  men,  residents  of  Hawaii  and  profoundly  interested 
in  the  pu'ilic  welfare,  submit  the  following  proposals  to  the  .Iapanese  Federation  and 
to  the  Planters'  Association. 

' '  We  take  this  action  in  the  interest-of  no  party  or  faction,  but  simply  as  independent 
men  who  are  unconnected  either  with  the  Japanese  Labor  Federation  or  the  Planters' 
A833  3iation,  and  who  seek  only  the  common  good  of  all  who  live  in  these  Islands. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  839 

We  believe  that  the  longer  the  present  strike  continues  the  greater  will  be  the  injury 
to  public  health,  to  food  production,  and  to  the  spirit  of  aloha  and  good  will  between 
races  which  has  been  one  of  the  noblest  characteristics  of  Hawaiian  life. 

The  present  trouble,  as  we  see  it,  has  become  seriously  complicated  by  the  wide- 
spread suspicion  that  the  causes  of  the  strike  are  not  only  economic  but  racial  and 
nationalistic.  We  do  not  discuss  the  foundation  of  this  suspicion,  but  recognizing  its 
existence,  we  realize  that,  so  long  as  it  obtains,  settlement  is  practically  impossible. 
If  this  condition  were  removed,  the  purely  economic  problem  would  be  capable  of 
solution  at  the  hands  of  just  and  reasonable  men. 

We  therefore  recommend : 

(1)  To  the  Japanese  Labor  Federation,  that  it  recognize  the  unwisdom  and  peril  of 
any  such  organization  along  national  lines  and  that  it  therefore  call  off  the  present 
strike,  abandon  the  field  of  plantation  labor,  and  thus  leave  that  field  clear  for  an 
organization  of  the  employees  within  the  sugar  industry  itself,  and  so  arrange  as  to  be 
interracial  in  scope. 

(2)  To  the  Planters'  Association  we  recommend  that,  as  an  expression  of  its  pro- 
gressive spirit  and  purpose  to  treat  its  employees  in  the  most  generous  and  enlightened 
fashion,  it  announce  that  it  will  arrange  for  an  election  by  secret  ballot  on  each  plan- 
tation of  an  employee's  committee  to  confer  with  the  plantation  manager  in  securing 
the  utmost  cooperation  between  the  management  and  the  men.  Such  election  to  be 
held  within  one  month  of  the  date  the  men  return  to  work. 

Without  attempting  to  go  into  the  details  of  the  organization  and  function  of  such  a 
committee,  we  suggest  that  it  embody  the  following  principles: 

(a)  That  it  consist  of  several  laborers,  a  member  of  the  office  or  laboratory  force,  and 
the  manager  ex  officio. 

(6)  That  less  than  half  the  members  shall  be  of  any  one  race. 

(c)  That  it  should  have  regular  meetings  with  entire  freedom  on  the  part  of  each 
member  to  present  complaints  and  make  suggestions  without  prejudice  to  his  position 
and  standing  in  the  plantation  organization. 

(d)  That  all  matters  of  wiges,  hours,  living  conditions,  etc.,  be  considered  by  said 
committee. 

(e)  That  at  least  once  each  yeir  one  member  of  the  committee  on  each  plantation 
shall,  at  the  expense  of  the  plantation  meet  with  similar  delegates  from  all  the  planta- 
tions in  a  meeting  with  the  officers  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  to 
consider  and  settle  general  labor  problems  affecting  the  entire  industry  for  the  coming 
year.  Such  a  meeting  should  be  held  this  year  within  two  months  after  the  cessation 
of  the  present  strike. 

In  an  organization  along  the  line  suggested  above,  wherein  the  members  of  the 
Planters'  Association  meet  representatives  of  their  own  employees  for  the  purpose  of 
arranging  the  affair,  common  to  both,  we  feel  that  the  matters  of  wages,  and  working 
and  living  conditions  can  be  fairly  and  freely  discussed  and  adjusted  without  sus- 
picion, or  danger  of  outside  influence  or  racial  issues  prejudicial  to  the  best  interests  of 
all,  especially  if  some  adequate  provision  be  made  for  impartial  arbitration  in  case  of 
disagreement. 

We  earnestlv  request  both  the  Planters'  Association  and  the  Japanese  Labor  Feder- 
ation not  to  dismiss  this  proposal  without  giving  opportunity  for  one  or  more  of  the 
undersigned  to  be  heard  in  an  informal  discussion  of  the  solution  suggested  herein. 

Albert  W.  Palmeu. 

Iga  Mori. 

W.  C.  Hobby. 

M.  Kawahara. 

Arthur  L.  Dean. 

G.  Nakayama. 

What  attitude  we  assumed  toward  the  above  proposal  the  papers  have  already  made 
clear. 

On  February  27  our  directors  and  secretaries  in  an  interview  with  the  proposers  of 
this  plan  heartily  agreed  to  accept  the  plan. 

"The  directors  and  secretaries  of  the  Federation  of  Japanese  Labor  accept  the 
general  principles  laid  down  in  Mr.  Palmer's  plan  and  stand  ready  to  take  the  steps 
to  put  it  in  operation  just  as  soon  as  it  shall  appear  that  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters' 
Association  has  accepted  the  general  principles  of  the  said  plan  and  also  stand  ready 
to  put  it  in  operation. 

"I.  Goto, 

"H.  H.  MiYAZAWA, 

"T.  Tsutsumt, 

^'Secretaries.'" 


840  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN    HAWAII. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  planters'  association  not  only  refused  to  consider  the 
proposed  plan,  but  absolutely  declined  to  open  negotiations  with  us.  We  heartily 
thank  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer  and  the  other  gentlemen  concerned  for  their  kind  efforts,  and 
at  the  same  time  express  our  regret  for  the  attitude  taken  by  the  planters,  who  seem 
to  have  little  or  no  regard  for  the  noble  principle  laid  down  in  Mr.  Palm.er's  plan, 
namely,  that  of  hearty  cooperation  of  capital  and  labor. 

On  March  1,  1920,  the  federation  issued  the  declaration: 

''The  Federation  of  Japanese  Labor  in  Hawaii  recently  accepted  the  general  prin- 
ciples laid  down  in  the  plan  proposed  by  Rev.  Palmer,  Dr.  Iga  Mori,  Dr.  Hobby, 
Mr.  M.  Kawahara,  Dr.  Arthur  L.  Dean,  and  Mr.  G.  Nakayama,  whose  interests  lie 
in  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  people  of  Hawaii.  If  the  planters'  association 
truly  and  sincerely  hope  for  the  prosperity  of  Hawaii's  industries  and  the  good  of 
the  people  at  large,  they  should,  without  the  least  hesitation,  take  steps  to  consider 
the  proposal  as  well  as  put  it  in  operation.  We  stand  ready  to  negotiate  with  the 
planters'  association  for  the  purpose  of  putting  the  new  plan  into  practice  just  as 
soon  as  they  accept  the  principles  laid  down  in  Mr.  Palmer's  plan  and  also  stand  ready 
to  put  it  in  operation.  But  to  our  great  astonishment  and  regret,  the  planters'  associ- 
ation has  rejected  the  said  plan  and  has  absolutely  refused  to  open  negotiation  with 
'the  so-called  Federation  of  Japanese  Labor.' 

"Our  earnest  request  for  increased  wages,  a  request  just  and  reasonable,  having 
been  rejected,  we  were  compelled  to  strike.  There  exists  no  agitation,  no  plot,  no 
conspiracy  in  the  present  movement.  Facts  speak  louder  than  words.  We  have  no 
course  to  take  other  than  continue  our  strike  until  the  voice  of  labor  shall  be  heard 
and  its  request  granted.  Fellow  laborers,  let  your  hearts  be  ever  united  and  your 
spirits  ever  strong  and  determined.  Let  us  firmly  resolve  that  we  shall  stand  together 
for  our  righteous  cause  and  for  the  rights  of  laborers  iiow  and  hereafter. 

"This  we  believe  will  bring  about  an  awakening  of  the  capitalists  who  seem  to  be 
unfamiliar  with  the  general  trend  of  the  time  and  the  fundamental  principles  of 
capital-labor  cooperation,  social  welfare,  a  lasting  peace  to  the  industrial  world  of 
Hawaii,  and  a  security  of  livelihood  to  the  laborers. 

"We  hereby  pledge  ourselves  and  declare  that  we  will  continue  this  strike  until 
the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  express  their  sincerity  and  show  t^eir 
willingness  to  increase  our  wages,  make  changes  in  the  bonus  system,  and  take  neces- 
sary steps  for  the  improvement  of  our  living  quarters  as  well  as  the  social  life  on  the 
plantations." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  delegates  representing  all  the  labor  unions  held  on  April  23, 
1920,  a  resolution  was  unanimously  passed  confirming  the  above  pledge  to  fight  to 
the  last  for  the  just  cause. 

Honorable  ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  have  here  tried  to  present  the  situation  in  its 
clearest  light.     We  sincerely  trust  you  will  not  err  in  your  criticism  and  judgment. 

(Note. — The  name  "Federation  of  Japanese  Labor  in  Hawaii"  was  changed  to 
"  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association"  at  the  meeting  of  delegates  on  April  23,  1920,  at 
which  occasion  the  constitution  was  also  changed.) 

DECLARATION. 

The  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association  has  the  honor  to  announce  this  1st  day  of  July 
of  the  year  1920  to  our  25,000  members  and  the  200,000  residents  of  Hawaii  that  the 
great  controversy  between  capital  and  labor  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii, 
which  has  lasted  for  the  past  six  months,  has  been  completely  settled  by  the  niutual 
and  confidential  understanding  between  the  magnanimous  capitalists  and  the  sincere 
laborers,  and  that  it  will  henceforth  endeavor  to  materialize  the  true  spirit  of  capital- 
labor  cooperation  and  bring  about  industrial  advancement  and  prosperity  to  Hawaii. 

Ever  since  the  rise  of  the  sugar  industry  in  Hawaii,  for  a  period  covering  half  a 
century,  there  has  always  been  a  close  cooperation  and  assistance  between  the  eager, 
industrious  capitalists  and  the  skilled,  diligent  laborers,  working  for  the  progress  of 
the  industry,  but  unfortunately  with  the  change  in  the  general  trend  of  the  world 
and  the  oppression  of  the  high  cost  of  living  we  were  obliged  to  organize  labor  unions 
and  launch  movements  for  demanding  higher  wages,  which  resulted  in  the  great  con- 
troversy between  the  sugar  planters  and  the  laborers,  in  the  general  strike  on  the  six 
plantations  of  Oahu. 

We  regret  that  during  the  past  six  months  of  the  struggle  which  created  such  a  deep 
gulf  between  capital  and  labor  we  were  unable  to  come  to  any  clear  understanding 
and  amicable  solution  of  the  great  problem  in  spite  of  the  kind  suggestions  and  the 
untiring  efforts  of  a  number  of  honorable  gentlemen  whose  interests  lay  in  the  social 
and  industrial  welfare  of  Hawaii.  We  sincerely  express  our  gratitude  and  hearty 
thanks  to  these  venerable  gentlemen  for  their  sympathetic  endeavors. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  841 

To  our  capitalists  who  have  been  separated  from  ns  for  over  150  days,  necessitated 
by  the  strike  which  was  initiated  by  ns,  we  wish  to  announce  our  warm-heartedness 
and  joy  for  this  understanding  and  solution,  and  for  being  able  to  meet  you  once  more 
with  open  hearts  and  welcome  hands.  We  laborers  have  always  known  that  industry 
could  never  exist  without  capital,  and  we  believe  that  the  capitalists  are  not  slow  to 
recognize  that  industry  can  not  advance  without  labor.  The  two  must  stand  and  work 
together,  side  by  side,  helped  along  by  sincerity  and  sympathetic  understanding. 

With  thoughts  for  the  future,  we  here  wish  to  solemnly  review  the  past.  The 
following  can  be  regarded  as  factors  which  led  to  the  creation  of  a  breach  between 
the  laborers  and  the  sugar  planters  in  the  past  conflict: 

(1)  The  existence  of  an  estrangement  betv^een  the  capitalists  and  laborers  due  to 
psychological,  conventional,  and  speech  differences. 

(2)  The  existence  of  a  swarm  of  small  fry  puYposely  attempting  to  bring  about 
separation  and  injury,  taking  advantage  of  this  natural  estrangement. 

We  do  not  hesitate  to  mention  the  above  two  factors.  The  first,  namely,  the 
estrangement  due  to  psychological,  conventional,  and  speech  differences,  we  believe, 
has  been  happily  melted  away,  and  should  this  obstacle  rise  again  at  any  time  in  the 
future,  we  would  try  to  clear  it  away  under  all  circumstances  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  spirit  of  Aloha  which  leads  to  mutual  understanding  and  close  cooperation.  For 
the  welfare  and  happiness  of  all  those  concerned  in  the  industries  of  Hav/aii  and  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  sound  permanent  society,  we  are  ready  to  do  our  part  to 
exterminate  any  undesirable  elements  which  seek  to  bring  about  misunderstanding 
and  separation  among  the  people  of  this  country.  This,  we  believe,  ■will  not  only 
be  for  the  good  of  the  industrial  world  but  mil  also  be  a  service  to  Hawaii. 

To  think  that  in  spite  of  all  these  differences  and  troubles,  the  grave  question  has 
been  at  last  peaceably  settled  by  the  generosity  and  the  intelligent  insight  of  the 
sugar  capitalists,  the  sincerity  and  the  fervour  of  the  laborers,  and  the  sympathy  of 
the  public,  gives  us,  as  it  does  undoubtedly  to  the  sugar  planters  as  well  as  the  public, 
great  joy  and  delight.  We  hereby  return  our  hearty  thanks  to  the  public  and  pledge 
ourselves  to  place  our  confidence  and  reliance  in  the  capitalists  and  transmit  the  glory 
and  joy  of  this  day  unto  the  future. 

To  the  persons  directly  concerned  during  the  maintenance  of  the  strike  and  to  the 
general  public,  we  express  our  appreciation  and  gratitude.  The  troubles  caused  by 
the  strike,  carried  on  by  thousands  of  laborers  for  a  duration  of  half  a  year — social 
unrest,  economic  and  financial  changes  or  abnormalities,  and  numerous  other  incon- 
veniences— we  believe,  have  been  very  great.  In  despite  of  these  troubles,  our 
strikers  have  been  shown  the  most  generous  treatment  and  hospitality.  We  fail  to  find 
words  to  adequately  express  our  thanks. 

Finally  we  wish  to  say  a  word  to  our  members  of  this  association.  You  have  faith- 
fully stood  to  the  last  of  this  long  strike,  as  inhabitants  under  the  rule  of  the  United 
States,  respecting  and  obeying  its  laws,  as  members  of  this  association,  and  as  laborers, 
preserving  your  honor  and  dignity.  Indeed,  our  members  have  done  their  part  well. 
The  fair-minded  critic  will,  without  hesitation,  recognize  your  action,  and  praise 
your  attitude.  You  have  demonstrated  no  divided  opinion  nor  personal  jealousies 
and  envies,  but  harmony  and  brotherly  love.  May  you  continue  in  this  beautiful 
spirit  and  attitude  that  you  may  bring  about  the  realization  of  capital-labor  cooper- 
ation and  industrial  advancement  to  Hawaii.  There  is  no  victory  or  defeat  in  the 
struggle  just  ended.  Do  not  speak  of  the  past  strike.  The  separation  of  capital  and 
labor  was  only  a  variation  of  the  moment;  the  cooperation  of  the  two  is  the  natural 
state  of  condition.  It  is  for  the  maintenance  of  this  normal  condition  that  we  should 
strive. 

Saying  nothing  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  or  the  Hawaii  Laborers' 
Association,  Mr,  John  Waterhouse  representing  the  capitalists  and  Mr.  T.  Baba, 
Mr.  U.  Sato,  Mr.  K.  Miyamasa,  Mr.  S.  Sakai,  Mr.  K.  Watanabe,  Mr.  S.  Hamaoka, 
Mr.  Manuel,  Mr.  Fedenand,  Mr.  M.  Nishimura,  Mr.  H.  Enomoto,  Mr.  K.  Mori,  Mr. 
C.  Kanada,  representing  the  laborers,  have  heartily  shook  hands.  We  hope  that  this 
joining  of  the  hands  of  the  capitalists  and  of  the  laborers  will  bring  forth  the  flower 
of  peace  that  will  continue  to  bloom  forever. 

The  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association  hereby  announces  the  event  of  this  happy  solu- 
tion to  its  members  to  share  this  gladness,  and  also  pledges  itself  to  do  its  utmost  for 
the  welfare  of  all. 

By  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association. 

RESOLUTION. 

The  controversy  between  capital  and  labor  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii 
since  January,  1920,  has  been  amicably  settled  by  the  magnanimity  of  the  capitalists 
and  the  sincerity  of  the  laborers  after  an  unreserved  understanding,  and  the  capital- 


842  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

labor  cooperation,  the  fundamental  principle  and  aim  of  this  association,  has  been 
brought  to  realization.  We  therefore  deem  it  proper  and  just  to  terminate  the  present 
strike,  beginning  July  1,  1920,  and  to  gently  take  steps  along  the  line  of  capital-labor 
cooperation. 

By  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association. 

I  hereby  certify  that  the  above  is  the  true  copy  of  the  resolution  passed  by  the 
special  meeting  of  the  delegates  of  the  Hawaii  Laborers'  Association  held  in  Honolulu, 
Hawaii,  June  30,  1920. 

T.  KoYAMA,  Chairman. 

G.  Kawahara,  Vice.  ChairTnan. 

Mr.  Raker.  This  seems  to  have  been  prepared  by  the  Japanese 
labor  organization. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  Stating  their  case? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  my  understanding  of  it,  that  it  was 
published  by  the  Japanese  Laborers'  Association.  Mr.  Roberts,  who 
is  the  chairman  x)f  our  legislative  committee  and  the  custodian  of 
most  of  these  things,  tells  me  just  now  that  he  received  it  some  time 
last  fall,  the  fall  of  1920. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  know  from  whom  ? 

Mr.  Roberts.  Mr.  Tyson. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  He  was  then  president  of  the  Honolulu  Central 
Labor  Union. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Tyson  was  pretty  active  in  supporting  this 
strike. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  He  may  have  been,  but  I  am  not  conscious  of  it^ 
according  to  the  news  coming  to  me. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  statements  in  our  record  showing  that 
he  was  pretty  active. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  More  than  likely  he  was,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  finished,  Mr.  Gompers  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  May  I  just  say  this  word?  That  there  is  a  Federal 
law  of  the  United  States  providing  for  a  survey  to  be  made  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  industrially  and  otherwise,  every  Rve  years.  It 
has  been  urged,  and  I  second  the  suggestion,  that  that  survey  ought 
to  be  made  under  the  authority  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Chairman.  This  committee  is  urging  that,  too. 

Mr.  Gompers.  The  time  for  the  survey,  I  am  advised,  is  this  year, 
and  there  is  sufficient  time  now  for  that  survey  to  be  made  in  this 
year,  1921. 

(Thereupon  the  committee  recessed  until  2.30  o'clock,  p.  m.) 

AFTER    RECESS. 

The  committee  reassembled  pursuant  to  the  taking  of  the  recess, 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson  (chairman)  presiding. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  SAMUEL  GOMPERS— Resumed. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  Mr.  Gompers,  I  will  ask  you.  o!ie  or  two 
questions. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Before  you  do,  as  I  presume  3^ou  have  in  mind,  Mr. 
Chairman,  the  matters  about  which  you  desire  to  ask,  there  are  two 
things  I  want  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  committee,  if  I  may. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  843 

The  Chairman.  Very  well. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  One  is  that  in  the  Hawaiian  labor  paper,  the  Labor 
Keview,  the  last  page  is  composed  of  different  languages  and  it  is 
•called  ''The  language  section.  On  that  page  are  published  articles 
or  editorials  which  appear  in  the  Hawaiian  language,  in  the  Portu- 
guese language,  and  in  the  Japanese  language. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  undertake  to  have  translations  made  of 
the  other  languages;  but  if  you  will  remember,  I  undertook  to  draw 
out  from  Mr.  Wright  the  method  of  editing  the  Japanese  section,  as 
to  how  he  could  possibly  know  what  was  put  up  in  Japanese  type. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  The  article  appearing  in  the  issue  of  July  12  is  sub- 
stantially the  matter  which  was  translated  from  the  Japanese  into 
English  by  the  Library  Bureau. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  I  so  stated.  My  impression  is  that  one 
article  there  is  a  clear  translation  from  English  into  Japanese  for  the 
information  of  the  Japanese,  that  Chilton  and  Wright  would  come  on; 
but  the  other  article  is  clearly,  in  my  opinion,  a  Japanese-written 
article,  written  in  the  Japanese  style,  calling  for  a  survival  of  the 
fittest,  and  so  on. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Frequently  we  find  a  very  peculiar  situation  by 
translations  into  one  language  and  then  retranslation  into  the  original 
language— like  Mark  Twain's  Jumping  Frog. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  had  a  good  deal  of  experience  with  that. 
But  on  top  of  that  matter  to  which  you  call  attention,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  Portuguese  and  Hawaiians  are  members  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  Hawaii,  while  the  Japanese  are 
not.     There  is  that  situation. 

The  first  question  I  want  to  ask  you  is  this :  I  understood  you  to  say 
that  your  only  criticism  of  the  American  Federation  in  Honolulu  was 
that  they  had  not  supported  the  strike  with  more  vigor,  and  if  you 
had  been  there  that  you  would  have  assisted  it  as  far  as  possible,  or 
something  to  that  effect  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  would  have  assisted  them  in  the  attainment  of  the 
purposes  for  which  they  inaugurated  their  strike  in  1920  and  as  set 
forth  in  the  account — the  purposes  of  the  strike  as  set  forth  in  the 
Japanese  Laborers'  Association,  a  pamphlet  of  which  I  submitted 
this  morning. 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Gompers.  And  in  that  pamphlet  a  scale  of  the  wages  demanded 
is  incorporated,  and  a  statement,  further,  that  when  there  was  a 
refusal  on  the  part  of  the  planters  to  consider  anything  in  regard  to 
it,  to  consider  the  scale  and  demands  made  by  the  men,  that  a  clergy- 
man intervened  and  undertook  to  conciliate  and  mediate,  and  he  met 
with  a  rebuff  and  refusal. 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  was  Palmer  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  could  not  tell  you. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer. 

Mr.  Gompers.  And  then  the  men  called  the  strike  off.  Yes,  sir;  I 
would  have  supported  it;  that  is,  I  have  not  any  money  of  my  own 
and  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  not  a  moneyed  institution, 
but  if  there  would  be  anything  in  an  appeal  for  financial  and  moral 
support  in  order  that  they  might  attain  the  demands  by  them  pre- 
sented to  the  sugar  planters,  I  would  have  supported  them,  by  appeal 
by  encouragement,  by  address,  and  by  conferring  with  them. 


844  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  then,  would  it  be  a  fair  question  to  ask  if 
they  should  have  another  strike,  within  the  next  twelve  or  fifteen 
months,  would  your  attitude  be  the  same  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  am  as  poor  a  judge  of  that  as  I  am  of  the  weather; 
I  do  not  know.     I  am  not  a  prophet. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  that  is  hardly  a  fair  question,  I  think. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  do  not  know,  sir.  But  if  they  should  make  a 
demand  upon  the  sugar  planters  for  the  right  of  representation  of 
their  own  choosing,  to  confer  with  their  employers  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  wages,  hours,  and  conditions  of  employment,  I  would 
support  them.  The  right  of  collective  bargaining  for  their  labor, 
to  my  mind,  is  a  natural  and  inherent  right  which  I  would  support. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  then,  if  it  should  develop  that  the  Japanese 
in  conducting  any  subsequent  strikes  were  doing  it  for  the  purpose 
of  Japanese  solidarity,  would  your  position  be  the  same  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  my  own  independent 
opinion,  that  that  idea  of  their  strike  being  nationalistic  and  for  the 
solidarity  of  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii,  or  with  Japan,  is  purely  an 
invention  of  the  sugar  planters  and  their  adherents  and  associates 
in  the  United  States.  May  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
within  this  past  three  or  four  years  there  has  grown  up  somewhat 
of  a  labor  movement  in  Japan  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Gompers.  If  you  have  read,  or  will  have  the  opportunity  to 
read  (and  I  should  be  very  glad  to  afford  you  the  opportunity,  if  you 
have  not  read  it) ,  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  working  people  in  India, 
only  about  six  or  seven  months  ago,  where  they  formed  an  organi- 
zation, and  see  formulated  in  definite  language  the  demands  which 
they  make  upon  employers,  upon  industry,  and  upon  society,  you 
would  regard  it  as  primitive,  as  I  did  regard  it,  as  the  primitive 
expression  of  discontent,  like  the  old  guilds  did  in  the  first  industrial 
country,  England,  300  years  ago. 

The  Chairman.  I  would  like  very  much  to  read  it. 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  published  it  in  the  American  Federationist  just  a 
few  months  ago.  And  let  me  say  this:  In  the  past  five  or  six  years 
there  has  grown  up  a  rational  labor  movement  in  Japan.  Its  chief 
executive  officer,  spokesman,  and,  I  think,  organizer,  is  a  Japanese 
I  think  by  the  name  of  Suzuki.  He  has  visited  the  United  States 
several  times ;  he  has  had  many  conferences  with  me  and  I  with  him, 
and  with  others,  upon  how  the  labor  organizations — how  the  efforts 
should  be  made  in  Japan  for  the  organization  of  the  working  people. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Gulick  had  another  conference  with  me  and  I  with  him 
upon  that  same  subject.  He  advocated  a  scheme  of  permitting  a 
percentage  number  of  Japanese  to  come  to  the  United  States,  based 
upon  the  persons  here.  I  could  not  be  in  accord  with  him  upon  the 
subject.  He  said  he  was  going  back  to  Japan  and  he  would  like  me 
to  give  him  a  message  addressed  both  to  the  working  people  and  to 
what  labor  organizations  existed  in  Japan,  organizations  of  the 
laboring  people,  the  labor  movement  of  the  people.  I  called  in  a 
stenograp)her  and  dictated  a  statement.  I  would  like  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  presenting  that  statement.  I  have  not  a  copy  of  it 
with  me,  but  I  can  telephone  for  it. 

The  Chairman.  You  will  have  permission  to  incorporate  that. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  845 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  was  going  to  say  Mr.  Suzuki  speaks  excellent 
English  and  he  is  a  brainy  man.  He  has  been  in  the  United  States 
several  times  and  appeared  at  two  of  our  conventions,  which  he 
addressed.  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  listened  to  a  more  intelligent 
presentation  of  a  subject  than  I  did  when  Mr.  Suzuki  addressed  the 
convention  upon  labor  conditions  in  Japan.  He  recognized  that  the 
antagonism  of  America  and  oriental'  exclusion  was  not  racial,  was  not 
nationalistic,  but  that  it  was  economic  as  well  as  the  diverging 
civilizations. 

Now,  Mr.  Suzuki  in  a  semiofficial  way,  I  think — I  have  no  reason 
to  say  that  it  was  either  official  or  semiofficial,  but  I  simply  inferred 
that — has  extended  to  me  an  invitation  to  visit  Japan  and  to  make 
an  investigation  of  the  conditions  there  and  be  the  guest  of  what 
exists  of  the  organized  labor  movement  in  Japan.  Up  to  the  few 
years  ago  to  which  I  referred  whatever  there  was  of  a  resentment  or 
democratic  expression  was  that  of  a  few  radical  socialists.  In  the 
past  six  years,  they  have  tried  to  organize  a  labor  movement  bona 
fide  in  character  and  they  have  what  they  call  the  Friendly  Society 
of  Labor.  I  think  it  is  probablj^  primitive  and  probably  just  as  well 
for  the  newly  developed  industrial  conditions  of  Japan.  I  may  say 
that  I  have  declined  the  invitation.  During  the  Denver  convention, 
another  cable  dispatch  from  Mr.  Suzuki  came  in  the  same  way, 
repeating  the  invitation  to  me  to  visit  Japan. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  it  would  be  in  the  nature  of  a  duty. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Oh,  yes;  if  I  had  not  any  other  duty.  My  duty  is 
to  be  on  this  job  now  here. 

The  Chairman.  And  incidentally  to  stop  in  Honolulu  and  visit 
the  various  islands. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  have  already  expressed  to  Mr.  Dillingham  and 
Mr.  Thurston,  proprietor  of  the  Honolulu  Advertiser,  my  appreciation 
of  the  courtesy  of  an  invitation  to  visit  Hawaii.  Mr.  Thurston  said 
that  all  arrangements,  travel  and  all  that,  would  be  arranged  for  me. 
Of  course,  when  I  go  to  Honolulu,  and  some  time  I  hope  I  will,  it  will 
be  when  I  have  saved  enough  money  to  do  it,  or  I  go  as  a  delegate  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor;  but  not  otherwise. 

The  Chairman.  Pursuing  that  matter  just  a  little  further,  I  think 
we  have  all  seen  the  troubles  that  arise  from  100,000  or  more  Japanese 
in  California.  What  is  the  census,  giving  the  figures;  80,000,  is  it 
not,  Mr.  Kaker  ? 

Mr.  Box.  The  official  census  I  think  makes  it  a  little  less  than 
that,  but  the  people  of  California,  I  think,  contend  it  is  100,000. 

The  Chairman.  One  hundred  thousand  or  less  Japanese  in  Cali- 
fornia, which  in  itself  has  a  population  in  excess  of  3,000,000.  Cer- 
tainly we  have  seen  those  troubles  and  we  who  have  studied  it  know 
there  is  something  to  it.  It  does  not  down,  but  keeps  bobbing  up 
in  this  committee  over  and  over  again.  The  Japanese  population 
in  my  own  State  is  25,000,  out  of  a  total  population  of  a  million  and  a 
half,  making  the  same  trouble.  Now  we  see  that  here  in  continental 
United  States.  I  have  not  visited  Hawaii  for  six  years,  but  I  made 
an  incidental  study  of  it  and  then  made  a  few  observations,  and  I 
know  that  with  a  population  of  110,000  Japanese  out  of  a  total  popu- 
lation of  255,000,  there  is  some  problem  there. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Indeed  there  is. 


846  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

The  Chairman.  Now  I  have  thought,  as  much  as  I  am  able  to  do, 
to  this  effect,  that  if  we  were  able  to  send  out  of  this  committee  and 
pass  through  Congress  an  amendment  to  the  Chinese  exclusion  law 
by  which  all  oriental  peoples  were  excluded,  we  would  then  leave 
Hawaii  with  that  110,000  Japanese  there.  They  raise  a  great  many 
children.  We  would  shut  out  all  other  oriental  immigration.  We 
have  arranged  our  own  immigration  laws  so  that  the  illiterate  and 
very  poor  are  not  likely  to  go  to  Hawaii  and  we  would,  by  the  passage 
of  a  Japanese  exclusion  law,  mainly  for  the  United  States,  leave 
Hawaii  to  be  absorbed  by  the  Japanese,  in  my  opinion.  Now  that 
is  quite  a  problem. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  It  is,  sir.  But  continuing — I  do  not  want  to  evade 
your  question  or  the  importance  of  your  statement,  sir,  but  I  just 
want  to  add  to  my  previous  statement  just  finished  before  you  made 
yours,  that  this  labor  movement  of  Japan  has  developed  and  the 
unrest  has  become  accelerated  and  accentuated  and  so  much  so  that 
within  this  past  month  there  have  been  strikes  of  Japanese  workers- 
in  Japan:  that  the  workers  in  the  largest  ship  yard  in  Japan,  employ- 
ing about  40,000  people,  were  out  on  strike  for  better  conditions, 
for  shorter  hours,  for  higher  wages  and  better  treatment.  And  there 
have  been  strikes  within  this  past  month,  I  believe,  or  a  week  or  two 
longer,  involving  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of  Japanese  workers. 
Would  anybody  consider  these  men,  just  evolving  out  of  feudal 
conditions,  slavery  conditions,  existing  in  Japan — that  that  is 
political  or  nationalistic?  It  is  the  natural,  normal,  human  devel- 
opment. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Gompers,  would  it  not  be  a  fair  deduction  if,  as 
you  have  stated  (and  it  is  confirmed  by  the  published  reports)  about 
forty-some-odd  thousand  are  out  on  a  strike  in  the  shipyards,  and 
there  are  about  a  million  and  a  half  or  more  who  are  interested  in  the 
labor  movement  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Japan  of  those 
people  who  have  come  from  under  peonage  within  the  last  40  years, 
that  if  their  nationals  should  go  to  another  location  or  to  any  part  of 
the  United  States  or  any  foreign  countries,  from  theirs,  and  there  was. 
a  suflacient  number  of  them  and  they  could  get  together,  they  would 
be  most  likely  not  only  to  follow  out  what  their  own  people  were  doing 
at  home,  but  what  had  been  taught  them  by  the  people  with  whom 
they  lived — that  they  had  a  right  to  better  their  conditions  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes,  sir.  I  think  it  is  in  line  with  the  industrial 
history  of  the  whole  world.  You  may  know  of  the  six  men  in  Lan- 
castershire  who  were  sent  to  the  penal  colony  in  that  wooden  boat . 
Success,  where  they  were  tortured  because  they  were  overheard  in 
discussing  questions  of  wages.  In  the  July  issue  of  the  American 
Federationist  I  publish  a  poem,  taking  nearly  three  pages,  of  a  tribute 
to  these  six  men.  The  poem  was  written  by  James  Lord,  president 
of  the  mining  department  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  a 
coal-miner  poet,  and  dedicated  to  me. 

Years  before  that,  during  the  struggle  from  slavery  to  freedom, . 
were  the  wars  of  primitive  men — tribe  upon  tribe.     Then  followed 
wars  of  conquest  for  possession  of  land  or  materials  of  value. 

Then  the  captives  of  the  opposite  army  or  opposite  tribe  were  not 
made  prisoners,  they  were  put  to  death.     The  reason  why  they  were 
put  to  death  was  because  the  tools  of  labor  and  the  weapons  of  war  • 
were  the  same.     The  prisoners  of  war  who  were  captured,  if  they  were  . 


LABOK  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  847 


put  into  slaveiy,  would  either  have  to  be  maintained  by  the  owner  or 
given  the  tools  of  labor  with  which  to  work  and  support  themselves 
and  support  their  conquerors.  The  tools  of  labor  were  identical  with 
the  weapons  of  war.  To  place  the  tools  of  labor- — weapons  of  war — 
into  the  hands  of  the  conquered,  would  give  them  the  means  and 
opportunity  of  liberating  themselves  and  overcoming  their  conquerors. 
So  that  it  was  one  of  the  greatest  contributions  to  progress  and  civili- 
zation when  the  weapons  of  war  and  the  tools  of  labor  were  differ- 
entiated. When  they  were  differentiated,  then  the  conquered 
peoples  could  be  made  slaves;  at  any  rate,  it  saved  their  lives. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  was  the  result;  the}^  were  made  slaves. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  The}^  were  made  slaves.  And  then  the  conscience  of 
I  the  people  became  more  humanized.  Then  the  idea  of  slavery  became 
repugnant  to  the  people  who  were  trying  to  lead  a  civilized  life  in  the 
concept  of  the  time.  As  time  went  on  slavery  came  to  be  looked 
I  upon  as  an  inhuman  institution.  I  shall  never  forget  in  my  youthful 
jdays  when  I  learned  the  great  song  of  the  slave  ship.  I  worked  in  a 
jcigar  factory.  I  started  to  work  in  a  cigar  factory  when  I  was  little 
■more  than  10  years  of  age.  as  an  apprentice.  There  it  was  from  1861 
luntil  1863  (when  my  father  and  mother  and  five  brothers  left  England 
■for  the  United  States,  leav^ing  there  on  June  10,  1863,  and  landing 
July  29  of  that  year — a  sailing-vessel  voyage) ,  working  as  a  boy 
in  a  factory  of  London,  that  I  heard  the  discussions  of  the  men  upon 
slavery  in  America.  I  heard  them  discuss  the  inhumanity  of  it.  I 
heard  them  discuss  the  necessity  of  abolishing  slavery,  and  I  heard  a 
song  in  the  shop  (because  singing  or  conversation  by  men  in  my 
trade,  while  at  work,  does  not  interfere  with  their  operations  at  work) , 
''The  slave  ship."  And,  by  the  way,  within  this  past  three  months^ 
I  applied  for  and  obtained  from  the  Library  of  Congress  a  copy 
of  that  song.  I  would  love  to  give  you  a  copy  of  it,  so  that  you  can 
have  it  in  the  record.  But  when  the  English  Government,  during  our 
Civil  War,  undertook  not  only  to  recognize  the  Southern  Confed- 
eracy but  also  to  raise  the  blockade  of  the  Federal  Government,  so  that 
cotton  from  the  South  could  be  brought  into  the  Lancastershire  dis- 
trict of  England,  so  that  the  textile  workers  might  find  work  with 
this  imported  cotton  brought  through  the  blockade  and  the  blockade 
destroyed  so  it  would  give  them  employment,  the  textile  workers  of 
England,  to  their  everlasting  credit  be  it  said,  protested — they  made 
demonstrations  and  protested  against  the  Government  attempting 
raising  that  blockade.  The}^  effectiveh"  prevented  the  Government 
of  England  raising  that  blockade.  I  think  it  was  in  the  second  mes- 
sage of  President  Lincoln,  or  in  his  second  inaugural  address,  that  he 
paid  tribute  to  the  English  textile  workers  for  this  wonderful  work, 
for  their  wonderful  demonstration  and  protest  when  Lancastershire 
men  and  women  said  that  they  did  not  want  work  or  bread,  the  result 
of  human  slavery. 

So  there  is  a  sympathetic  consideration  for  the  under  dog  in  the 
world's  struggles.  The  man  with  the  hoe  can  no  longer  be  typified 
in  our  time  as  the  man  of  labor.  The  men  of  labor  of  the  whole  world 
are  standing  erect  and  looking  the  whole  world  in  the  face  and  de- 
manding justice  as  against  the  reversion  to  the  old  conditions  of 
peonage  or  bondsmen  or  slavery. 

You  will  excuse  my,  discursvive  way  in  presenting  this  matter,  but 
it  is  buried  right  into  my  very  soul  and  fiber;  it  is  a  part  of  me  and 
without  which  I  could  not  live.     I  am  a  protestant  against  injustice 


848  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

or  a  reversion  to  the  old  reaction  and  the  old-time  conditions  of  the 
life  of  labor,  and  so  long  as  there  is  a  spark  of  life  within  me  I  am 
going  to  make  my  fight;  not  for  myself.  I  do  not  want  anything 
from  anybody. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  as  you  know,  these  hearings  have  extended 
to  the  Japanese  question  a  little  bit. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  To  the  Japanese  question  ? 

The  Chairman.  The  hearings  generally.  We  have  not  been  able 
to  carry  them  on  without  a  continual  discussion  of  the  Japanese 
question.  That  keeps  coming  in.  Now,  you  admit  there  is  a  short- 
age of  labor  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  I  do  not  know  sufficient  of  the  situation  to  warrant 
my  saying  anything  upon  that  subject.  I  must  depend  upon  the 
statements  made  and  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  believing  the  statement 
made  by  the  sugar  planters  that  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor.  That  it 
exists  to  the  extent  they  claim,  I  very  much  doubt.  I  have  heard  the 
statements  made  by  Mr.  Wright  and  by  Mr.  Chilton,  and  they  admit 
that  there  is — has  been — a  lessening  in  the  production  of  sugar  in  the 
islands.  They  have  given  some  reasons  for  it — the  refusal  of  the 
plantation  owners  to  consider  the  matter  of  wages  and  hours  and 
conditions  of  employment;  refusal  to  give  the  men  a  hearing  or  a 
conference,  to  establish  better  and  friendlier  relations;  that  this  has 
resulted  in  a  sort  of  a  resentment;  that  these  men,  probably  without 
knowing  the  term,  are  adopting  the  idea  of  Bukenin,  sabotage,  have 
little  or  no  interest  in  their  work  except  for  their  subsistence.  With 
the  men  released,  several  thousand  men  released,  as  aliens,  because 
they  are  aliens,  from  the  Federal  governmental  work,  with  the  estab- 
lishment of  better  relations  between  the  employers  and  employees, 
of  whatever  nationality  they  are,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  with  the 
committee  from  Hawaii — I  mean  the  labor  committee;  not  the  official 
labor  committee,  but  the  volunteer  labor  committee— that  very 
much  better  results  industrially  can  be  obtained  with  the  better 
feeling  established.  The  labor  commissioner  of  the  Philippines,  who 
came  to  Hawaii,  declared  in  his  report  if  the  conditions  in  Hawaii 
were  made  a  little  more  attractive  in  the  matter  of  wages  and  condi- 
tions, that  he  would  recommend  that  the  Filipinos  go  to  Hawaii  and 
work  on  the  sugar  plantations. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  a  telegram  here  which 
may  clear  up,  in  a  measure,  this  point  in  regard  to  the  number 
of  laborers  which  will  be  released  by  this  homestead  act. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  been  trying  to  get  that;  I  would  be  glad 
to  have  it. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  When  this  matter  was  brought  up  for  discussion 
a  few  days  ago,  I  wired  to  the  governor  of  Hawaii  to  ascertain  the 
number  of  men  that  would  be  made  available  for  work. 

The  Chairman.  That  is,  aliens  being  released  from  Federal  em- 
plojnnent  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  From  Federal  employment  on  public  works. 
And  I  have  this  wire  under  date  of  August  1 ,  signed  by  the  governor, 
apparently: 

Army  waiting  official  order  before  replacing  aliens.     Believe  all  departments  same — 
That  is,  I  take  it,  they  are  all  awaiting  the  official  order. 

Approximately  1,200  liable  to  discharge. 

Farrington. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  849 

The  Chairman.  I  have  heard  it  stated  all  the  way  from  2,500  to 
10,000.  I  did  not  think  there  was  any  such  number,  because  it 
would  have  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  if  there  had  been  that 
number. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  do  not  know  the  number  either,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  If  it  were  that  number,  it  would  be  out  of  propor- 
tion to  h\\  the  people  employed  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  only  know  it  in  the  way  it  has  been  presented 
to  me. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  just  a  moment  here.  We  keep  getting  away. 
We  have  collected  here  in  this  first  volume  of  these  hearings  a  large 
number  of  reports  from  the  sugar  plantation  people  and  the  pine- 
apple plantation  pepole,  signed  statements,  which  were  brought  here 
by  this  commission,  on  their  labor  shortgaes.  Of  course,  you  can 
not  undertake  to  study  it  now,  neither  have  the  members  of  the 
committee  had  very  much  time  to  do  more  than  to  sketch  through 
it;  but  here  is  the  Waialua  Agricultural  Co.,  normal  force  2,200. 
shortage  600,  and  so  on  through.  Now,  in  other  places,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  pineapple  industry,  they  hope  to  get  through  with 
the  employment  of  children.  There  are  a  large  number  of  children 
in  the  islands,  mostly  Japanese,  a  very  large  number  under  12  years 
of  age,  and  they  seem  to  work  on  those  plantations,  and  that  brings 
about  a  labor  condition  that  is  foreign  to  anything  we  have  here. 
Now,  these  pineapple  plantations,  as  I  understand  it,  a  large  number 
of  them,  are  homestead  propositions.  The  Japanese  are  getting  in 
on  the  homesteads.  That  situation  is  badly  in  need  of  labor.  The 
islands  are  not  quite  in  the  position  of  any  place  in  the  continental 
United  States,  where  labor,  casual  labor  or  other  labor,  can  move. 
It  is  all  there.  These  industries,  of  course,  are  in  competition  with 
the  industries  of  Java,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  I  do  not  know  what 
other  places.  Now,  there  is  the  situation  as  I  think  it  is.  I  can  not 
see  how,  as  long  as  any  Japanese  remain  there,  and  Chinese,  too — -if 
I  remember,  there  are  13,000  or  14,000  Chinese  there — that  European 
white  labor  will  be  attracted  to  the  islands,  and  I  can  not  see  how 
you  will  ever  get  those  out  who  are  there.  So  there  you  are.  I  can 
not  see  how  any  American  labor  is  likely  to  go  from  the  main 
land,  no  matter  how  bad  conditions  might  become  in  the  United 
States,  to  Hawaii  to  do  any  labor. 

Mr.-GoMPERS.  Mr.  Chairman,  you  asked  me  a  hypothetical  ques- 
tion a  while  ago  about  the  strike  of  the  Japanese  in  the  future,  a 
strike  of  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  would  like  to  have  your  opinion  upon  how  do 
you  think  you  are  going  to  get  rid  of  the  Japanese  from  Hawaii  if 
you  pass  this  law. 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  think  you  are  going  to  get  rid  of  them 
at  all. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  And  the  problem  will  not  be  then  changed? 

The  Chairman.  No;  not  entirely;  except  this,  there  will  be  labor. 
In  the  first  place,  there  is  a  labor  shortage.  A  labor  shortage,  of 
course,  interferes  with  business,  and  will  for  several  years.  First,  we 
have  testimony  here  that  the  sugar  crop  there  is  a  two-year  proposition. 
Of  course  we  have  to  remember  all  the  time  that  nearly  half  of  the 
Japanese  in  Hawaii  are  American  citizens.     When  this  next  strike 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 20 


850  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

comes,  personally  I  think  the  Japanese  people  over  there,  both  in 
the  stores,  in  the  cities,  and  on  the  plantations,  will  be  very  much 
encouraged  by  what  they  read  in  these  reports.  I  think  they  have 
their  emissaries  at  work  and  will  immediately  produce  another  strike, 
and  soon  it  will  come  to  the  point  of  striking  the  way  their  fishermen 
do — that  is,  when  the  market  is  a  little  full  of  fish  they  will  all  quit. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  question  involved  is,  Can  we,  by  bringing  in 
under  contract  another  alien  race,  by  a  contract  of  peonage,  relieve 
the  situation?  Even  assuming  we  could  under  the  Constitution — 
which  of  course  we  can  not;  but  assume  we  did— this  will  be  driving 
them  out  of  the  fields,  and  it  will  be  driving  into  the  other  places  of 
business,  and  the  American-Japanese  that  are  there  will  be  entitled 
to  be  employed  on  the  Government  works  in  Hawaii  and  on  the 
Federal  works. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  this  resolution,  if  it  goes  into 
effect,  will  not  permit  any  Government  officer,  either  the  President 
or  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  to  bring  men  in  under  contract,  nor  under 
a  condition  of  peonage,  nor  under  slavery  conditions.  The  matter 
is  in  their  hands  to  proceed  legally  to  adjust  a  labor  shortage  and 
reserving  or  protecting  the  control  of  American  interests  in  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii.     That  is  the  object  of  this  resolution. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  And  the  American  interests,  so  far  as  this  joint 
resolution  is  concerned,  is  the  sugar  planters — about  43  in  number. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  This  represents  the  interests  of  the  whole  Terri- 
tory and  has  the  indorsement  not  only  of  the  legislature  and  the  gov- 
ernors but  of  all  the  business  interests  in  the  islands,  and  is  opposed, 
so  far  as  I  know,  principally  by  the  Japanese  and  the  American  Feder- 
ation of  Labor  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  want  to  answer  that  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  No. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  ask  have  you  given  any  thought  or  study 
to  the  admission  of  Mexicans  into  the  United  States  without  the  pay- 
ment of  the  head  tax,  first  as  a  war  measure  and  then,  twice  later,  as  a 
labor  measure  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Yes,  sir.  And  I  may  say  about  that,  about  four 
years  ago,  I  j)articipated  in  a  meeting  at  Laredo,  Tex.,  right  on  the 
edge  of  the  Rio  Grande  River,  which  divided  the  American  from  the 
the  Mexican  border.  At  Nuevo  Laredo,  over  the  International 
Bridge  between  Laredo  and  Nuevo  Laredo,  I  entered  Mexico,  as  I 
have  been  in  other  portions  of  it,  but  it  is  not  very  much  different 
than  in  the  interior  of  that  country.  I  found  not  only  of  my  own 
observation  but  particularly  through  the  reports  made  to  me  from 
workingmen  at  San  Antonio,  El  Paso,  and  other  American  points,  on 
or  near  the  Mexican  border,  that  Mexicans  had  been  brought  over 
to  the  United  States  by  some  means  or  other,  lawful  or  unlawful, 
and  that  as  a  result  of  the  slump  in  our  industrial  conditions  (our, 
the  United  States),  there  were  thousands  of  Mexicans  who  were 
leaving  and  lying  upon  the  streets  of  hunger  because  of  their  unena- 
ployment.  Last  January  I  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Pan  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor,  of  which  I  have  the  honor  of  being  president, 
and  composed  of  the  representatives  of  the  labor  organizations  of  the 
Pan  American  countries.  I  was  in  Mexico  City,  Mexico,  and  there  I 
met  not  only  the  representatives  of  Mexico  but  many  of  the  other 
South  and  Latin  American  countries.     The  conditions  of  labor  in 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  851 

Mexico  were  discussed.  I  learned  then  to  my  satisfaction  that  the> 
Mexican  agricultural  workers  were  largely  returning  to  their  holdings, 
their  little  tracts  of  land,  and  cultivating  them. 

For  10  years  that  country  had  been  in  turbulence,  in  revolution 
and  counter-revolution,  and  when  one  revolutionary  body  would  be 
in  the  neighborhood  of  an  agricultural  district  they  would  levy 
upon  the  holder  of  those  products;  and  then,  if  they  were  beaten 
back  or  retreated,  the  counter-revolution  would  come  upon  them 
and  take  the  balance,  so  that  the  agriculturist  had  little  or  nothing 
for  himself.  The  men,  during  this  period  of  10  years  of  turbulence 
and  civil  war -and  revolution  and  counter-revolution,  made  up  their 
minds  they  would  just  take  pot  luck  and  not  work;  not  work  their 
soil  and  produce,  but  to  take  their  chance  and  join  some  revolutionary 
bands  for  the  purpose  of  existence  and  subsistence,  but  that  these 
men,  since  the  inauguration  of  the  present  administration  in  Mexico 
and  President  Obregon,  have  a  feeling  of  safety.  They  are  returning 
to  their  farms  and  beginning  cultivation. 

Now  there  are  still  conditions  here  rather  apart.  I  am  informed 
very  reliably  that  within  this  past  three  months  the  Government 
of  Mexico  has  expended,  I  believe,  nearly  $2,000,000  for  the  purpose 
of  repatriating  the  Mexicans  who  are  in  the  United  States;  further, 
that  within  two  months  the  Congress  and  the  Government  of  Mexico 
have  enacted  a  law  excluding  the  immigration  of  Chinese  to  that 
country,  and  that  in  all  likelihood  it  will  have  also  the  effect  of  pre- 
cluding the  possibility  of  any  number  of  Chinese  coming  to  the 
United  States  or  its  possessions  through  Mexico. 

The  Chairman.  How  did  they  get  by  three  times,  under  orders  of 
the  Secretary  of  Labor,  or  under  regulations — -the  admission  of  these 
laborers  under  contract  or  involuntary  servitude,  perhaps  ?  How 
does  it  come  that  that  was  not  taken  up  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  It  was  taken  up. 

The  Chairman.  Was  it  taken  into  the'  courts  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  No.  We  have  got  enough  of  the  courts.  We  have 
enough  of  the  courts;  we  are  glad  to  keep  out  of  them,  either  as 
defendants  or  as  plaintiffs,  or  prosecutors.  Relieve  us  from  the 
courts.     Now  we  do  not  want  to  go  into  a  court;  I  do  not. 

The  Chairman.  W^ell,  there  was  a  dead-open-and-shut  chance. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Well,  probably;  I  am  not  a  lawyer  and  I  only  know 
just  about  as  much  law  as  has  been  rubbed  up  my  fur  the  wrong  way, 
and  I  know  enough  to  eschew  it  whenever  I  can.  I  will  say  this,  that 
it  was  taken  up  and  a  protest  made  to  the  Secretary  of  Labor  of  the 
United  States  against  bringing  in,  the  letting  in,  of  these  Mexican 
laborers. 

The  Chairman.  I  believe  that  is  all  the  questions  I  have. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Gompers,  did  you  investigate  that  Mexican 
situation  sufficiently  to  know,  after  those  men  were  brought  over  here, 
that  when  they  quit  work  they  were  arrested  by  various  State  and 
Federal  officers  and  then  turned  over  to  the  immigration  authorities 
and  sent  home;  in  other  words,  that  they  were  under  arrest  when  they 
did  not  work  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes,  sir;  that  is,  I  have  not  that  of  my  own  obser- 
vation, but  from  reports  made  to  me. 


852  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Oxnard  admitted  that  that  was  the  fact  and  he 
had  some  of  that  kind  of  labor,  and  he  said  they  were  arrested  at 
another  hearing  before  this  committee.  And  that  is  a  fact  that  the 
right  of  peonage  to  exist  in  this  country,  so  far  as  you  know,  was  not 
taken  up  by  anyone  in  any  of  the  courts,  when  these  men  were 
arrested,  to  have  this  question  determined — their  right  to  release  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  know  there  was  no  intervention,  no  application, 
made,  upon  our  part  for  relief  and  protection  from  the  courts. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Let  me  say.  Judge,  that  I  said  incidentally  a  while 
ago  that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  not  a  financial  insti- 
tution. I  suppose  it  would  be  a  revelation  and  a  shock  to  some  men 
if  they  knew  upon  what  revenue  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
exercises  all  its  functions  and  duties.  We  receive  1  cent  per  member 
per  month,  or  12  cents  per  year,  from  each  member  for  the  main- 
tenance and  for  the  operation  of  all  of  our  work — 12  cents  a  year. 
To  that  extent,  we  are  sucking  the  life  blood  out  of  our  poor  working 
men.     And  we  have  no  funds  for  the  prosecution  of  cases. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  your  visit  to  Mexico  and  your  observation  of  the 
labor  situation— I  have  been  trying  to  get,  but  have  not  been  able 
to  secure  definitely,  when  since  the  conquest  of  Mexico  by  Cortez 
and  on  down,  when  all  of  the  Mexicans,  the  originals,  were  under 
bondage  (I  think  they  became  slaves  or  serfs  and  it  went  from  father 
to  son  and  on  down  through,  just  like  the  Orientals)  that  was  aban- 
doned. Do  you  know  whether  Mexico  has  abandoned  by  law  its 
involuntary  servitude  or  peonage  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  It  has,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Could  you  tell  the  committee  about  when? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  With  the  deposition  of  Portfiro  Diaz  as  president. 
Ills  overthrow,  with  Madero  as  the  leader  and  Suarez  as  his  first  lieu- 
tenant and  aid  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Diaz  regime,  they  abolished 
peonage  by  law.  Then,  wh^n  Gen.  Huerta,  the  general  of  the  army 
of  Mexico  undertook  a  coup  d'etat  and  arrested  or  dethroned  or 
ousted  Madero  and  Suarez  as  President  and  Vice  President  of  the 
Republic  of  Mexico,  Huerta  then  suppressed  the  orders,  or  revoked 
the  orders  which  Madero  had  issued.  Then,  when  Carranza  lead  the 
countermovement  for  the  overthrow  of  the  usurper  Huerta,  Carranza 
issued  orders,  and  by  his  representatives,  entered  into  agreements 
with  what  was  permitted  to  exist  and  existed,  the  organization  of 
the  workers  of  Mexico — I  think  it  was  the  Casa  del  Obrera  Mundial. 
The  name  was  taken  from  the  English  translation  of  '^  Industrial 
Workers  of  the  World,"  and  that  was  supposed  to  be  the  Mexican 
branch  of  it.  It  has  changed  entirely  from  that  phase  to  the  present 
Federation  of  labor  of  Mexico,  which,  by  the  way,  held  a  convention 
two  weeks  ago  in  Orizaba,  Mexico,  and  at  which  the  representative 
of  the  International  Association  of  Machinists,  Mr.  Lavison,  was  there 
as  representative  of  American  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  to  go  just  a  little  further:  In  1877  peonage 
existed  in  its  highest  form  in  Cuba.  Cuba  was  then  under  the  Spanish 
Government,  and  contract  laborers  from  China  were  in  Cuba,  many 
of  them,  as  peons,  and  there  was  a  treaty  entered  into  between  China 
and  Cuba  tiirough  the  main  Government,  abolishing  or  prohibiting 
any  more  peon  or  contract  laborers  to  come  to  Cuba,  freeing  those 
who  had  not  entered  into  a  contract  but  continuing  under  peonage, 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN  HAWAII.  853 

and  those  who  had  entered  into  a  contract  vohmtaiily.     Now,  do 
you  know  whether  or  not  peonage  exists  in  C^iba  to-da}' '{ 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  It  does  not  exist  there,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Does  it  exist  in  Japan  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  It  is  a  condition  of  serfdom  rather  than  peonage: 
only  a  difference  in  degree.  May  I  call  attention  to  a  historical  fact, 
which  developed  in  Porto  Rico  after  the  American  occupation  and 
after  peace  was  declared  with  Spain  ?  The  United  States  had  not 
changed  the  laws  as  they  existed  and  operated  in  Porto  Rico  under 
Spanish  domination.  There  were  a  number  of  men  arrested,  two 
men  whose  names  I  remember — Santiago  Iglesias  and  Martinas 
Rivera,  who,  with  about  20  others,  were  arrested,  tried  and  sentenced 
under  the  Spanish  law  dealing  with  the  subject  of  master  and  servant. 
The  charge  against  these  men  was — or  the  charges,  varying  in  detail, 
were — ^that  the  m.en  had  conspired  to  rob  their  employers  of  their 
labor  power.  Mr.  Iglesias  (who,  by  the  way,  had  lived  in  the  United 
States  for  several  years  and  is  a  carpenter  by  trade)  cabled  me- 
stating  the  facts  as  briefly  as  he  could.  It  was  necessary  for  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  out  of  its  meager  funds,  to  put  up  a 
bond  of  $500  in  order  that  these  men  might  be  liberated  pending  an 
appeal.  It  was  cabled  over  there,  and  they  were  liberated.  When 
the  Government  of  the  United  States — whether  by  law  or  by  order 
of  the  President,  or  by  the  Governor  of  Porto  Rico,  I  am  not  sure 
which — declared  that  these  old-time  Spanish  laws  were  void  an^- 
inoperative. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  ask  you  just  a  question  and  then  to  read  a 
statement  here  to  bring  it  right  down  to  this  resolution.  Have  you 
had  the  opportunity  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment to-day  recognizes  in  its  own  government  slavery,  involuntary 
servitude,  or  peonage  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  think  that  has  been  abolished  since  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Republic. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  read  this  statement  and  then  I  am  going  on  for 
another  question.  I  have  a  letter  here  from  the  chief  biographer  of 
the  legislative  reference  service  of  the  Congressional  Library.  He 
says: 

We  do  not  find  any  countries  which  now  recognize  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude.  . 
Such  conditions  exist  only  in  certain  parts  of  Africa,  which  are  still  in  a  barbarous- 
condition  and  concerning  which  there  are  no  laws. 

I  just  read  that  to  show  that  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  over  the 
world,  and  that  has  been  within  the  last  few  years,  involuntary 
servitude,  peonage,  and  slavery  have  been  wiped  out  by  the  con- 
census of  opinion  of  the  people  of  the  world. 

The  Chairman.  Then  the  Chinese  that  were  sent,  a  thousand  a 
month  last  year,  to  Cuba,  in  bond  through  the  United  States,  did 
not  go  into  involuntary  servitude  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  going  to  try  to  develop  that  in  this  very  con^ 
dition.  Then  if  a  resolution  of  this  kind  were  to  be  passed,  and-  T 
want  to  read  this  sentence  from  it: 

That  such  aliens  shall  be  admitted  only  for  the  limited  periods  of  time  for  the- 
purpose  of  engaging  only  in  the  class  or  classes  of  labor  as  to  which  the  emergency, 
has  been  found  to  exist — 

and  then  can  be  deported,  or  deported  if  they  do  not  work  at  that 
wage,  this  would  be  the  only  country  in  the  world  to-day,  &o  far  a& 


854  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

I  know,  and  this  is  a  part  of  the  United  States,  where  involuntary 
;servitude,  or  peonage,  would  exist  or  would  be  permitted. 

Mr.  GoMPERs.  Yes;  that  is  the  fact. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  you,  as  an  American  citizen,  as  well  as  a  member 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  appear  before  this  committee 
protesting  against  any  such  conditions  existing  in  the  United  States 
and  are  raising  your  voice  against  the  enactment  of  such  legislation  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  That  is  my  position,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Might  I  ask  a  question  just  there  and  relative  to  what 
the  chairman  has  just  said  about  the  number  of  Chinese  being  carried 
through  the  United  States  into  Cuba?  Is  there  any  way  by  which 
we  might  control  that  by  legislation  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  not  been  fully  advised,  but  the  Librarian  of 
Congress  is  working  on  that  now.  They  have  sent  one  of  their 
experts  who  is  familiar  with  the  language  to  the  Chinese  Legation. 
He  was  unable  to  get  it  from  the  legation  because  they  had  a  conven- 
tion on,  but  they  turned  over  to  him  the  records  and  the  papers 
covering  this  matter  and  they  are  now  proceeding  to  translate  this 
matter  so  that  I  may  submit  it  to  the  committee  at  the  present  time, 
by  which  I  hope  and  expect  to  show  that  the  Chinese  Government 
does  not  permit  or  would  not  enter  into  an  agreement  with  any 
country  to  send  its  nationals  away  in  involuntary  servitude  or  as 
peons. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Mr.  Chairman,  responsive  to  the  questions  of  Judge 
Raker  and  the  committee,  let  me  relate  this  incident  which  happened 
in  Paris.  The  President  of  the  United  States  honored  me  by  appoint- 
ing me  as  one  of  the  two  delegates  to  represent  our  Government  in  a 
commission  on  international  labor  relations.  The  commission  repre- 
sented the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  France,  Belgium,  Cuba, 
Italy,  Czechoslovakia,  Poland,  Japan  and  two  or  three  other  countries 
which  I  can  not  recall.  I  had  the  honor  of  being  elected  president  of 
that  commission  by  unanimous  vote.  We  drafted  what  was  then 
known  as  the  labor  charter.  In  the  course  of  the  discussions  of  the 
proposals,  or,  rather,  in  the  course  of  the  proposals  and  the  discussions 
thereon,  among  them  I  proposed  that  the  language  of  the  thirteenth 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  should  be  made 
part  of  the  international  labor  conditions  of  the  whole  civilized 
world.  Mr.  Cable  this  morning  read  article  13  of  the  Constitution 
which  prohibited  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude. 

Mr.  Raker.  Here  it  is  right  here. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Will  you  read  it  please  for  me? 

Mr.  Raker  (reading) : 

Sec.  1.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  punishment^  for 
crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United 
States  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

Sec.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appropriate  legislation. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  proposed  that  section  with  a  change  of  the  last 
few  words — ''shall  exist  within  any  country  parties  to  this  treaty." 
And  it  was  discussed.  I  tried  my  level  best  to  have  it  incorporated. 
It  was  rejected  upon  this  ground  and  this  alone,  that  it  would  be  a 
humiliation  to  the  civilized  countries  to  adopt  a  principle  which  had 
already  been  established  in  their  countries. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now  I  want  to  read,  as  part  of  my  question,  part  of 
this  letter.     It  is  short.     I  want  to  read  this  first  so  as  to  make  my 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  855 

statement  clear.  I  wrote  to  the  Librarian  to  get  me  all  the  laws  of 
all  countries  that  could  be  had  where  slavery,  involuntary  servitude, 
or  peonage  existed  at  the  present  time.  I  will  read  his  general 
answer.     In  regard  to  China,  he  writes: 

The  present  law  of  China  exists  only  in  Chinese.  We  expected  to  secure  a  transla- 
tion of  this  from  the  Chinese  Legation,  but  they  find  it  impossible  to  do  this  because 
of  a  convention  in  the  city  which  they  have  on  hand.  They  have  offered,  however, 
to  place  the  material  at  our  disposal  and  we  are  sending  Mr.  Huean,  who  is  temporarily 
employed  at  work  in  the  Library,  to  the  legation  to  make  this  translation,  which  we 
hope  to  send  you  in  a  day  or  two— 

which  I  have  not  received.  Now  I  want  to  read  to  you  section  5510 
of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  keeping  in  mind,  now, 
the  provisions  of  this  resolution  before  the  committee,  with  reference 
to  aliens  in  the  United  States.     It  reads  as  follows: 

Every  person  who  under  color  of  any  law,  statute,  ordinance,  regulation,  or  custom, 
subjects  or  causes  to  be  subjected  any  inhabitant  of  any  State  or  Territory  to  a  depriva- 
tion of  any  rights,  privileges,  or  immunities  secured  or  protected  by  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  or  to  a  different  punishment,  pains,  or  penalties, 
on  account  of  such  inha')itant  being  an  alien,  or  by  reason  of  his  color  or  race,  than 
are  prescribed  for  the  punishment  of  citizens,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more 
than  $1,000  or  by  imprisonment  of  not  more  than  one  year,  or  by  both. 

Now  let  me  ask  you,  with  that  statute  on  the  statute  books,  with 
this  resolution,  that  a  man  should  be  employed  and  engaged  only  in 
one  class  or  work  or  classes,  if  he  stopped,  or  left  it,  and  was  arrested 
for  deportation,  would  that  be  the  same  kind  and  character  of  a  right 
and  privilege  that  is  accorded  to  the  other  citizens  of  that  com- 
munity ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind,  sir,  that  that  is  a 
fact.  I  regard  that  provision  of  the  statutes  which  you  have  just 
read  as  a  complete  bar  against  any  legislation  of  the  character  now 
before  your  committee. 

The  Chairman.  Now  let  me  ask  Judge  Raker  a  question  there, 
for  the  record.  I  will  ask  him  if  he  regards  that  statute  as  a  bar  to 
the  registration,  for  a  fee,  of  aliens  in  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No,  sir.  I  have  a  complete  answer  and  complete 
authorities  covering  that  question.  I  will  answer  it.  The  Supreme 
Court  has  repeatedly  held  and  rightfully  held,  that  the  United  States 
is  sovereign  and  can  say  who  can  come  and  who  can  not  come,  as 
aliens.  We  can  permit  them  to  come  under  certain  regulations  and 
conditions,  which  they  must  comply  with.  But  having  once  landed, 
we  can  not,  except  on  certain  fundamental  questions,  &  them  in  any 
different  condition,  deprive  them  of  their  life,  liberty,  or  pursuit  of 
happiness,  different  than  we  can  of  the  ordinary  citizen. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  what  I  am  getting  at.  Then  there  is 
nothing  in  this  proposal  to  register  and  take  a  fee  from  14,000,000 
aliens  now  in  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  it  is  absolutely  constitutional. 

The  Chairman.  You  think  it  is  constitutional  ?     They  are  here. 

Mr.  Raker.  Surely. 

Mr.  Cable.  According  to  your  answer,  you  can  not  do  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  we  can. 

Mr.  Cable.  According  to  your  answer,  you  said  they  come  here 
subject  to  the  laws,  and  they  are  here  to-day. 


856  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAIL 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  but  that  is  a  different  question  altogether;  that 
is  another  sovereign  right  that  we  have,  to  find  out  who  is  here^ 
and  we  can  compel  him  to  register  and  to  pay  a  fee  for  registration — 
just  like  I  have  a  right,  as  an  American  citizen,  born  here,  to  vote; 
but  if  I  fail  to  live  in  the  county  or  State  a  year,  if  I  fail  to  live  in 
the  county  90  days,  or  the  precinct  30  days,  or  if  I  commit  an  offense 
or  crime,  I  can  not  vote;  I  have  lost  my  right,  although  I  have  a 
constitutional  right  to  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  is  not  on  a  par  with  the  question  of  forcing  the 
alien  to  go  and  register. 

Mr.  Raker.  Oh,  yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  No;  it  interferes  with  his  circulation. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  there  is  a  distinction. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  In  addition,  you  are  required  to  register  and  if  you 
do  not  register  you  can  not  vote. 

•    Mr.  Cable.  But  this  is  a  different  proposition.     We  have  made 
them  register  according  to  the  idea  of  the  law. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  one  is  a  result  of  failing  to  do  an  act  which  the 
law  prescribes;  and  the  other  is  prescribing  that  you  shall  do  an  j-ct. 
That  is  entirely  different. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  no  comparison  and  there  is  no  analogy. 

The  Chairman.  I  just  want  to  get  you  on  record. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  always  have  me  on  record. 

The  Chairman.  We  will  have  you  fixed  in  advance. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  embarrass  me,  nor  do  you  get  me  into  any 
hole,  because  I  think  I  have  given  the  subject  enough  consideration 
to  realize  the  distinction  wherein  the  American  citizen  has  rights 
that  the  alien  has  not — wherein  we  can  impose  conditions  on  his 
coming  here  that  we  can  not  impose  on  a  citizen. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Now,  Judge,  I  can  agree  with  you  on  that,  but  that 
is  not  what  you  said.  You  discussed  the  proposition  of  making  an 
alien  register  and  then  come  right  back  to  this  and  applied  it  to 
American  citizens.  So  that  I  say  I  think  your  conclusions  are  right 
but  your  reasons  are  wrong.     [Laughter.] 

The  Chairman.  Read  that  statute  once  more. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  decided  a  number  of  cases  and  I  think  the 
Supreme  Court  once  said  that  my  conclusion  was  right  but  my 
reasons  were  wrong.  I  will  read  this  again;  it  is  worthy  of  deep 
consideration.     This  is  section  5510: 

Every  person  who  under  color  of  any  law,  statute,  ordinance,  regulation,  or  custom 
subjects  or  causes  to  be  subjected  any  inhabitant  of  any  State  or  Territory  to  a  de- 
privation of  any  rights,  privileges,  or  immunities  secured  or  protected  by  the  Consti- 
tution and  laws  of  the  United  States,  or  to  a  different  punishment,  pains,  or  penalties, 
on  account  of  such  inhabitant  being  an  alien,  or  by  reason  of  his  color  or  race,  than 
are  prescribed  for  the  punishment  of  citizens,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more 
tkan  $1,000  or  by  imprisonment  of  not  more  than  one  year,  or  by  both. 

The  Chairman.  Now  can  you  tell  me  how  it  is  that  we  keep 
Japanese  born  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  without  the  privilege  of 
coming  to  the  other  parts  of  the  United  States? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  it  was  a  condition  precedent  in  the  law. 

The  Chairman.  Does  that  statute  have  anything  to  do  with  it? 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  just  a  moment;  let  me  complete  my  answer. 
That  gave  the  President  the  power  to  say  that  those  who  came  to 
Hawaii  could  not  come  to  the  United  States  if  conditions  were  such 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  857 

that  they  ought  not  to  come.  He  issued  that  order.  They  can  not 
come  to  the  mainland  unless  they  have  passports,  which  we  have 
absolute  control,  as  a  sovereing  power,  to  determine;  and  it  does  not 
affect  his  individual  right  as  to  any  other  thing,  because  the  Jap  in 
Hawaii,  laboring  there,  can  go  to  each  plantation,  can  quit  when  he 
wants  to,  can  commence  work  when  he  wants  to,  can  make  any  kind 
of  a  contract  he  wants  to.  But  the  very  minute,  under  this  resolu- 
tion, that  he  fails  to  do  that  particular  class  and  kind  of  work  and 
fails  to  work — what?  He  is  arrested.  Namely,  his  right  of  volition, 
his  right  of  circulation,  is  barred  and  interfered  with.  Therefore  it  is 
an  infringement  upon  that  person^s  right  and  is  involuntary  servitude, 
because  if  he  does  not  continue  in  the  service  he  will  be  arrested  by 
the  power  of  the  Government.  Therefore  it  is  involuntary  servitude 
clearly  in  contravention  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States; 
just  like  when  one  of  the  Southern  States  passed  an  act  saying  that 
if  a  man  were  on  the  streets  why  you  could  arrest  him  if  he  did  not  go 
to  work.  They  did  not  convict  him;  they  simply  picked  him  up  and 
put  him  in  jail  and  put  him  at  work.  He  took  his  case  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  They  thoroughly  discussed  it  and  said 
you  can  not  imprison  a  man  of  that  kind  because  he  has  not  been 
convicted;  it  would  be  involuntary  servitude  to  do  it,  to  pick  him  up 
on  the  streets  and  make  him  work,  because  the  Constitution  says  he 
must  be  convicted. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Suppose  they  left  him  in  jail? 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  false  imprisonment.  He  has  a  right  to  be  dis- 
charged on  the  ground  of  false  imprisonment,  because  he  has  not 
been  convicted. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Oh,  I  understand;  he  has  not  been  tried. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  they  put  him  at  work,  and  that  was  the  statute 
of  the  State,  you  see.     Just  one  other  illustration 

The  Chairman.  Now  I  want  to  ask  one  question.  Have  we 
Chinese  citizens  in  Hawaii  who  can  not  come  to  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  not  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No.  And  your  rehabilitation  bill  you  are  talking 
about,  having  read  that  provision,  you  can  not  pass  a  law  in  the 
United  States,  whereby  you  can  say  that  one  American  citizen  can 
buy  a  piece  of  property  and  another  American  citizen  can  not  buy  a 
piece  of  property.  I  do  not  care  whether  it  is  Chinese  ^r  Japanese. 
You  have  to  apply  it  the  same  to  citizens. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  want  to  ask  a  question.  Section  5510  is  a  law  of 
Congress,  is  it  not? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  This  resolution,  if  it  became  a  law,  would  in  effect 
suspend  the  operation  of  the  previous  law,  because  it  is  in  conflict 
with  the  previous  law,  would  it  not  ?     Do  you  agree  with  me  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No. 

Mr.  Cable.  Therefore  section  5510  would  not  apply  to  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Raker.  No. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  you  can  repeal  this  if  you  want  to,  so 
far  as  the  subsequent  law  is  concerned  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No.  You  can  repeal  the  law,  making  it  a  crime  to 
interfere  with  the  alien's  rights,  yes.     There  is  no  question  about  that 


858  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

on  earth.  But  this  resolution  does  not  attempt  to  repeal  the  criminal 
law. 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes  it  does.  It  is  in  conflict  with  it  and  therefore  it 
repeals  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  No  ;  it  does  not  repeal  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  It  suspends  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  just  permits  those  poeple  to  come  over  here  and 
do  certain  work  and,  if  they  do  not  do  that  work,  you  arrest  them; 
and  if  a  man  does  arrest  them,  he  is  guilty  of  the  penal  offense  pro- 
vided for  by  statute. 

Mr.  Cable.  Not  if  you  give  him  full  authority  to  do  it.  There 
is  legal  authority,  and  it  is  in  conflict  with  the  criminal  laws,  and 
therefore  the  criminal  laws  are  suspended  just  the  same  as  section 
5510  would  be  suspended  under  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  I  do  not  think  so.  I  realize  and  recognize  what 
you  said  this  morning  and  I  think  it  is  a  correct  interpretation,  that 
a  subsequent  statute,  bearing  upon  the  same  subject,  in  conflict 
with  a  prior  act  upon  the  same  subject,  by  implication  repeals  it. 

Mr.  Cable.  Why  does  it  not  do  it  here,  then? 

Mr.  Raker.  Because  it  is  not  on  the  same  subject. 

Mr.  Cable.  It  is  a  conflict  of  law,  though. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  I  do  not  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  have  a  question  you  wanted  to  ask,  Mr. 
Dillingham  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes;  I  want  to  ask  how  this  law,  as  cited  by 
Judge  Raker,  giving  all  residents  equal  rights,  works  in  regard  to 
handling  the  Chinese  merchants  who  come  to  this  country  and  be- 
come residents  of  this  country,  to  change  from  the  status  of  a  mer- 
chant to  the  status  of  a  laborer  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  does  not  work  at  all. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  What  procedure  is  adopted  in  a  case  like  that 
with  regard  to  arrest  and  deportation  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  If  a  man  comes  under  the  Chinese  exclusion  law 
to-day  that  permits  him  to  come  under  an  excepted  class  as  a  resi- 
dent or  otherwise,  .and  he  violates  that  permission  given  to  him  by 
the  sovereign  government  and  proceeds  into  another  occupation 
within  a  reasonable  time  designated,  he  can  be  deported. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Arrested  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Arrested  and  deported.  That  is  the  fundamental 
right  of  the  Government.  We  permit  a  man  to  come  in  here  and  if 
he  commits  a  crime  within  ^ve  years  we  can  deport  him;  if  he  comes 
in  here  and  becomes  a  beggar  we  can  deport  him;  if  he  comes  in  here 
and  makes  a  splendid  showing  at  the  time  and  afterwards  plies  his 
profession  as  a  pimp  or  a  woman  as  a  prostitute,  within  a  certain 
length  of  time,  we  can  deport  him.  They  come  in  with  the  under- 
standing they  will  abide  by  our  laws,  rules,  and  regulations.  Sov- 
ereign is  the  Government. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  All  right.  Now,  Judge,  under  this  resolution, 
is  not  the  same  arrangement,  the  same  sovereign  right,  given  the 
alien,  otherwise  nonadmissible,  to  come  in  and  take  up  his  walk  in 
life  here  in  a  certain  line,  not  bound  to  any  one  particular  employer, 
not  bound  to  any  one  particular  company,  but  under  a  limitation  of 
performing  a  certain  class  of  work,  and  otherwise  debarred  ?     He  can 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  859 

conic  in  under  this  sovereign  right  to  do  that  particular  sort  of  work 
for  a  particuhir  length  of  time. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  but  the  Constitution  says  you  can  not  make  a 
difference  in  the  right  of  labor. 

Mr.  Cable.  Where  is  that  in  the  Constitution  ?  You  read  an 
ordinary  law  of  Congress  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  talking  about  the  Constitution  now. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  section? 

Mr.  Raker.  Section  13. 

Mr.  Wilson.  About  this  section  5510,  of  course  I  stated  my  views 
about  that  yesterday,  that  any  law  of  Congress  that  provided  that 
you  could  take  charge  of  any  sort  of  people  from  anywhere  within 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  and  tell  them  they  must  do  a  certain 
kind  of  work  for  a  certain  period  of  time,  and  then  prescribe  the 
punishment  in  the  event  that  they  did  not  do  that,  work,  would  be 
unconstitutional,  because  it  would  conflict  with  this  article  13.  But 
I  do  not  believe  that  this  section  5510  is  applicable  to  that  situation 

Mr.  Raker.  I  do  not  offer  it  for  the  purpose  of  affecting  the  consti- 
tutional amendment  13  or  as  bearing  on  it,  except  only  as  an  expres- 
sion of  Congress.  It  was  enacted  subsequent  to  and  to  carry  out  the 
provisions  of  section  13. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  do  you  know  it  does  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  it  could  be  for  no  other  purpose. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Your  contention  is,  though,  that  this  resolution  will 
be  illegal  because  it  comes  in  conflict  with  section  5510  of  the  Revised 
Statutes. 

Mr.  Raker.  No;  I  did  not  put  it  that  way. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  other  words,  your  position  would  be  that  if  any 
citizens  in  Hawaii  were  to  attempt  to  punish  or  to  handle  the  Chinese 
coolies  for  not  complying  with  that  resolution  that  those  citizens 
would  come  under  this  section  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  point  I  make,  exactly. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  is  the  point  you  make.  I  was  just  going  to 
suggest  that  this  section  5510,  without  looking  at  the  way  it  reads, 
would  not  apply  to  a  temporary  resident,  because  it  reads  'inhabi- 
tant"; so  that  I  think  that  would  be  an  alien  who  comes  here  to 
reside  permanently.  Anyway,  these  legal  questions  would  keep 
us  all  night. 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes;  two  or  three  days.  Let  us  get  through  with 
the  witness. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  want  to  get  through  with  Mr.  Gompers. 

Mr.  Gompers.  Would  it  not  be  in  effect  that  after  these  Chinese 
coolies  were  imported  into  Hawaii  for  five  years  that  practically 
the. same  thing  would  occur  of  a  continuous  performance  and  that 
others  again  would  be  brought  in  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  Yes;  every  time  the  President  would  issue  a  procla- 
mation saying  there  is  an  emergency.  Of  course,  you  could  make 
that  permanent. 

The  Chairman.  We  have  been  over  that  several  times. 

Mr.  Gompers.  It  was  not  gone  over  in  my  presence. 
W  The  Chairman.  The   emergency   would   repeat   itself.     We    have 
been  over  that  time  and  time  and  time  again.     That  appeared  to 
us  here  that  the  poorest  European,  even  if  we  should  amend  the 
laws  to  let  illiterates  into  the  country,  would  not  be  likely  to  work 


860  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

with  the  orientals.  You  have  not  had  time  to  read  the  matter  that 
has  gone  ahead  in  these  hearings,  but  we  had  before  us  here  one  ] 
suggestion  in  Heu  of  this  amendment,  a  substitute  to  the  effect  that 
the  operation  of  the  immigration  laws  be  lifted  sufficiently  to  permit 
the  illiterates  to  come  to  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  that  is, 
Hawaii  and  Alaska.  Now  we  have  not  gone  into  that  carefully 
enough  to  see  whether  that  would  run  counter  to  some  of  the  things 
Judge  Eaker  proposes;  but  there  is  one  solution  by  which  the  same 
type  of  European  that  came  to  the  United  States  when  opportunity 
was  large  here  and  found  his  way  west  and  pioneered,  might  help 
fill  up  Hawaii  and  fill  up  Alaska.  That  proposition  is  one  of  the 
sidelights  on  this  thing  here.     What  do  you  think  about  that  ? 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  I  have  been  so  engrossed  with  the  thought  of  bring- 
ing Chinese  coolies  into  Hawaii  that  I  have  not  given  that  any  con- 
sideration. I  am  not  in  a  position  just  at  this  moment  to  give  any- 
thing like  a  definite  opinion. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  ask  Mr.  Gompers  another  question,  but 
I  just  want  to  read  one  statement  in  this  connection,  where  the  court 
spoke  in  the  case  of  Hodges  v.  United  States  (203  U.  S.,  pp.  1-38). 
Judge  Brewer,  among  other  things,  uses  this  language,  after  quoting 
the  constitution: 

■^  *  *  Slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  of  the  Chinese,  of  the  Italian,  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  are  as  much  within  its  compass  as  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  of 
the  African.  Of  this  amendment  it  was  said  by  Mr.  Justice  Miller  in  Slaughterhouse 
cases  (16  Wall,  36,  69),  "Its  two  short  sections  seem  hardly  to  admit  of  construction."^ 
And  again :  * *To  withdraw  the  mind  from  the  contemplation  of  this  grand  yet  simple 
declaration  of  the  personal  freedom  of  all  the  human  race  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
this  Government    *    *    *    requires  an  effort,  to  say  the  least  of  it." 

I  want  you  just  to  think  about  that.  Now,  Mr.  Gompers,  you  hava 
said  you  talked  with  Dr.  Gulick  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  and  the  doctor  did  not  agree  upon  the  subject  of 
the  Chinese  exclusion  law  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  do  not  know  that  he  and  I  discussed  the  Chinese 
exclusion  law.  We  discussed  the  Japanese-American  situation.  He 
had  lived  in  Japan  for  several  years  and  seemed  much  interested  in 
Japan. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  I  take  it  for  granted  from  what  you  say,  you  are 
unalterably  opposed  to  repealing  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  In  any  way,  or  its  modification. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes.  You  are  opposed  to  admitting  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  you  are  opposed  to  making  Chinese  and  Japanese 
citizens  of  the  United  States  by  naturalization  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  I  should  oppose  it;  yes,  sir.  I  have  opposed  it. 
and  will. 

Mr.  Raker.  Did  your  organization  make  any  effort  to  defeat  this- 
provision  in  the  bill  now  pending  before  Congress,  Sixty-second. 
Congress,  first  session,  S.  1253? 

Mr,  Gompers.  I  do  not  recognize  it  by  the  title  and  number. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  remember  it  by  that  ? 

Mr.  Gompers.  Not  by  the  number. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  just  wanted  specially  to  call  your  attention  to  it,, 
as  this  bill  is  pending  before  Congress.     I  do  not  think  any  one  has. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  861 

introduced  it  in  the  House,  but  there  has  been  extensive  propaganda 
going  abroad  for  the  enactment  of  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  that  the  percentage  plan? 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  Gulick  plan  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  The  Gulick  plan  to  repeal  the  Chinese  exclusion  law 
and  admit  Japanese  and  to  naturalize  Chinese  and  Japanese  over 
here  who  are  native  born. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  Dr.  Gulick  is,  in  my  opinion,  more  of  a  pro- 
Mongolian  than  he  is  a  pro-American. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  ends  all  of  my  examination  now. 

Mr.  GoMPERS.  You  remember  that  during  my  remarks  this  after- 
noon I  referred  to  a  conference  with  Dr.  Gulick  and,  when  he  asked 
me  as  to  what  should  be  done  in  Japan  to  bring  about  a  better  con- 
dition of  affairs  and  better  conditions  industrially,  I  called  in  a 
stenographer  and  dictated  a  statement  which  was  then  written  out 
and  then,  later,  put  in  the  form  of  a  letter.  By  having  one  of  the 
legislative  commxittee  men  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in 
attendance  here  at  the  committee  hearing,  he  telephoned  over  to  the 
office  and  I  have  a  copy  of  the  transcribed  notes  that  I  dictated 
at  that  time.     It  was  on  February  24,  1917.     I  would  like  to  read  it. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Very  well. 

Mr.  Oyster  (reading) : 

Dr.  Sidney  L.  Gulick, 
Care  of  Dr.  B.  FI.  Guy, 

3S2  Pine  Street,  San  Francisco,  Calif. 

There  ought  to  be  no  misapprehension  in  regard  to  the  development  of  the  labor 
movement  in  Japan.  Like  the  individual,  the  aggregation  or  association  of  humans 
can  not  escape  the  pitfalls  and  errors  that  are  common  attributes  of  the  human.  The 
movement  of  labor  which  seeks  to  redress  for  wrongs,  improvement  of  the  material, 
economic  industrial  conditions  may  and  does  take  on  various  forms,  particularly 
according  to  the  national  and  racial,  as  well  as  industrial,  circumstances. 

Any  organized  effort  of  the  workers  which  is  antagonized  on  the  part  of  govern- 
mental authority  is  likely  to  develop  into  secret  effort,  and  hence  so-called  radical 
and  oftentimes  impractical,  so  far  as  the  attainment  of  any  tangible  results  are  con- 
cerned, except  as  it  manifests  antagonism  to  constituted  authority. 

On  the  other  hand,  any  organized  labor  movement  pampered  by  governmental 
agency  will  tend  to  make  the  organization  ineffective. 

My  idea  of  what  the  governmental  attitude  should  be  is  to  accord  feredom  of  the 
right  of  organization,  freedom  to  the  right  of  expression,  freedom  to  exercise  the 
normal  activities  of  the  human  being.  The  workers  hold  in  principle  that  which  is 
legal  for  any  one  person  to  do  is  not  illegal  when  done  by  two  or  more  persons,  but 
the  act  in  itself  must  be  held  to  be  either  legal  or  illegal;  that  it  is  no  more  illegal  for 
two  or  more  persons  to  do  a  legal  act  than  it  is  for  any  one  person  to  do  it;  that  is, 
the  right  by  associated  eflort  to  agree  to  perform  labor  or  to  withhold  labor,  to  give 
patronage  or  withliold  patronage. 

The  exercise  of  these  activities  by  the  workers  may  in  the  beginning  find  crude 
ex])ression  and  possibly  going  beyond  a  mark  which  has  been  frowned  down  by 
Governments  such  as  Japan.  Even  in  its  present  development,  but  it  is  the  only 
way  by  which  men  and  associations  of  men  learn  to  do  the  right  thing,  learn  to  limit 
the  exercise  of  their  own  activities  and  the  new  found  power  which  comes  from 
association. 

I  hold  that  it  is  i  common  attribute  of  man  to  endeavor  by  every  honorable  means 
to  improve  tlieir  condition. 

There  are  no  people  for  whom  improvement  in  conditions  is  so  essential  as  tlie  work- 
ing people,  and  even  the  errors  and  mistakes  which  are  part  of  the  human  develop- 
ment wJiether  as  individuals  or  in  association,  are  in  themselves  educational  to  the 
workers,  to  the  employers,  to  the  Government,  and  to  society  at  large.  Nothing  can 
be  done  by  the  workers  for  themselves  for  their  own  improvement,  the  improvement 
of  those  dependent  upon  them,  but  will  find  its  reflex  in  industry,  in  commerce, 
in  Government,  in  societary  conditions,  and  make  for  the  entire  uplift  of  all. 


862  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII. 

You  will  observe  that  I  am  speaking,  or  rather  thinking  aloud,  upon  the  subject 
which  has  grown  upon  me  with  my  years  of  life  and  activity  and  experience. 

I  do  not  underestimate  the  difficulties  in  the  w^ay  of  a  Government's  changing  its 
policy  so  that  the  full  freedom  to  exercise  these  activities  can  be  tolerated  or  permitted 
or  sanctioned  by  law  or  by  governmental  agents. 

But  I  say  this  from  my  experience  and  observation,  not  in  America  alone  but  of 
a  study  as  well  as  observation  of  the  history  of  the  development  of  the  organized 
labor  movement  in  every  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  wherever  such  an  effort 
has  been  made,  and  it  holds  good  wherever  it  is  undertaken  and  wherever  it  has 
developed  and  grown. 

If  those  in  authority  in  Japan  can  and  will  take  the  position  outlined,  it  will  make 
for  the  increasing  and  best  development  of  the  Japanese  people  and  the  Japanese 
Government  and  for  the  Japanese  taking  their  place  among  the  advanced  nations  of 
the  world,  it  will  prove  an  incentive  and  impulse  in  the  most  effective  way. 
Respectfully, 

Samuel  Gompers, 
President  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Gompers.  As  I  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  and  gentlemen,  that  in  a 
conference  with  Dr.  GuHch,  when  he  asked  me  to  give  an  explana- 
tion as  to  my  opinion  as  to  what  could  or  should  be  done  in  Japan 
for  the  establishment  of  better  conditions  and  better  relations  be- 
tween the  workers  and  the  employers,  between  the  workers  and 
the  masses,  and  the  government,  I,  off  hand,  called  in  a  stenographer 
and  off-hand  dictated  the  statement  which  has  just  been  read  to 

The  Chairman.  It  is  a  very  interesting  statement. 

Mr.  Gompers.  That  was  about  four  and  a  half  years  ago,  which 
by  the  way  was  published  in  Jlipan  broadcast  and  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  Government,  to  the  friendly  society  of  which  Mr. 
Suzuki  is  president,  and  it  was  generally  and  freely  discussed,  and 
perhaps  may  be  that  on  account  of  the  general  publicity  and  the 
discussions  of  this  subject  that  the  invitation  was  extended  to  me 
to  visit  Japan. 

The  Chairman:  Now,  if  there  are  no  other  questions,  we  will 
adjourn  to  meet  at  the  call  of  the  chairman. 

(Whereupon  at  4.15  p.  m.,  the  committee  adjourned.) 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives. 
Wednesday,  August  10,  1921. 
The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  Does  the  commission  have  something  in  addition 
to  offer  this  morning? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir.  Mr.  Chairrnan,  we  have  some  in- 
dorsements which  I  would  like  to  have  put  into  the  record.  They 
have  come  from  Hawaii  since  the  opposition  of  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  has  been  put  forward.  They  are  not  very  long 
and  if  I  may  have  them  included  in  the  record  I  will  submit  them. 
The  Chairman.  They  may  be  inserted  in  the  record. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

Honolulu. 
Walter  Dillingham, 

Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C: 
Houolulu  Welding  &  Machine  Co.  employs  dozen  skilled  mechanics,  who  in- 
dividually and  collectively  indorse  and  urge  the  importation  of  oriental  labor, 
as   requested   by   your  commission.      It   is   only   solution   save   Hawaii's   chief 
industry,  which  will  collapse  under  present  conditions. 

Feank  Howes,  President. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  863 

Honolulu. 
Retlaw, 

Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Father  Harding,  Catholic  priest  of  New  Orleans,  extensive  traveler,  pub- 
lisher, after  five  weeks'  investigation  in  Hawaii,  at  lecture  before  Columbus 
Welfare  Club,  leading  Catholic  organization  Hawaii,  affiliated  National  Catho- 
lic Welfare  Council,  strongly  advocated  admission  Chinese  absolutely  neces- 
sary preservation  prosperity  here;  praised  conditions  on  plantations;  stated 
provisions  for  comfort,  health,  safety  workers;  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Co.  finest 
he  had  seen  anywhere  in  w^orld. 

Ceeedon,  President. 


Honolulu. 
Retlaw. 

Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Honolulu  chapter.  American  Association  of  Engineers,  80  members,  by  let- 
ter ballot  favor  indorsement,  overwhelming  majority. 

Geokge  Collins,  Secretary. 


Hilo,  Hawaii. 
Retlaw, 

Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D.   C: 
Board  of  trade,  Hilo,  approved  labor  resolution. 


Honolulu,   July  17,   1921. 
Chillingworth, 

Willard,   Washington,  D.  C: 

Hawaiian  Civic  Club  indorsed  resolution  regular  meeting  July  first.     Kame- 
hameha  Alumni  Association  indorsed  resolution  last  meeting. 

Duncan,  President. 


Honolulu,  July  26,  1921. 
Retlaw, 

Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C: 
Legion  executive  committee  sending  Withington  following  to-day.  "  Expect 
you  to  support  report  of  Americanism  committee  as  adopted  by  second  national 
convention,  which  covered  this  department's  instructions  to  its  delegates,  es- 
pecially that  part  which  calls  for  a  diversification  of  alien  population  with  a 
view  to  military,  social,  and  economic  safety.  Present  this  to  National  Legion 
officials  and  urge  their  support  to  legislation  now  proposed  to  give  Hawaii 
this  diversified  alien  population  in  the  interests  of  Americanism  and  American 
control  here.     Above  department  executive  committee  action  to-day." 

Butler. 
Note. — "  Retlaw  "  is  a  code  word  meaning  "  Walter  F.  Dillingham,"  used  as 
an  address  to  save  cable  tolls. 


Honolulu,  July  28,  1921. 
Dillingham,  Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C.- 
Maui Post,  No.  8.  protests  against  declarations  made  by  president  American 
Federation  of  Labor  regarding  importation  of  Chinese  labor  for  Hawaii. 

O' Sullivan. 


Honolulu,  August  £,  1921. 
Dillingham,  New  Willard,  WasMngton,  D.  C: 

Our  society  of  600  women  unanimously  indorse  Hawaii  emergency  labor  bill. 

Kaahumanu  Society, 
Lucy  K.  Peabody,  President. 


\ 


864  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IX   HAWAII. 

Honolulu,  August  6,  1921. 
Dillingham,  New  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Mailing  you  to-day  resolutions  adopted  by  Kohala  Post,  Kauai  Post,  American 
Legion,  protesting  attitude  American  Federation  Labor  and  supporting  Hawaiian 
emergency  labor  bill.    You  already  have  similar  resolution  Maui  Post. 

O'SuLLivAN,  Adjutant. 


Honolulu,  August  6,  1921. 
Dillingham,  Neiv  Willard,  Washington,  D.  C: 

Our  society,   numbering  325,   unanimously   indorse  Hawaii   emergency  labor 
bill. 

Daughtees  and  Sons  of  Hawaiian  Wakeioes, 
M,  A.  Taylor,  Premier. 


Honolulu,  August  9,  1921. 
Dillingham, 

NeiD  Willard,  Washington.  D.  C: 
Continued  prosperity  of  more  than  150  homesteading  families  dependent  upon 
prosperity  of  Makee  Sugar  Co.,  to  whom  we  sell  our  crops  of  cane.     Said  com- 
pany_  face   destruction   through   labor   shortage.      Myself   and    neighbors   urge 
passage  labor  relief  bill  now  in  Congress. 

Elmer  M.  Cheatham. 


Waialua,  Hawaii,  June  28,  1921. 
Hawaiian  Labor  Commission. 

Washingt07i,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen  :  At  the  request  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association, 
I  herewith  submit  my  views  of  the  labor  situation  on  this  plantation. 

It  is  indeed  critical  and  becomes  more  so  each  day,  as  men  are  leaving  for 
the  pineapple  fields  and  Japan ;  every  steamer  to  Japan  takes  as  many  as  can 
get  passage. 

This  mill  is  grinding  about  70  per  cent  of  normal  and  doing  that  at  the 
expense  of  future  crops,  as  nothing  has  so  far  been  done  for  the  1923  crop. 
Our  output  this  year  is,  to  date,  14,554  tons,  as  against  25,037  tons  on  the 
same  date  in  1919,  or  10,483  tons  behind  normal.  I  am  taking  1919  as  a 
standard,  as  the  Japanese  strike  startcMl  on  January  19,  1920,  and  lasted  till 
July  12,  1920.  Even  then  our  grinding  betv/een  the  same  dates  was  only  503 
tons  less  than  this  year,  about  three  days'  grinding. 

This  crop  which  should  end  September  1,  1921,  w^ill  run  well  into  1922  and 
will  mean  we  will  have  to  throw  out  about  2,500  acres  of  cane  land.  We  are 
finishing  up  what  work  we  have  started  about  the  factory,  but  it  will  be 
necessary  for  us  to  abandon  any  future  work. 

Our  present  labor  is  not  over  50  per  cent  efficient.  After  my  experience  of 
about  22  years  on  sugar  plantations  in  Hawaii,  I  must  say  the  Chinese  are 
the  best  laborers  we  have. 

I  am  an  American,  born  and  brought  up  in  the  United  States,  and  believe 
in  America  first,  but  I  think  the  only  salvation  for  the  sugar  industry  in 
Hawaii  is  to  get  Chinese  labor. 

W.  A.  Kinney, 
Chief  Engineer,  Waialua  Agriculture  Co.  {Ltd.). 

(Mr.  Kalanianaole  submitted  for  the  record  the  following  cable- 
grams:) 

[Telegram.] 

HiLO,  Hawaii,  August  10,  1921. 
Delegate  Kalanianaole, 

Washington,  D.  C: 

North  Hilo  Civic  Club  urge  passage  Hawaii  emergency  labor  bill. 

Makanui,  Secretary. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAVVAU.  865 

HrLo,  Hawaii,  August  7,  1U21. 
Delegate  Kalanianaole, 

Washington,,  D.  C: 

Waiakea  Homesteaders'  Association  urge  passage  Hawaii  eniergeucy  labor 
bill. 

Keola,  President. 

The  Chairman.  In  addition,  I  think  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to 
put  in  the  record  a  letter  in  opposition  to  the  resolution  from  E. 
Clemens  Horst,  a  hop  grower,  of  San  Francisco,  who  is  known  to 
the  members  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Horst  having  appeared  before 
the  committee. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  his  attitude? 

The  Chairman.  In  opposition.    His  letter  is  as  follows  : 

San  Francisco,  August  3,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Committee  on^  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Johnson  :  In  my  opinion,  the  United  States  should  allow  no 
further  importations,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  Hawaiian  sugar  planters'  de- 
mand for  Asiatic  labor  there  is  an  especially  good  reason  why  it  should  be 
denied.  Our  sugar  production  is  roughly  2,000,000,000  pounds  per  year.  Our 
sugar  exports  are  roughly  1,000,000,000  pounds  per  year.  Let  us  cut  out  our 
exports  of  sugar  instead  of  trying  to  compete  with  foreign  markets  by  lowering 
the  American  wage  scale  to  the  level  of  Asiatic  labor.  An  export  trade  that 
needs  importation  of  Asiatic  or  any  other  cheap  labor,  or  any  other  foreign 
labor,  should  not  be  supported.  If  we  were  to  support  such  a  policy  on  sugar, 
there  would  be  no  excuse  for  refusing  the  same  support  on  every  other  product 
of  the  farm,  the  factory,  and  the  mine. 

We  import  5,000,000,000  pounds  of  sugar  per  year.  We  should  sufficiently  in- 
crease sugar  tariffs  so  that  American  sugar  planters  can  sell  their  product  at 
home  at  a  price  high  enough  to  enable  them  to  pay  a  proper  American  wage 
scale.  The  same  policy  should  apply  to  everything  that  can  be  produced  in  the 
United  States. 

Faithfully,  E.  C.  Horst. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  here  a  long  telegram  in  opposition  to  the 
resolution,  signed  by  Gilbert  J.  Waller,  jr.,  of  San  Francisco,  which 
was  forwarded  to  me  by  Congressman  Julius  Kahn,  and  which  may  be 
inserted  in  the  record. 

(The  telegram  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

San  Francisco,  Calif.,  August  6,  1921. 
Hon.  Julius  Kahn, 

Congressional  Building,  Washington,  D.  C: 

On  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Sam  Bissinger,  I  again  address  you  the  following 
telegram,  hoping  that  you  may  see  your  way  clear  to  aid  me  in  my  opposition, 
and  I  take  this  opportunity  of  again  ttianking  you  for  your  many  kind  favors 
of  the  past.  As  a  citizen  of  Hawaii,  I  oppose  the  emergency  alien  labor  resolu- 
tion now  before  Congress  which  the  planters  are  strenuously  trying  to  force. 
It  will  retard  civilization  of  the  Territory,  indefinitely  postponing  solution  of 
labor  problem,  creating  an  aggravated  condition  later.  Present  schemes  lead 
from  pan  to  fire.    Planters  desire  domination  labor. 

No  sincere  effort  yet  made  to  introduce  citizen  labor  spite  of  idleness  in  main- 
land, and  my  personal  experience  justifies  statement  that  one  white  laborer 
equals  two  orientals  in  capacity  for  w^ork.  Present  unemployment  mainland 
affords  planters  unprecedented  opportunity  for  sincere  effort  to  try  out  citizen 
labor.  Congress  ought  at  least  delay  action  pending  such  experiment.  Planters' 
motives  purely  mercenary.  Americanization  and  welfare  of  Territory  appeals 
to  them  only  when  sensitive  pocket  nerve  is  touched.  Planters  responsible  pres- 
ent alien  population — Japanese,  Chinese,  Filipinos,  Koreans,  Porto  Ricans. 
Within  decade  planters  publicly  supported  Japanese  to  dominate  labor  market. 
Now  regret  and,  realizing  pulse  of  America,  magnify  Japanese  menace  in  their 
statements.    Americanization  Territory  all  poppycock.    Sole  motive  mercenary, 

56754— 21— SER  7,  pt  2 21 


866  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

cheaper  labor.  Personally  am  strongly  anti- Japanese,  but  know  importation 
Chinese  labor  can  not  solve  present  or  future  problems.  Will  increase  difficul- 
ties. All  interests  independent  of  planters'  control  oppose  equalization  Ameri- 
can with  oriental  working,  living  standards  at  expense  of  former.  Result,  ret- 
rogression. Firm  I  am  treasurer  and  director  of  now  passing  through  the  most 
stressful  period  existence  due  Chinese  competition,  which  competition  planters 
now  are  and  have  for  years  been  assisting.  My  firm  is  cooperative  grazing  com- 
pany, which  during  AVorld  War  sold  beef  to  American  Army  at  lower  prices  than 
Army  purchased  anywhere  in  America.  Policy  purely  public  spirited  at  time 
necessity  for  cooperation.  Army  lack  of  transportation  confined  Army's  source 
supply  to  Territory.  If  advantage  were  taken  prevailing  conditions,  10  cents 
pound  more  could  have  been  charged  Army.  Even  then  would  have  bought 
cheaper  price  than  California  or  eastern  supplies.  Record  War  Department 
will  confirm  statement.  Comparison  of  this  record  with  planters  invited.  Dur- 
ing war  largest  stockholder  of  firm  employing  me  refused  to  employ  aliens 
claiming  exemption  grounds  alien  subjects.  Planters  encouraged  aliens  to  claim 
exemption  on  same  grounds.  Same  stockholder  paid  annual  bonus  of  Liberty 
bonds.  Plantation  managers  informed  me  planters  did  not  for  fear  of  dis- 
satisfaction to  aliens.  Nineteen  hundred  and  seventeen  Honolulu  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  a  planters'  tool,  elected  German  president.  Motive,  placate  German 
element,  mercenary  reasons.  Lack  of  more  general  opposition  due  mostly  fear 
of  consequences  of  opposition  to  planters'  interests.  Residents  of  Pacific  Coast 
States  realize  the  passage  of  bill  will  mean  increased  influx  Hawaiian-born  Jap- 
anese, Chinese,  and  others  who  are  American  citizens.  I  seek  your  valued  oppo- 
sition to  this  bill  and  would  court  an  investigation  by  a  commission  that  might 
be  sent  there. 

Gilbert  J.  Waller,  Jr. 

Mr.  Eaker.  In  that  connection,  I  received  a  cablegram  from  Mr. 
Hindle,  urging  the  adoption  of  this  resohition,  and  I  answered  it. 
I  also  received  two  letters  from  business  men  in  San  Francisco  in 
favor  of  the  resolution,  and  I  answered  them.  I  would  like  to  insert 
that  cablegram  and  the  letters,  with  my  answers,  in  the  record. 

(The  letters  referred  to  are  as  follows:) 

Honolulu. 
Representative  Raker, 

Washington,  D.  C: 
Labor  here  is  not  opposed  to  Hawaiian  Delegate's  bill,  importation  Chinese  for 
agricultural  purposes.     You  know  the  previous  bills,  as  well  as  this  one,  are  clean 
and  deserve  your  support,  not  opposition.     Try  and  see  the  light,  as  placed 
by  the  labor  commission  from  this  Territory. 

W.  H.  Hindle. 


House  of  Representatives, 
WasJiington,  D.   C,  August  9,  1921. 
Mr.  W.  H.  Hindle, 

Honolulu,  Haivaii. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Hindle:  Your  wireless,  regarding  the  Hawaiian  bill,  authoriz- 
ing importation  of  Chinese  in  Hawaii,  at  hand.     I  remember  very  clearly  the 
hearings  had  before  the  Committee  on  Immigration  on  the  two  separate  bills 
which  you  sponsored,  and  your  appearance  before  such  committee. 

This  Chinese  importation  legislation  does  not  have  a  ghost  of  a  chance  to 
pass  and  become  a  law.     There  is  every  argument  against  it.     The  importation 
of  Asiatic  coolie  labor  into  the  United  States  or  any  of  its  Territories  would  ~ 
be  a  severe  blow  to  the  principles  for  which  America  stands.     We  want  free 
labor,  not  involuntary  servitude,  no  peon  nor  serf  labor. 

This  method  of  dealing  with  men  was  abolished  by  the  thirteenth  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  laws  enacted  subsequent  thereto, 
and  there  is  no  possible  chance  of  going  back  to  the  conditions  existing  before 
the  passage  of  the  thirteenth  amendment  and  there  should  be  none.  This  bill 
permits  and  authorizes  involuntary  servitude  and  peonage,  as  well  as  violat- 
ing the  organic  act  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  admitting  it  as  a  Territory  into 
the  Union. 

I  am,  yours,  most  truly, 

John  E.  Raker,  M.  C. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  867 

San  Feancisco,  Calif.,  August  9,  1021. 
Hon.  John  E.  Raker, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C: 
We  respectfully  ask  your  support  for  the  Hawaiian  immigration  measure 
now  before  Congress.  This  measure  is  vital  for  the  prosperity  of  the  Hawaiian 
Territory,  and  their  prosperity  is  very  necessary  to  the  Pacific  coast.  We  have 
extensive  business  connections  there,  and  we  are  assured  by  reliable  business 
men  that  this  measure  is  vital  to  the  prosperity  of  the  islands. 

W.  P.  Fuller  &  Co. 


House  of  Representatives, 
Washino'ton,  D.  C,  August  9,  1921. 
W.  P.  Fuller  &  Co., 

San  Francisco,  Calif. 

Gentlemen:  Your  telegram  of  August  8  regarding  the  Hawaiian  immigration 
measure,  now  before  Congress,  at  hand. 

This  measure  violates  the  thirteenth  amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  organic  act  admitting  Hawaii  as  a  Territory,  and  would 
establish  in  a  Territory  of  the  United  States  involuntary  servitude,  peonage, 
and  serfdom.  It  is  violative  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  act.  Its  features  are 
contrary  to  the  public  policy  of  America.  Am'erica  stands  for  free  labor  and 
against  involuntary  servitude,  peonage,  serfdom,  contract  labor,  and  coolie  labor 
(Chinese  as  well  as  Japanese),  so  you  can  see  that  the  resolution  is  having 
my  personal  and  most  careful  consideration. 

I  am.  yours,  most  truly,  • • -. 

The  Chairman.  A  great  many  letters  are  coming  to  the  committee 
on  this  subject,  but  I  will  not  put  them  in  the  record,  because  I  do 
not  wish  to  encumber  the  record  any  more  than  is  necessary. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  cablegrams  I  have  submitted  for  the  record 
are  from  different  societies,  individuals,  etc.,  including  the  American 
Legion  posts  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  the  American  Legion  posts  in  favor  of  this  legis- 
lation ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir;  they  are. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  us  hear  that. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  will  read  this  resolution : 

Whereas  it  has  been  brought  to  the  attention  of  Maui  Post,  No.  8,  American 
Legion,  Department  of  Hawaii,  that  Samuel  Gompers,  president  of  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor,  has  made  public  certain  declarations,  as  published  in 
an  Associated  Press  dispatch  from  Washington  dated  July  11,  1921,  regarding 
the  House  resolution  which  authorizes  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
suspend  temporarily  the  laws  excluding  oriental  labor,  to  wit : 

"  That  the  Hawaiian  planters  desire  the  importation  of  Chinese  labor,  be- 
cause they  find  the  coolie  the  m'ost  easily  exploited,  the  least  resentful  of  ex- 
ploitation and  brutality,  and  the  most  easily  kept  in  bondage. 

Further : 

"  Time  after  time  the  true  situation  in  Hawaii,  where  poverty  and  profiteering 
have  been  pictured  in  terms  almost  unbelievable,  has  been  presented  in  Govern- 
ment reports  and  these  have  been  suppressed.  Present  reports  to  the  Department 
of  Labor  and  Congress  are  meaningless. 

"  Investigators  have  so  thoroughly  learned  their  lesson  by  experience  that 
they  now  include  in  their  reports  only  a  few  tables  on  the  cost  of  living  and 
wages.  They  make  no  elfort  to  depict  conditions  and  analyze  the  great  questions 
affecting  employment  in  Hawaii." 

Whicli  statements  are  entirely  without  foundation  and  absolutely  misrepre- 
sent the  true  situation. 

Therefore,  be  it  resolved,  that  Maui  Post  No,  8,  American  Legion,  Department 
of  Hawaii,  protests  the  acceptance  of  these  declarations  without  a  close  and  im- 
partial investigation. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  tliat  copies  of  this  resolution  be  sent  to  all  posts  of  the 
American  Legion  in  the  Department  of  Hawaii,  requesting  that  they  take  action. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  that  the  executive  committee,  American  Legion,  De- 
partment of  Hawaii,  be  requested  to  forward  the  results  of  the  action  of  the  posts 


868  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IJS    HAWAII. 

of  this  deDtiiTment  to  the  national  legishitive  eonnnittee  of  tlie  American  Legion, 
requesiuig  it  to  present  the  matter  to  the  ('onnnittees  on  Immigration  of  tlie 
Senate  and  tlie  House  of  Representatives. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  that  the  executive  conmiittee,  American  Legion,  Depart- 
ment of  Hawaii,  he  requested  to  send  the  results  of  the  action  of  the  posts  of  tliis 
department  to  the  Connnittees  on  Immigration  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  that  we,  the  memhers  of  Maui  Post  No.  8,  American 
Legion,  Department  of  Hawaii,  do  petition  Congress  to  act  favorably  upon  and 
pass  the  joint  resolution  introduced  in  the  United  States  Senate  under  the  date 
of  June  20,  1921,  permitting  importation  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  for  limited 
periods,  of  sutFicient  agricultural  labor  to  relieve  the  present  labor  shortage,  the 
passage  of  which  resolution  is  vital  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  Kaker.  By  whom  is  that  signed? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  That  resohition  is  by  Maui  Post,  No.  8,  American 
Legion.  I  will  read  you  this  cablegram  dated  August  6,  1921,  ad- 
dressed to  the  chairman  of  the  Hawaiian  Emergency  Labor  Com- 
mission, as  follows : 

Mailing  you  to-day  resolution  adopted  by  Kohala  Post,  Kauai  Post,  American 
Legion,  protesting  attitude  American  Federation  of  Labor  and  supporting 
Hawaiian  emergency  labor  bill.    You  already  have  similar  resolution  Maui  Post. 

O'SuLLivAN,  Adjutant. 

That  refers  to  the  resolution  that  I  have  just  read  and  to  two 
others  whose  complete  text  I  have  not  yet  received. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  many  men  are  there  in  that  post? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know  how  many  men  there  are  in  the 
different  posts,  but  Hawaii  was  very  well  represented  on  the  roster 
of  the  last  war.  There  was  a  very  high  percentage  of  service  men, 
and  a  great  many  of  them  are  members  of  the  American  Legion 
posts. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  suppose  there  are  as  many  as  10  members  of 
that  post? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  very  sure  that  there  are  a  great  many 
more  than  that. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  At  the  time  America  went  into  the  World 
War  Hawaii  was  one  of  the  few  places  that  had  100  per  cent  effi- 
ciency in  her  National  Guard,  or  sufficient  to  replace  every  man  in 
the  regular  service.  At  that  time  there  were  some  ten  or  twelve 
thousand  men  in  the  Territory  available. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Out  of  the  population  down  there,  including 
American,  Hawaiian,  etc.,  we  had,  when  the  draft  came  on,  about 
10,000  men  in  service. 

Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  a  telegram  from  the  University 
of  Illinois  Alumni  Association  of  Hawaii,  which  I  think  might  be 
inserted  in  the  record. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  that  permission. 

(The  matter  referred  to  is  as  follows:) 

Honolulu,  Angast  1,  1921. 
Representative  Guy  L.  Shaw, 

Congress   Hall  Hotel,    Washington: 
We   strongly   indorse  Hawaii's   emergency   labor   bill   now  before   Congress. 
We  live  here  and  know  that  diversified  alien  field  labor,  which  will  not  replace 
or  compete  with  citizens'  labor,  is  necessary  to  prevent  Japanese  control  Hawaii 
and  her  industries. 

Alumni  University   Illinois, 
By  A.  B.  Clark. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAH.  869 

August  9,  1921. 
Mr.  A.  B.  Clark,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Clark:  I  received  your  cablegram  of  August  7  last  Sunday 
in  regard  to  the  alien  field-labor^condition  in  Hawaii. 

I  was  indeed  glad  to  receive  tliis  information  from  you.     I  am  heartily  in 
accord  witli  the  question  of  preventing  Japanese  control  in  tlie  islands. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

Guy  L.  Shaw. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  the  attorney  general  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii  has  prepared,  at  your  request,  a  statement  for 
this  committee.  Mr.  Mead  has  prepared  a  statement  covering  some 
points  raised  by  Mr.  Gompers  in  his  testimony,  which  I  would  also 
like  to  have  inserted  in  the  record.  Unfortunately,  Mr.  Mead  has 
been  called  out  of  town  and  will  not  be  here  this  morning.  If  that 
could  be  placed  in  the  record  following  Mr.  Irwin's  statement- 

Mr.  Eaker  (interposing).  Who  is  that? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Mead.  He  has  been  here  before  the  com- 
mittee.   I  have  not  the  statement  here,  but  Mr.  Mead  has  it. 

The  Chairman.  If  we  do  not  place  it  in  the  record  we  will  hear 
him. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  would  prefer  to  have  Mr.  Mead  appear  be- 
fore the  committee. 

The  Chairman.  There  will  be  a  few  questions  we  will  want  to 
ask  him. 

STATEMENT   OF  MR.   HAKRY   IRWIN,   ATTORNEY   GENERAL   OF 

THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  this 
is  a  statement  that  I  have  prepared  after  some  search  and  study  of 
the  authorities,  relating  principally  to  the  constitutional  questions 
involved  and  which  have  been  raised  during  these  hearings.  The 
statement  is  as  follows : 

Beief  in  Support  of  House  Joint  Resolution  171. 

Very  early  during  the  hearing  before  this  committee  it  was  suggested  by 
Judge  Raker  that  the  resolution  under  consideration,  if  enacted  into  law,  would 
be  declared  unconstitutional,  as  being  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  the  thir- 
teenth amendment  and  as  contemplating  a  system  of  peonage  and  enforced 
servitude. 

Such  a  system  was  so  far  from  anything  which  the  members  of  this  commis- 
sit»n  had  in  mind  that  the  suggestion  was  not  taken  very  seriously,  and  It  was 
only  when  Representative  Cable  filed  his  brief  on  this  point  that  we  began  to 
realize  that  some  members  of  the  committee  entertahied  serious  doubts  as  to  the 
constitutionality  of  the  measure  now  under  consideration.  I  was  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  if  a  constitutional  question  is  involved  at  all  it  should  have 
been  settled  at  the  outset  rather  than  at  the  conclusion  of  these  extensive 
hearings. 

I  am  very  well  convincd.  however,  that  the  doubts  which  have  been  expressed 
relative  to  the  constitutionality  of  this  resolution  are  the  result  of  a  misconcep- 
tion of  the  entire  labor  proposition  in  Hawaii.  I  take  it  that  the  reasons  urged 
by  Mr.  Cable  against  the  constitutionality  of  the  resolution  cover  practically 
every  ground  of  objection  that  can  be  raised. 

Mr.  Cable  bases  his  opinion  upon  two  grounds  only,  namely: 

(1)   That  under  the  terms  of  the  resolution  an  immigrant  would  be  compelled 
to  repay  his  passage  money,  and  w^ould  therefore  be  compelled  to  work  out  a 
debt,  under  which  circumstances  his  service  would  amount  to  peonage ;  and 
-    (2)   That   under   the   terms   of   the   resolution    a   person   would   be   brought 
"  within  the  jurisdiction  of  tlie  United  States     *     *     *     as  a  slave  or  to  be 


870  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

held  to  .service  or  laboi',"  in  violation  of  n  statute  which  Mr.  Cable  contends  was 
enacted  by  Congress  as  a  "  result  of  the  thirteenth  amendment,"  and  pursuant 
to  the  power  vested  in  Congress  by  the  second  section  of  the  amendment. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  this  misapprehension  as  to  the  way  these  laborers 
would  be  treated  is  due  to  a  failure  on  our  part  to  lay  before  the  committee  a 
detailed  plan  of  operation.  We  have  at  all  times  believed,  however,  and  still 
believe,  that  those  details  might  be  safely  left  to  the  sound  wisdom  and  dis- 
cretion of  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  who 
are  directly  charged  v/ith  the  power  and  duty  of  carrying  out  the  terms  of  the 
resolution.  The  resolution  provides  that  (a)  when  the  President  shall  have 
found,  and  by  proclamation  so  declared,  that  an  emergency  exists  in  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii  by  reason  of  a  shortage  of  labor  (&)  the  Secretary  of  Labor 
may.  under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  he  may  prescribe,  admit  into  Hawaii 
a  sufficient  number  of  aliens,  otherwise  inadmissible,  to  overcome  such  shortage. 
We  are  therefore  safeguarded  by  the  fact,  first,  that  the  President  must  first 
determine  and  declare  that  such  an  emergency  ex^'sts;  second,  that  the  Secretary 
of  Labor  must  find  and  determine  the  actual  shortage  and  admit  only  a  suffi- 
cient number  to  overcome  the  shortage;  and,  third,  the  aliens  can  be  admitted 
and  employed  only  pursuant  to  the  regulations  and  conditions  to  be  by  him 
prescribed. 

While  the  statements  made  by  Mr.  Gompers  and  others  to  the  effect  that  the 
resolution  contemplates  the  bringing  in  of  50,000  Chinese  are  not  particularly- 
germane  to  the  purposes  of  this  brief,  the  attention  of  this  committee  is  called 
to  the  fact  that  by  the  terms  of  the  resolution  no  such  result  could  by  any 
possibility  be  achieved.  We  claim  a  total  shortage  of  only  14,500  laborers,  and 
it  is  hardly  likely  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor  will  declare  the  shortage  to  be 
any  greater  than  it  really  is.  Before  we  could  believe  that  we  would  have  to 
assume  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor  would,  in  the  execution  of  the  powers  con- 
ferred on  him  by  this  resolution,  willfully  fail  to  carry  out  the  plain  provisions 
of  the  law,  and  we  do  not  intend  to  indulge  in  any  such  presumption. 

Our  failure  to  give  the  committee  the  details  of  the  plan  by  which  this  labor 
would  be  handled  is  due  entirely  to  our  belief  that  those  details  could  be  safely 
left  to  the  wisdom  and  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  Labor.  We  have  at  all 
times  been  absolutely  certain  that  in  the  promulgation  of  the  regulations  and 
conditions  under  which  these  aliens  might  be  admitted  and  employed  the  Sec- 
retary of  Labor  would  properly  protect  them  from  the  evils  which  Mr.  Gompers 
imagines  would  follow  on  the  heels  of  this  resolution.  We  did  not  nor  do  we 
now  imagine  that  those  regulations  would  permit  of  any  "  system  of  peonage." 
of  any  "  enforced  servitude,"  of  any  laborer  "  being  shackled  to  the  job,"  of  any 
laborer  *'  being  held  to  service,"  or  any  other  method  of  oppressing  labor.  We 
have  the  utmost  confidence  in  the  ability  and  desire  of  the  Secretary  of  liabor  to 
protect  labor.  Mr.  Gompers  and  other  opponents  of  the  resolution  either  do 
not  .ioin  with  us  in  this  expression  of  confidence  or  they  have  entirely  overlooked 
the  fact  that  every  detail  by  which  this  labor  is  to  be  handled  is  entirely  within 
the  control  of  the  Secretary  of  Labor. 

We  do  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor  would  promul- 
gate anv  I'esrulntions  wMch  would  r)eri)nt  of  anv  form  of  peonasre.  nor  do  we 
desire  him  to  do  so.  Mr.  Cable's  idea  of  the  laborer  becoming  "  indebted  "  to 
some  person  or  persons,  sincere  as  we  believe  it  to  be,  is  founded  upon  a  mis- 
apprehension of  the  facts  and  the  purposes  of  this  commission.  Even  in  the 
days  of  the  monarchy,  when  the  people  of  Hawaii  were  uncontrolled  by  any 
such  constitutional  restrictions  as  now  govern  us,  no  contract  laborers  which 
were  brought  in  were  ever  compelled  to  repay  their  passage  money.  The  Ter- 
ritory of  Hawaii  has  expended  in  the  past  millions  of  dollars  in  bringing  in 
European  immigrants  in  an  attempt  to  build  up  a  white  population,  not  one 
dollar  of  which  has  been  charged  up  to  such  immigrants.  So  far  as  we  may  be 
allowed  to  make  suggestions  as  to  the  details  of  the  plan,  we  guarantee  to 
advocate  that  the  passage  money  of  any  such  alien  will  not  be  deducted  from 
his  pay  or  otherwise  charged  against  him. 

Mr.  Cable's  further  statement,  sincere  though  we  believe  it  to  be,  that  these 
aliens  would  be  "  held  to  service  "  contrary  to  the  slave  trade  act,  is  also  founded 
on  a  misapprehension  of  the  facts  and  the  purposes  of  this  commission. 

We  do  not  for  one  moment  believe  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor  would  permit 
of  any  such  alien  being  contracted  out  to  any  particular  employer  for  a  definite 
period  of  time,  nor  is  it  our  desire  that  he  should  be  so.  The  only  restriction 
that  would  be  placed  upon  such  aliens  upon  their  entry  into  Hawaii  would  be 
that  they  would  engage  only  in  agricultural  work  or  such  other  class  of  work 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN"   HAWAII.  871 

as  they  might  be  admitted  for.  They  would  have  absolute  freedom  of  move- 
ment throughout  the  Territory,  with  the  right  to  engage  in  agricultural  pur- 
suits on  their  own  account  or  to  choose  their  own  employer ;  to  go  and  come  as 
they  choose,  with  the  sole  restrictions  that  they  can  remain  for  a  limited  time 
only  ;  and  if  they  attempt  to  engage  in  a  class  of  labor  other  than  the  general  one 
for  which  they  were  admitted  they  would  be  subject  to  deportation. 

If  there  remains  any  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  members  of  this  connnittoa 
as  to  whether  or  not  under  the  general  terms  of  the  resolution  as  now  framed 
these  details  may  be  safely  left  to  the  wisdom  and  discretion  of  the  executive 
officers  of  the  Government  then  we  recommend  that  the  resolution  be  emended 
so  as  to  provide  in  terms  against  repayment  of  passage  money,  and  for  entire 
freedom  of  movement. 

The  foregoing  statement,  which  is  preliminary  in  its  nature,  appears  to  us 
to  be  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  clearing  up  some  misapprehensions  as  to 
the  real  purpose  of  the  resolution  and  of  this  commission. 

THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  RESOLUTION   ON  EXISTING  LAW. 

The  question  was  raised  during  the  hearings  as  to  whether  or  not  before 
this  resolution  could  become  effective  it  would  be  necessary  to  amend  certain 
of  the  Federal  statutes.  Mr.  Cable  has  very  ably  discussed  this  feature  in  his 
brief  and  has  undoubtedly  arrived  at  the  correct  legal  conclusion.  Without 
further  discussing  tliis  feature,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  a  special  law  such 
as  this  resolution  would  be,  amends,  repeals,  or  suspends  all  previous  law  to 
the  extent  that  the  same  are  inconsistent  therewith. 

THE   CONSTITUTIONAL   QUESTION. 

It  has  been  said  during  the  hearings  that  the  resolution  under  consideration 
is  unconstitutional  because  it  violates  the  principles  of  the  thirteenth  amend- 
ment.   That  amendment  reads  as  follows: 

"  Neither  slavery,  or  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime 
v/hereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted  shall  exist  within  the  United 
States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction." 

Whether  the  resolution  is  or  is  not  constitutional  must  be  determined  upon 
a  consideration  and  interpretation  of  its  language  and  the  language  of  the 
thirteenth  amendment.  The  distinction  betw^een  the  constitutionality  of  the 
resolution  and"  its  antagonism  to  the  terms  of  existing  law  must  always  be 
kept  in  mind,  even  though  some  of  those  existing  laws  have  been  enacted 
pursuant  to  the  second  section  of  the  thirteenth  amendment.  In  other  words, 
the  unconstitutionality  of  the  resolution  must  be  proven  by  bringing  it  squarely 
within  the  prohibitions  of  the  thirteenth  amendment  and  not  by  bringing  it 
within  the  terms  of  any  act  passed  pursuant  to  the  second  section  of  the 
thirteenth  amendment.  And  unless  it  can  be  brought  squarely  within  the  terms 
of  the  prohibitions  of  the  thirteenth  amendment  it  would  operate  as  ah  amend- 
ment pro  tanto  of  those  existing  statutes. 

The  amendment  abolishes  (1)  slavery  and  (2)  involuntary  servitude.  The 
cases  all  recognize  a  distinction  between  the  two  terms.  It  is  well  recognized 
that  the  term  "  slavery  "  as  used  in  the  amendment  refers  directly  to  the  form 
of  slavery  which  existed  in  the  South  when  human  beings  were  bought  and 
sold  as  chattels.  The  expression  "  involuntary  servitude "  has  been  held  to 
have  a  wider  meaning  than  the  term  "  slavery  "  and  includes  such  forms  of 
servitude  as  are  generally  described  as  peonage.  If,  therefore,  the  resolution 
is  unconstitutional  it  must  be  so  declared  because  of  some  system  of  "  involun- 
tary servitude  "  which  it  permits  or  sanctions. 

If  we  are  justified  in  our  belief  in  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  the  executive 
officers  of  our  Government — and  as  to  that  we  have  no  doubt — and  if  the  plan 
should  be  worked  out  along  the  lines  suggested  in  the  preliminary  statement 
herein  contained,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  see  how  such  service  or  employment 
can  be  characterized  as  "  involuntary  servitude."  Under  the  terms  of  the  reso- 
lution the  Secretary  of  Labor  would  invite  a  certain  number  of  laborers  to 
come  to  Hawaii  for  a  definite  period  of  time  to  engage  in  a  certain  kind  of 
employment,  agricultural  or  otherwise,  upon  the  express  condition  that  if  they 
attempted  to  engage  in  other  employment  they  would  be  deported.  According 
to  our  conception  of  the  plan,  the  laborers  would  be  brought  in  without  expense 
to  them.selves,  without  any  definite  contract  with  any  particular  employer,  with 
the  utmost  freedom  to  work  for  themselves  or  for  any  employer  whom  they 


872  LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAW  AIL 

might  select,  and  with  entire  freedom  to  leave  that  employment  and  select 
another  employer.  The  laborer  is  restricted  only  in  the  class  of  labor  which 
he  may  do  and  is  acquainted  with  all  the  particulars  before  he  leaves  his  home. 
Absolutely  every  step  in  the  plan  is  voluntary  and  not  involuntary.  A  volun- 
tary agreement  for  service,  while  it  might,  under  certain  circumstances,  be 
repugnant  to  the  peonage  act.  can  not  be  brought  within  the  prohibition  of  the 
thirteenth    amendment. 

"  Thus,  if  one  should  agree  for  a  yearly  wage  to  serve  another  in  a  particular 
capacity  during  his  life,  and  never  to  leave  his  estate  without  his  consent,  the 
contract  might  not  be  enforceable  for  want  of  a  legal  remedy,  or  might  be 
void  on  the  grounds  of  public  policy,  but  the  servitude  could  not  properly  be 
termed  '  involuntary ',"  (Robertson  v.  Baldwin,  165  U.  S.,  275;  17  Sup.  Ct. 
Rep.,  326-328.) 

I  desire  now  to  analyze  Mr.  Cable's  arguments  and  his  conclusion  that  the 
resolution  is  unconstitutional.  This  conclusion  is  based  upon  an  interpretation 
of  the  language  of  the  thirteenth  amendment  in  conjunction  with  the  section  of 
the  slave  trade  act  which  prohibits  the  "  bringing  of  slaves  into  the  United 
States."  We  have  attempted  to  point  out  above  that  the  Constitution  can  not 
be  interpreted  with  the  aid  of  a  statute  passed  pursuant  thereto,  and  that  any 
law,  before  it  can  be  declared  unconstitutional,  must  be  brought  squarely 
within  the  prohibitions  of  the  Constitution  without  regard  to  other  laws,  but 
in  addition  to  this  argument  Mr.  Cable's  conclusion  is  based  upon  an  unsound 
premise.  He  argues  that  because  the  act  prohibiting  the  bringing  of  persons 
into  the  United  States  as  slaves,  or  "  to  be  held  to  service  or  labor,"  was  passed 
as  "  a  result  of  the  thirteenth  amendment,"  the  present  resolution  is  therefore 
unconstitutional,  because  it  violates  the  provisions  of  that  act.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  act  to  which  he  refers  was  not  passed  as  "  a  result  of  the  thirteenth 
amendment,"  but  was  passed  in  1818,  approximately  a  half  century  before  the 
adoption  of  the  thirteenth  amendment,  and  was  later  amended  by  substituting 
the  word  "  person  "  for  the  words  "  negro,  mulatto,  or  person  of  color."  The 
act  upon  which  Mr.  Cable  relies  had  no  reff^reuce  to  voluntary  labor  contracts 
at  all,  and  was  aimed  solely  at  the  slave  trade. 

"The  purpose  of  the  statute  (35  Stat,  1139),  as  interpreted  by  the  courts, 
was  to  put  an  end  to  the  slave  trade  and  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  slaves 
into  the  United  States  from  other  countries."  (U.  S.  v.  Ship  Garonne,  11  Pet, 
73;  9  U.  S.  L.  ed.,  637.) 

It  appears  clear,  therefore,  that  the  act  under  consideration  was  not  passed 
pursuant  to  the  second  section  of  the  thirteenth  amendment,  and  any  conclusion 
based  upon  any  such  theory  must  of  necessity  be  unsound. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  the  peonage  statute  which  was  enacted  pursuant 
to  the  thirteenth  amendment. 

"  It  is  not  open  to  doubt  that  Congress  may  enforce  the  thirteenth  amendment 
by  direct  legislation  punishing  the  holding  of  a  person  in  slavery  or  in  involun- 
tary servitude  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime.  In  the  exercise  of  that  power 
Congress  has  enacted  these  sections  denouncing  peonage."  (Clyatt  v.  U.  S., 
197;  U.  S.,  207;  25  Sup.  Ct  Rep.,  429-431.) 

But,  as  above  pointed  out,  the  resolution  under  consideration  can  not  be 
regarded  as  even  antagonistic  to  the  principles  of  the  peonage  act  for  the  reason 
that  the  element  of  indebtedness  is  lacking.  "  What  is  peonage?  It  may  be 
defined  as  a  status  or  condition  of  compulsory  service  based  upon  the  indebted- 
ness of  the  peon  to  the  master.  The  basic  fact  is  indebtedness."  (Clyatt  v. 
U.  S.,  supra.) 

Under  the  terms  of  the  resolution  and  the  outline  of  the  general  plan  as  above 
developed  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  see  how  it  can  further  be  contended  that  the 
resolution  permits  of  any  form  of  involuntary  servitude  or  of  any  person  being 
"  held  to  service  or  labor  "  or  any  form  of  peonage,  either  as  prohibited  by  the 
Constitution  or  the  acts  under  discussion.  Some  mention  has  been  made  of  the 
fact  that  by  the  terms  of  the  resolution  a  laborer  who  failed  to  comply  with 
the  conditions  upon  which  he  was  allowed  to  enter  Hawaii  would  be  arrested 
and  deported.  That  would  undoubtedly  be  true,  but  we  can  not  see  any  dis- 
tinction between  that  procedure  and  the  procedure  which  is  now  followed  under 
our  laws  relative  to  the  entry,  for  example,  of  a  Chinese  merchant  Under  the 
resolution  a  laborer  may  be  admitted  to  Hawaii  to  engage  in  agricultural  labor 
upon  the  condition  that  if  he  engages  in  any  other  occupation  he  will  be  arrested 
and  deported.  A  Chinese  merchant,  under  present  law,  is  admitted  to  the 
United  States  upon  the  condition  that  if  he  becomes  a  laborer  he  will  be  arrested 
and  deported.    We  can  see  no  difference  between  the  two  cases,  yet  no  one  has 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  873 

been  heard  to  sny  that  "  mvoluntary  servitude"  has  been  imposed  upon  the 
merchant. 

THE  POWER  OF  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT  TO  ADMIT  OR   EXCLUDE  ALIENS. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  power  of  Congress  to  enact  legislation  of  this 
kind,  and  the  books  are  full  of  adjudicated  cases  on  this  point. 

"  It  is  an  accepted  maxim  of  international  law  that  every  sovereign  nation 
has  the  power  as  inherent  in  sovereignty  and  essential  to  self-preservation  to 
forbid  the  entrance  of  foreigners  within  its  dominions  or  to  admit  them  only 
in  such  cases  and  upon  such  conditions  as  it  may  see  fit  to  prescribe."  (Nishi- 
mara  Ekin  v.  U.  S.,  142  U.  S.,  651-659.) 

"  It  is  an  accepted  maxim  of  international  law  that  the  Government  of  a  State 
may  prohibit  the  entrance  of  strangers  in  a  country,  and  may  therefore  regulate 
the  conditions  under  which  they  shall  be  allowed  to  remain  in  it  or  may  require 
and  compel  their  departure  from  it."  (Phill.  Int.  Law,  3d  ed.,  ch.  10,  sec.  220; 
Fong  Que  Ting  v.  U.  S.,  149  U.  S.,  698 ;  13  Sup.  Ct.  Rep.,  1016.) 

In  my  opinion  the  resolution  would  be  held  constitutional. 

Harry  Irwin, 
Attorney  General  of  Hawaii, 
For  the  Hairaii  Lahor  Emergency  Commission. 

Washington,  D.  C,  August  10, 1921. 

It  is  a  rather  remarkable  thing,  I  will  say  for  the  attention  of 
the  lawyers  present,  the  extent  to  which  that  last  case  goes  in  hold- 
ing the  authority  of  the  Government  to  expel  from  its  borders  aliens 
rightfully  therein,  or  even  though  rightfully  therein.  In  that  case 
it  holds  that  the  power  of  the  sovereign  is  sufficiently  broad  to  expel 
those  people  at  any  time,  even  though  rightfully  within  the  borders 
of  the  country. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Mr.  Irwin,  ^^our  position  is  that  this  resolution,  in 
so  far  as  it  contravenes  the  statutes  or  acts  of  Congress  or  is  incon- 
sistent therewith,  would  be  to  that  extent  construed  to  be  an  amend- 
ment of  such  statutes  whether  it  directly  refers  to  them  or  not? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  that  the  only  basis  upon  which  its  unconsti- 
tutionality could  be  argued  would  be  that  it  came  in  direct  conflict 
with  the  Constitution? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir ;  that  is  exactly  my  position. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Well,  as  a  general  proposition  that  is  unquestionably 
correct.  Now,  then,  you  cut  out  all  of  the  questions  of  enforced  labor 
except  the  limiting  of  these  immigrants  to  agricultural  labor  in 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  And  the  act  of  departing  from  that  class  of  labor 
and  going  into  some  other  employment  you  make  a  cause  for  de- 
portation ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir.  It  would  be  such  a  violation  if  he  went  into 
some  other  class  of  labor. 

Mr.  Wilson.  There  could  be  no  question  of  the  right  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  say  to  the  immigrant,  "  You '  may  come  to  the  United 
States  and  remain  for  a  certain  period  of  time  and  then  your  stay 
ceases  and  determines."  That,  of  course,  would  be  conceded.  Then 
the  question  would  revolve  around  the  proposition  of  the  Government 
deporting  him  when  he  ceased  to  do  that  class  of  labor  specified  in 
the  legislative  measure  under  which  he  came. 

Mr.  Irwin.  And  which  he  impliedly  agreed  to  when  he  came. 


874  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That,  in  substance,  is  your  whole  position  on  this 
subject  of  peonage? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Briefly  stated,  I  think  that  is  true. 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  referred  to  the  fact  that  we  should  intrust  the 
matter  of  the  details  of  these  regulations,  relative  to  the  time  of  their 
coming  in  and  the  number  to  come  in,  to  the  executive  department 
or  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  not  entirely  correct.  I  did  not. say  that  you 
should  do  it,  but  I  say  that  that  is  the  reason  why  we  have  not  gone 
into  greater  detail  in  the  formulation  and  presentation  of  plans.  That 
would  be  the  attitude  of  the  Hawaiian  Commission;  that  is,  we  are 
perfectly  willing  to  intrust  the  details  to  the  executive  officers  of  the 
Government,  but  I  do  not  attempt  to  advise  the  committee  as  to  what 
it  should  do  in  that  regard. 

The  Chairman.  The  resolution  before  the  committee  assumes  that. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  possible  or  practicable  to 
pass  a  resolution  without  leaving  its  execution  largely  in  the  hands  of 
the  executive  department.  Of  course,  somebody  will  have  to  declare 
the  emergency. 

The  Chairman.  I  .want  to  ask  you  if  you  think  that  the  position  of 
merchants  or  students  coming  in  under  the  terms  of  the  Chinese  exclu- 
sion act  is  on  a  par  with  the  position  of  persons  coming  in,  or  being 
permitted  to  come  in,  under  this  resolution  to  work  for  wages  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  see  any  distinction  in  principle.  There  is  a  dis- 
tinction in  the  facts  but  not  in  the  principle.  The  Chinese  merchant 
is  allowed  to  come  in  for  a  certain  length  of  time  and  is  tied  down 
to  that  job  just  as  much  as  the  laborer  would  be  tied  down  to  his  job. 

The  Chairman.  He  is  restricted  as  to  what  he  shall  do,  and  in  some 
part  his  movements  or  activities  are  impeded. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  your  opinion  that  a  resolution  which  would  au- 
thorize the  Secretary  of  Labor  to  arrange  for  an  immigrant  to  come  to 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii  and  agree  to  stay  there  for  a  certain  period  of 
time  and  to  engage  in  a  certain  class  of  labor  during  that  period,  or, 
say,  for  five  years,  and,  in  the  event  of  his  failure  to  follow  that  par- 
ticular employment,  or  in  the  event  he  should  seek  other  employ- 
ment  

Mr.  Irwin  (interposing) .  Outside  of  that  class. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Outside  of  that  class ;  yes.  It  is  your  opinion  that  a 
resolution  making  him  subject  to  deportation  on  account  of  those 
facts  would  not  be  in  violation  of  any  of  our  statutes  or  of  the  Con- 
stitution? 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  my  honest  and  considered  opinion. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Is  it  your  opinion  that  that  is  not  violative  of  the 
spirit  of  the  thirteenth  amendment  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  have  no  doubt  of  that  whatsoever.  I  do  not  think  that 
anything  of  that  sort  was  ever  intended  either  by  the  letter  or  spirit 
of  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Box.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  did  not  hear  the  beginning  of  the 
gentleman's  statement,  but  from  his  answer  to  one  of  Judge  Wilson's 
questions,  I  understand  that  his  position  is  that  certain  features  of 
the  resolution  are  eliminated,  but  that  the  provision  that  a  man  may 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  875 

be  brought  over  tliere  to  engage  in  certain  industries  is  carried,  and 
that  the  penalty  of  deportation  is  provided  to  enforce  it. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Perhaps  you  did  not  hear  the  first  part  of  my  brief. 
I  was  merely  referring  to  what  our  conception  of  it  has  been  or  our 
general  conception  of  the  way  the  resolution  would  work  out.  It  is 
our  belief,  our  suggestion,  advice,  and  insistence  that  the  general 
plan  would  work  out  in  that  w^ay.  I  further  stated  that  if  the  com- 
mittee had  any  doubt  in  their  minds  as  to  whether  or  not  the  Secre- 
tary of  Labor  could  be  safely  intrusted  to  execute  the  plan  along 
such  lines  as  would  prevent  involuntary  servitude,  peonage  labor, 
or  contract  labor,  we  would  suggest  that  the  resolution  be  so 
amended  as  to  provide  in  terms  against  those  particular  things. 

Mr.  Box.  That  is  about  what  I  understood  in  connection  with 
your  answer  to  Judge  Wilson's  c|uestion.  I  understood  you  to  say 
in  answer' to  Judge  Wilson  that  it  was  contemplated  that  these  men 
would  still  be  subject  to  deportation  if  they  left  the  labor  they  were 
brought  here  to  perform. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  true;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  I  want  to  ask  you  how  they  would  be  segregated  from 
the  rest  of  the  population.  In  other  words,  if  they  were  brought 
over  there,  and  were  turned  loose  with  perfect  freedom  to  come  and 
go  as  they  chose,  how  could  you  prevent  them  from  mixing  and 
mingling  with  the  several  hundred  thousand  people  already  there, 
many  of  whom  are  of  kindred  race,  or  how  would  you  keep  them  so 
that  you  could  gather  them  together,  or  how  could  you  keep  them 
employed  in  that  particular  work  without  holding  them  in  some  sort 
of  custocl}^? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  see  why  that  would  be  at  all  necessary.  The 
whole  matter  could  be  handled  through  the  Territorial  board  of 
immigration  or  through  some  simple  system  of  registration.  Of 
course,  that  is  simply  a  suggestion  of  mine,  but  it  could  be  done 
through  a  system  of  registration  whereby  those  Chinese  who  were 
brought  in  could  be  required  to  register  and  reregister,  say,  every  six 
months  or  year. 

Mr.  Box.  You  would  bring  the  men  over  and  tbey  would  be 
allotted  in  some  way  to  the  different  employers? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Our  board  of  immigration  would  undoubtedly  select 
some  places  where  they  could  go  if  they  wanted  to  go. 

Mr.  Box.  As  they  entered  the  service  of  their  employers,  you 
would  have  to  keep  some  sort  of  check  on  them,  or  some  sort  of 
record  of  them  and  their  movements,  in  order  to  be  able  to  enforce 
the  provision  providing  for  their  deportation. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  true ;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  Is  it  your  judgment  that  that  of  itself  would  not  be 
such  custody  or  supervision  as  would  be  inconsistent  with  your 
idea  of  American  freedom  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  see  anything  inconsistent  in  that,  Judge. 
It  is  exactly  the  same  proposition  that  was  enacted  in  the  Chinese 
exclusion  law,  which  provided  .that  Chinese  residing  in  the  country 
must  within  one  year  after  the  passage  of  that  act — that  being  the 
act  of  1892 — furnish  a  certificate  to  the  Department  of  Labor,  with 
evidence,  including  the  testimony  of  one  white  person,  that  they 
had  been  lawfully  in  the  country  prior  to  the  date  of  the  passage  of 
that  act. 


876  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Box.  That  Avas  simply  proof  that  they  had  been  in  the  coun- 
try, but  not  proof  that  they  had  been  in  the  service  of  any  one  man 
or  group  of  men. 

Mr.  Irwin.  What  is  the  distinction? 

Mr.  Box.  I  wanted  to  get  your  view.  I  do  not  wisli  to  argue 
with  you  about  it,  but  I  wanted  to  get  3^our  view.  Now,  as  I  un- 
derstand it,  they  would  be  deported  at  the  end  of  a  certain  period, 
say,  five  years,  and  leaving  out  of  the  question  the  matter  of  their 
serving  particular  masters  or  groups  of  emplo3^ers,  you  vroiild  have 
to  keep  up  with  them  for  the  purpose  of  deporting  them  at  the  end 
of  that  time? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir ;  you  would  have  to  keep  some  sort  of  iden- 
tification of  them. 

Mr.  Box.  So  that  5^ou  would  keep  tab  on  them  for  two  pur- 
poses— one  to  require  that  they  continue  in  the  service  6f  certain 
men  or  groups  of  men 

Mr.  Irwin  (interposing).  jSTo,  sir;  the  condition  is  that  they 
shall  engage  in  one  particular  kind  or  class  of  labor,  but  they  would 
not  be  confined  to  one  service  or  to  the  employment  of  one  persoiL 
or  one  group  of  persons. 

Mr.  Box.  I  understand  that  your  agricultural  classes  or  the  sugar 
interests  are  well  organized  and  united  and  that  it  is  contemplated 
that  these  men  shall  be  parceled  out  when  brought  under  some  s^^s- 
tem.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  in  an  offensive  way,  but,  as  I  un- 
derstand it,  they  will  be  allotted,  and,  of  course,  that  allotment 
would  have  to  be  regarded  by  the  laborers,  would  it  not? 

Mr.  Irwin.  As  an  original  proposition,  when  the}^  first  came 
there  undoubtedly  that  would  be  true,  but  there  is  nothing  at  all 
that  would  prevent  any  one  of  those  persons  who  had  been  allotted 
to  one  plantation  or  one  employer  from  the  next  day  leaving  that 
employer  and  going  into  the  service  of  another  employer  of  his  own 
free  will. 

Mr.  Box.  If  each  one  of  the  15,000  or  20,000  brought  over  has  full 
freedom  to  do  as  he  likes,  what  would  your  allotment  amount  to,  so 
long  as  they  are  laboring  in  an  agricultural  service  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  does  not  make  any  particular  difference  to  the  ter- 
ritory as  a  whole  where  they  labor,  so  long  as  it  is  agricultural  labor. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Following  Mr.  Box's  line  of  questions,  let  us  suppose 
you  have  this  registration  and  you  keep  in  touch  with  these  laborers. 
Take  an  individual  case.  Here  is  a  Chinaman  who  has  been  working^ 
on  a  farm.  He  is  found  working  at  the  carpenter  trade,  and  is 
apprehended.    What  is  the  charge  ag^ainst  him? 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  is  no  charge.  The  United  States  Supreme  Court 
has  held  time  and  time  again  that  in  cases  of  that  kind  it  is  not  a 
criminal  charge  at  all,  but  it  is  simply — — 

Mr.  Wilson  (interposing).  I  did  not  mean  a  criminal  charge. 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  is  simply  a  charge  of  having  failed  to  comply  with 
the  conditions  of  his  entry  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  could  be  put  in  another  light,  too.  He  is 
arrested  because  he  is  working  at  the  carpenter  trade. 

Mr.  Irwin.  No;  he  is  arrested  because  he  has  violated  the  condi- 
tions of  his  entry  into  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Wilson.  But  is  he  not  arrested  because  he  exercised  the  right 
to  change  his  occupation  ? 


LA!U;i{    riiOIlM   :\IS    IN     HAWAII.  877 

Mr.  Ik^\'ix.  I>iit  he  came  into  the  country  upon  the  express  agree- 
ment that  he  would  not  do  any  such  thing. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  is  exactly  where  I  think  w^e  are  in  danger  of 
running  into  this  constitutional  difficulty. 

The  Chair:\!AN.  We  will  assume  that  he  comes  to  do  agricultural 
labor,  and  he  understands  that.  He  is  parceled  out;  he  is  one  of  a 
squad  that  is  sent  to  a  sugar  plantation,  and  he  understands  that; 
but  after  he  has  been  there  for  about  three  weeks  he  decides  that 
he  would  rather  work  on  a  pineapple  plantation,  so  he  leaves  the 
sugar  plantation  and  goes  to  a  pineapple  plantation  and  wants  to 
work  there.  They  either  employ  him  or  they  have  no  work  for  him, 
and  he  then  hangs  around  without  work  and  refuses  to  go  back  to  the 
cane  plantation.  Now,  under  those  conditions  what  are  you  going 
to  do  with  him  ?    He  is  still  seeking  agricultural  labor. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  do  not  think  you  could  do  anything  with  him. 

The  Chairman.  But  suppose  400  do  that  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  He  w^ould  be  at  entire  liberty  to  go  into  the  pineapple 
fields  at  any  time  that  he  wanted  to  do  so.  The  mere  fact  that  he 
started  to  work  on  a  sugar  plantation  would  not  prevent  him  from 
going  to  a  rice  field,  to  a  pineapple  field,  or  into  any  other  class  of 
agriculture. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Take  the  case  we  were  discussing.  Suppose  you  ap- 
prehend this  man  because  he  is  working  at  the  carpenter  trade, 
and  you  say  that  is  in  violation  of  the  agreement  by  which  he  entered 
or  came  to  the  United  States.  He  does  not  owe  anybody,  but  he  has 
merely  exercised  what  he  thought  was  his  right  to  change  his  occu- 
pation from  farmer  to  carpenter.  He  is  apprehended  on  account 
of  doing  that,  and  he  is  held  for  deportation  at  whose  expense  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  At  the  expense  of  the  government. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  If  this  resolution  passes,  what  will  be  your  first  step? 
You  will  send  somebody  to  China,  will  you  not;  or  how  will  you  go 
about  it  in  China  to  bring  these  men  to  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  first  step,  of  course,  would  be  the  promulgation  of 
rules  and  conditions  b}^  the  Secretary  of  Labor.  That  will  be  the 
first  thing ;  and  what  has  been  done  heretofore  in  the  matter  of  bring- 
ing immigrants  into  Hawaii,  I  assume,  will  be  followed  in  this  case, 
namely,  that  the  Territorial  board  of  immigration  would  send  its 
agents  to  the  different  countries  from  which  they  desired  to  recruit 
labor.  The  whole  thing  would  be  handled  under  Government  super- 
vision, and  always  has  been. 

Mr.  Cable.  Then  you  would  send  your  agents  to  China  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  assume  so. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  would,  in  fact,  repeal  the  law  which  provides  that 
you  can  not  enter  into  an  agreement  with  an  alien  before  he  comes  to 
the  United  States. 

Mr.  Irwin.  So  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned,  undoubtedly. 

Mr.  Cable.  Then  you  would,  or  somebody  would,  provide  for  the 
passage  of  these  Chinese  to  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  government  of  Hawaii. 
'     Mr.  Cable.  Where  would  they  get  the  money  with  which  to  pay  the 
passage  ? 


878  LABOR   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Irwin.  As  we  have  done  before,  by  a  special  income  tax,  a 
surtax  of  1  per  cent  on  incomes  over  a  certain  amount. 

Mr.  Cable.  Your  intention,  then,  is  to  pay  the  passage  of  the  Chi- 
nese who  come  in? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Except  those  that  want  to  come  in  at  their  own  expense. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  would  they  be  selected  in  China — by  the  agents 
of  the  Hawaiian  Immigration  Commission  or  by  the  agents  of  the 
planters  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  By  the  agents  of  the  Territorial  immigration  com- 
mission. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  kind  of  labor  do  you  expect  to  get — young  men 
or  married  men?     Would  they  bring  in  any  women? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  think  it  would  make  much  difference,  but 
I  suppose  they  would  pick  out  young,  able-bodied  men,  whether  mar- 
ried or  unmarried.     I  do  not  think  that  would  make  an}^  difference. 

Mr.  Cable.  Would  they  bring  in  any  women  at  all? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  have  never  considered  that  proposition,  but  I  as- 
sume that  if  a  domestic  labor  proposition  were  involved  in  the  reso- 
lution that  possibly  women  would  be  brought  in. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  a  pretty  important  question,  and  in  my  opinion 
the  minute  you  raised  that  on  the  floor  of  the  House  and  showed 
you  were  going  to  bring  in  10,000  Chinese  women,  and  that  there 
might  be  that  many  Chinese  children  born  who  would  become  citi- 
zens, there  would  be  a  storm  of  protest,  and  I  think  that  is  one  of 
the  facts  we  ought  to  have  made  clear  before  the  committee. 

Mr.  Irwin.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  very  improbable  that  any 
considerable  number  of  Chinese  women  will  come,  and  whether  the 
Secretary  of  Labor,  in  preparing  his  regulations  and  conditions, 
would  feel  entitled  to  allow  only  single,  unmarried  men,  to  come 
I  do  not  know,  and  I  can  not  guess  at  that.  But  the  history  of 
Hawaii  in  the  past  shows  that  when  Chinese  could  come  to  Hawaii 
very  few  women  came  with  them. 

Mr.  Cable.  Have  you  a  general  idea  as  to  how  many  Chinese 
women  are  now  in  Hawaii  who  are  unmarried  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Who  are  not  married  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes. 

Mr.  Irwin.  You  mean  Chinese  women  born  there? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  could  not  say. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  is  there  any  probability  of  these 
Chinese  marrying  American  citizens? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  should  say  that  would  be  almost  an  impossibility. 

Mr.  Cable.  Why? 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  Chinese  girls  there  are  well  educated;  they  are 
brought  up  in  American  fashion  and  are  just  as  good  Americans  as 
the  majority  of  the  people  of  any  of  the  other  races  in  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Cable.  Then,  those  you  expect  to  come  in  are  coolies? 

Mr.  Irwin.  They  would  undoubtedly  represent  the  coolie  class. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  is  a  coolie?  Can  you  give  me  a  definition  of  a 
coolie  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  A  coolie  is  a  peasant  laborer.  I  suppose  that  would  be 
a  definition  of  him. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  879 

Mr.   Cable.  As   distinguished   from   Chinese  in   business   of   any 
kind? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  would  have  to  suspend  the  literacy  test  when  you 
bring  them  in? 

Mr.  Irwin.  So  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned,  undoubtedly. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  head  tax? 

Mr.  Irwin.  So  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  the  3  per  cent  immigration? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  many  islands  have  you  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  are  five  large  islands  and  some  smaller  ones 
scattered  around. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  means  of  communication  have  you  between  the 
different  islands? 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  is  transportation  by  water. 

Mr.  Cable.  Is  it  accessible  to  any  person  on  any  island  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  is  the  distance  between  the  different  islands  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Well,  a  distance  of  about  60  miles  between  Oahu  and 
Maui ;  a  distance  of  about  180  miles  between  Oahu  and  Hawaii ;  and 
a  distance  of  about  80  miles,  if  I  recall  the  mileage  correctly,  be- 
tween Oahu  and  Kauai.  Kauai  is  on  one  extreme  and  Hawaii  on 
the  other. 

Mr.  Cable.  Would  these  men  be  permitted  to  go  from  one  island 
to  another? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Absolutely. 

Mr.  Cable.  What  means  of  transportation  would  there  be? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Steamers;  there  are  three  or  four  steamers  a  week  be- 
tween the  different  islands. 

Mr.  Cable.  Are  there  any  identification  requirements  before  you 
can  go  from  one  island  to  another? 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  a  detail  I  had  not  thought  of. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  mean  at  the  present  time? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No. 

Mr.  Cable.  Suppose  you  bring  in  10,000  at  one  time.  Where  would 
you  bring  them  in  the  first  place? 

Mr.  Irwin.  They  would  land  at  Honolulu;  they  would  have  to 
land  there. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  do  j^ou  expect  to  make  them  all  register? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  should  sa}^  so;  yes.  Of  course,  in  the  first  place, 
they  would  have  to  have  their  passports  to  come  in;  fhey  could  not 
come  in  without  a  passport  and  without  a  picture  on  it;  they  would 
have  to  go  through  the  immigration  office  in  Honolulu,  and  they 
would  be  identified  there. 

Mr.  Cable.  Just  who  would  divide  them  up  among  the  planta- 
tions ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  plan  would  be  followed  as  has  been  followed 
heretofore,  that  of  having  the  agents  of  the  board  or  the  board  itself, 
the  board  of  immigration,  look  after  the  welfare  of  these  people  and 
divide  them  around  among  the  different  places. 

Mr.  Cable.  Would  you  require  any  building  in  which  to  house  and 
take  care  of  these  people  until  they  were  divided  up  ? 


880  LABOE   Prv()BLi^:MS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr*.  Iewin.  Of  course,  the^^  would  have  to  be  cared  for. 

Mr.  Cable.  I  just  wondered,  on  account  of  the  climate,  what  kind 
of  a  building  you  have  or  would  require. 

Mr.  Irwin.  You  would  not  have  to  have  a  very  substantial  build- 
ing, but  you  would  need  a  covering  of  some  kind  under  which  they 
could  be  cared  for. 

Mr.  Cable.  Then  they  would  go  to  these  diif erent  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  Altogether,  how  many  plantations  are  in  the  islands? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Of  large  ones,  it  runs  in  my  mind  52. 

Mr.  Horner.  Forty-three. 

Mr.  Cable.  Then  you  would  divide  them  up  among  43  different 
plantations  ? 

Mr.  iRwaN.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  they  are  to  do  agricultural  work.  Just  exactly 
what  is  that? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Work  in  the  sugar-cane  fields,  pineapple  fields,  and 
rice  fields. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  many  different  kinds  of  agricultural  work  are 

there  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  In  the  islands? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Well,  there  are  sugar,  pineapple,  rice,  coffee 

Mr.  Cable  (interposing).  I  do  not  mean  that.  You  are  going  to 
limit  these  men  to  agricultural  work? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  means  going  out  and  hoeing  the  cane? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  Cutting  the  cane  and  loading  the  cane  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  Does  it  go  further  than  that? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Irrigating  the  cane. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  everything  else  about  the  cane? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Loading  it  on  the  wagons,  loading  it  on  the  cars,  and 
transporting  it  to  the  mills.  The  pineapple  operations  are  prac- 
tically the  same,  and  the  rice  operations,  to  a  very  large  extent,  are 
the  same. 

Mr.  Cable.  Suppose  one  plantation  should  get  500  men  and  these 
500  men  would  not  be  satisfied  to  work  for  that  plantation  and  they 
would  go  to  plantation  B  ? 

Mr.  Irwin..  You  mean  in  a  body  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes.  They  would  not  have  much  of  a  chance  to  get 
work  there  because  B  plantation  would  be  filled  up,  would  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  C  would  be  the  same  ? 

Mr.  Iravin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  Therefore  you  nre  not  going  to  say  to  those  men,  "  You 
have  got  to  stay  on  that  plantation  or  you  go  back  home." 

Mr.  Irwin.  Not  necessarily.  It  is  rather  an  impossible  hypotheti- 
cal case,,  but  that  would  not  necessarily  follow,  because  if  they  went 
to  one  plantation  and  could  not  get  work  there  is  other  agricultural 
work  they  could  do ;  they  could  go  into  the  pineapple  orchards,  they 
could  o-o  into  the  rice  fields,  and  they  could  go  into  agricultural  w^ork 
on  their  own  behalf,  I  assume,  if  they  wanted  to. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  881 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  it  would  be  just  the  same  as  if  we 
passed  a  kxw  saying  to  all  lawyers,  "  You  have  got  to  stick  to  the  law 
business  or  leave  the  country." 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  should  say  that  if  you  were  considering  the  same 
proposition,  if  you  were  considering  the  entry  of  Chinese  lawyers 
into  Hawaii  or  into  the  United  States,  you  could  very  properly  say 
that  if  they  wanted  to  come  in  they  would  have  to  stick  to  the  law 
business  and  nothing  else. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  same  as  you  would  say  to  a  man  who  happened  to 
be  a  farmer,  "  You  must  stick  to  farming  or  get  out "  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  If  that  were  the  condition  of  entry  into  the  United 
States,  yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  you  hold  that  over  him  all  the  time  and 
make  him  work  all  the  time.  He  has  to  work  and  keep  on  working 
all  the  time  or  go  back  to  China  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No  ;  I  do  not  think  that  is  correct. 

Mr.  Cable.  That  is  what  I  wanted  to  get  at.  In  your  opinion, 
how  long  can  he  quit  work  before  you  would  send  him  back  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  should  say  the  test  would  be  if  he  went  into  any 
other  employment  outside  of  the  particular  class  for  which  he  was 
admitted. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  if  they  should  come  over,  stay  a  year, 
and  get  enough  money  so  that  they  would  not  have  to  work  for  two 
or  three  months,  would  you  permit  them  to  rest  for  two  or  three 
months  ? 

Mr.  Irw^in.  I  should  say  that  would  be  entirely  reasonable. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  think  that  is  the  way  the  resolution  reads? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  think  the  resolution  would  permit  that ;  yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  intend  to  permit  them  to  buy  passage  from 
one  island  to  another  if  they  so  desire  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  If  they  so  desire. 

Mr.  Cable.  This  would  repeal  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  of  Hawaii, 
would  it  not,  or  suspend  it  so  far  as  the  time  they  were  in  there  is 
concerned  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Are  you  referring  to  the  law  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  Yes. 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  is  no  such  law\ 

The  Chairman.  You  mean  the  general  Chinese  exclusion  law? 

Mr.  Cable.  Well,  the  organic  act  of  Hawaii.  Did  not  that  provide 
for  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  the  law  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Cabije.  That  law  provides  that  no  more  Chinese  can  come  to 
Hawaii? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  that  law  would  be  repealed  or  suspended  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Suspended. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  the  Chinese  trade  law  the  same  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  It  suspends  in  a  way  the  exclusion  of  aliens  under  the 
general  immigration  law,  except  so  far  as  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  Department  of  Labor  Avould  prescribe? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 22 


882  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  it  would  suspend  the  law  prohibiting  the  impor 
tation  of  aliens  under  contract  or  agreement  to  perform  labor? 

Mr.  Irwin.  So  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned. 

Mr.  Cable.  The  head  tax  and  the  3  per  cent  immigration  law  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  But  you  do  not  think  this  would  be  a  peonage  law  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Cable.  Because  peonage  being  based  on  debt,  no  debt  would 
have  been  contracted  up  to  the  time  they  landed  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  How  will  these  people  get  their  food  ?  Will  they  buy 
it  from  money  advanced  to  them  ?  In  other  words,  how  often  is  pay 
day  over  there? 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  varies  on  the  different  plantations ;  some  plantations, 
I  think,  pay  twice  a  month,  but  I  think  the  usual  rule  is  once  a  month. 

Mr.  Cable.  Then  for  one  month  they  would  have  to  depend  upon 
the  plantation  owners  for  their  sustenance? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Cable.  To  that  extent  they  would  owe  some  one — chiefly  the 
people  they  are  working  for — a  small  amount  of  money  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Undoubtedly. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  a  way,  they  would  have  to  keep  on  working  for  that 
man  until  the  month  was  up  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Not  by  any  means.  We  have  on  the  statute  books  of 
Hawaii  at  the  present  time  a  law  which  makes  it  a  criminal  offense  for 
any  employer  to  deduct  any  amount  of  money  from  a  man's  wages 
without  his  written  consent. 

Mr.  Eaker.  This  resolution  will  repeal  that,  will  it  not  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No;  it  will  not. 

Mr.  Cable.  You  refer  to  a  certain  section  of  the  law  that  I  cited, 
as  found  in  Thirty-fifth  Statutes  at  Large,  1139,  and  I  will  say  that 
is  the  old  law  against  slavery.  According  to  the  book  I  have  here — 
Sixtieth  Congress,  1907-1909,  that  law  appears  as  chapter  10,  and 
the  title  is,  "  The  slave  trade  and  peonage." 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes;  that  is  correct. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  not  believe  that  at  the  time  Congress  passed 
that  law  it  had  in  mind  the  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  not  think  it  clearly  carries  out  that  intent  when 
it  says  whoever  brings  into  the  United  States  any  person  from  any 
foreign  country  to  be  held  to  service  or  labor?    Do  you  not  think  that i 
particularly  refers  to  the  thirteenth  amendment  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  that  that  is  what  Congress  had  in  mind  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No ;  because  that  is  exactly  the  same  language  that  was 
used  in  the  act  of  1818,  and  the  act  you  refer  to  is  merely  a  reenact- 
ment  of  the  act  of  1818,  and  it  merely  changes  about  four  words  in  the 
old  act. 

Mr.  Cable.  But  it  was  reenacted  after  the  thirteenth  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  in  substance  carries  out  the  intent  of  the  people  to 
prohibit  the  bringing  into  this  country  any  person  from  a  foreign 
country  for  service  or  labor. 


LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  883 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  think  it  refers  entirely  to  the  shive  trade. 

Mr.  Cabi^.  And  do  you  not  want  to  bring  into  this  country  or  into 
Hawaii  Chinese  coolies  for  the  purpose  of  service  or  labor? 

Mr.  Irwin.  But  not  to  hold  them  to  service  or  labor. 

Mr.  Cable.  Those  are  the  exact  words  of  the  section.  How  do  you 
distinguish  between  what  you  want  to  do  and  this  law  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  do  not  hold  them  to  service ;  they  can  go  home  at 
any  time  they  want  to  go  home. 

Mr.  Cable.  It  does  not  say  that. 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  says  to  be  held,  and  we  do  not  hold  them ;  they  can 
go  at  any  time  they  want  to  go. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  not  expect  to  hold  them  in,  the  islands  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  do  not;  they  can  go  at  any  time  they  want  to  go. 

Mr.  Cable.  Back  to  China  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Cable.  In  other  words,  you  hold  them  to  w^ork — compel  them 
to  work  or  get  out  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  do  not  compel  them  to  work,  and  they  come  in  vol- 
untarily. 

Mr.  Cable.  They  either  work  or  get  out? 

Mr.  Irwin.  They  work  or  go  home. 

Mr.  Cable.  And  you  hold  the  threat  over  them  that  they  will  have 
to  go  back  to:  China  or  work,  one  of  the  two  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  do  not  hold  any  threat  over  them;  it  is  their  own 
agreement,  their  own  contract. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  been  able  to  ascertain,  whether  the  Chi- 
nese Government,  in  the  sending  out  of  any  of  its  nationals  to  any 
other  country  under  this  sj^'stem,  plays  any  part  in  it  or  requires  any 
money  to  be  put  up,  any  bond  to  be  put  up,  any  return  passage  to  be 
put  up,  or  any  sums  of  money  to  be  paid  to  the  families  of  those  sent 
out? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Only  very  generally.  I  am  not  very  conversant  with 
the  details  of  that  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  out.  However,  I 
have  general  information  that  the  Chinese  Government  requires  cer- 
tain satisfactory  assurances  as  to  the  proper  treatment  of  its  na- 
tionals. I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  sending  home  of  money 
to  relatives,  or  anything  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  Carle.  I  think  that  is  under  the  treaty  found  in  Twenty-second 
Statutes  at  Large,  page  826,  which  provides: 

If  Chinese  laborers  or  Chinese  of  any  other  class  now  either  permanently  or 
temporarily  residing  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States  meet  with  illtreatment 
at  the  hands  of  any  other  persons,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will 
exert  all  its  powers  to  devise  measures  for  their  protection  and  to  secure  to 
them  the  same  rights,  privileges,  immunities,  and  exemptions  as  may  be  enjoyed 
by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation  and  to  which  they  are 
entitled  by  treaty. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  the  treaty,  but  in  addition  to  that  I  have 
been  pretty  well  informed  that  special  terms  have  been  made  with 
some  countries.  Both  England  and  France  secured  Chinese  for  war 
w^ork,  and  I  understand  that  terms  were  made  with  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment and  that  the  terms  with  one  country  were  a  little  different 
than  with  the  other  country. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  not  only  the  treaty,  but  it  is  the  fourteenth 
amendment,  which  prohibits  any  State,  as  well  as  Congress  itself, 


884  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAO. 

from  making  any  distinction  between  one  person  and  another  except 
under  certain  conditions. 

Mr.  Irwin.  May  I  be  allowed  to  say,  in  regard  to  the  fourteenth 
amendment,  that  it  has  been  held  time  and  time  again  that  the 
fourteenth  amendment  is  a  limitation  on  the  power  of  the  States  only 
and  is  no  limitation  upon  the  power  of  Congress  itself. 

Mr.  Eaker.  No  ;  you  can  not  find  that. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  can  find  that  inside  of  a  half  hour. 

Mr.  Raker.  No  ;  but  you  can  find  this :  That  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment relates  to  the  States,  and  that  the  States  can  not  enact  any  law 
that  will  place  a  different  responsibility  or  restriction  upon  one  man 
that  it  does  not  place  upon  another,  while  the  thirteenth  amendment 
is  an  inhibition  not  only  against  the  States  but  against  individuals 
and  Congress  itself. 

Mr,  Irwin.  That  latter  statement  is  undoubtedly  true. 

Mr.  Raker.  So  that  the  United  States  can  not,  through  its  Congress 
or  any  State,  permit  the  Chinese,  having  been  admitted,  to  receive 
different  treatment  than  certain  of  its  own  nationals. 

The  Chairman.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  the  Chinese 
now  in  Hawaii  are  not  permitted  to  come  to  the  United  States  and 
that  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii  are  not  permitted  to  come  to  the  United 
States  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  do  not  contend  that  an  alien  in  any  part  of  the 
United  States  must  be  accorded  the  same  rights  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  No  ;  and  I  do  not  think  I  said  that. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  your  brief,  Mr.  Irwin,  you  stated,  as  I  understood 
you,  that  the  essential  condition  of  all  peonage  is  indebtedness? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  In  your  judgment  is  that  exclusive? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes.  That  has  been  determined  by  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  time  and  time  again. 

Mr.  Wilson.  I  have  not  read  that  recentl}^  Of  course,  in  those 
cases  the  question  of  indebtedness  was  invohed? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes;  and  they  have  said  time  and  time  again  that  tliat 
is  the  basic  element  of  peonage. 

Mr.  ¥v^iLS0N.  But  I  was  not  quite  ready  to  accept  that  definition  as 
exclusive, 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  can  give  you  a  list  of  definite  cases. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Can  there  be  peonage  without  the  preexisting  condi- 
tion of  indebtedness? 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  can  not. 

Mr.  Wilson.  That  is  your  judgment? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Box.  There  are  five  or  six  forms  of  involuntary  servitude,  one 
form  being  peonage,  and  the  gentleman,  I  think,  is  substantially,  if 
not  exactly,  correct  in  his  definition  of  that  particular  type  of  servi- 
tude called  peonage. 

Mr.  Raker.  Where  there  is  an  indebtedness  ? 

Mr.  Box.  Yes.  That  is  still  an  essential  of  that,  but  there  is  the 
padrone  system,  and  there  are  five  or  six  other  forms,  and  he  is  deal- 
ing with  just  one  type  of  the  five  or  six  forms  of  servitude  with  which 
the  United  States  has  had  to  deal. 

Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  your  opinion  that  it  must  be  a  money  indebt- 
edness ? 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  885 

Mr.  Irwin.  No  ;  not  exactly.    It  all  de]:>ends  upon  what  you  mean 
by  a  mone}^  indebtedness.    Do  you  mean  an  actual  cash  advance? 

Mr.  Wilson.  Na.     When  you  say  "  indebtedness,"  is  it  an  obliga- 
tion upon  the  part  of  the  person  to  pay? 
Mr.  Irwin.  To  pay  cash  ? 

Mr.  Wilson.  No;  some  indebtedness  for  which  there  is  an  obliga- 
tion to  pay. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes;  some  obligation  to  pay:  the  statute  says  some 
oblii^ation  in  satisfaction  of  some  indebtedness. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Such  as  could  be  recoverable  in  an  action  at  law? 
Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Wilson.  To  pay  something? 
Mr.  Irwin.  Yes. 

Mr.  Eaker.  The  last  decision  on  this  question  was  rendered  by 
Justice  Hughes  when  on  the  Supreme  Court  Bench  in  a  case  in 
Georgia,  in  which  he  discussed  that  feature  fully.  He  makes  a  very 
clear  analysis,  going  over  practically  all  of  the  Supreme  Court  cases 
and  the  State  cases,  and  holds  that  where  a  man  can  be  apprehended 
in  any  way  and  has  a  fear  in  his  mind  that  it  gives  his  employer 
or  some  one  else,  no  matter  who  it  is,  an  opportunity  to  apprehend 
him  it  is  involuntary  servitude  and  a  feature  of  peonage. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Was  not  the  apprehension  whi'-'h  you  refer  to  in  that 
case  an  apprehension  for  some  charge  under  which  he  could  be 
arrested  and  punished  criminally? 

Mr.  Eaker.  It  involved  this:  That  there  was  a  statute  passed  by 

Georgia 

Mr.  Irwin  (interposing).  I  am  familiar  with  the  statute. 
Mr.  Eaker  (continuing).  Making  it  prima  facie  evidence  of  his 
intent  to  defraud  if  he  left  his  labor  at  any  time  during  the  con- 
tract. Now,  he  got  the  first  month's  wages ;  he  worked  out  his  first 
month  and  more,  but  if  he  left  that  man's  employ  and  worked  for 
am4)ody  else  then  and  in  that  event  he  was  subject  to  arrest  and 
had  no  defense  on  earth,  because  his  mere  leaving  was  prima  facie 
evidence,  and  therefore  he  could  be  convicted. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Did  that  decision  hinge  upon  the  rule  of  evidence? 
Mr.  Eaker.  Well,  it  said  that  that  was  a  deprivation  of  his  rights, 
a  deprivation  of  due  process  of  law.     They  discussed  involuntary 
servitude  and  the  thirteenth  amendment  for  three  pages  and  held 
that  it  was  contrary  to  the  thirteenth  amendment  of  the  United 
States,  just  as  you  have  made  a  very  clear  presentation  of  that  matter. 
Mr.  Box.  Is  that  based  on  the  peonage  statute  or  on  the  Con- 
stitution ? 
Mr.  Eaker.  On  the  Constitution. 
Mr.  Box.  That  is  what  I  was  getting  at. 

Mr.  Eaker.  It  wipes  out  all  statutes  and  goes  down  to  the  Con- 
stitution. 

Mr.  Box.  And  does  not  deal  with  any  particular  form  of  servitude, 
but  all  servitude. 

Mr.  Eaker.  All  servitude  and  at  any  place.    Where  a  man  stands  in 

fear  that  if  he  does  not  do  his  work  he  will  be  arrested 

Mr.  lRvn:N  (interposing).  And  punished. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Can  there  be  any  greater  punishment  on  earth  to  a 
man  who  is  in  the  United  States  than  to  arrest  him  and  send  him 
back  from  where  he  came? 


886  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Of  course,  there  are  two  distinctions.  In  this  case 
you  have,  of  course,  they  are  dealing  with  American  citizens,  and 
you  will  have  to  work  that  up  to  the  point  of  bringing  their  cases 
within  the  category  of  cases  where  the  Government  is  deporting 
aliens  because  they  are  violating  the  conditions  under  which  they 
came  in. 

Mr.  Eaker.  I  want  to  discuss  that  with  the  witness.  There  is  a 
number  of  late  decisions  on  that  subject,  and  later  than  the  one 
referred  to  by  the  Attorney  General.  Under  the  head  of  "  The 
Power  of  the  Federal  Government  to  Admit  or  Exclude  Aliens," 
you  cited  the  case  of  Nishimara  Ekin  ly.  United  States  (142  U.  S., 
651-659).  Now,  undoubtedly,  that  is  the  rule — that  is,  "It  is  an 
accepted  maxim  of  international  law  that  every  sovereign  nation  has 
the  power  as  inherent  in  sovereignty  and  essential  to  self-preserva- 
tion to  forbid  the  entrance  of  foreigners  within  its  dominions  or  to 
admit  them  only  in  such  cases  and  under  such  conditions  as  it  may 
see  fit  to  prescribe.  Now,  is  there  any  case  where  this  last  provision 
was  in  force,  and  where  a  man  violated  the  law  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Where? 

Mr.  Irwin.  In  the  case  of  a  Chinaman  in  1892. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  did  he  do  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  He  was  unable  to  furnish  his  certificate.  He  did  not 
violate  the  law,  but  he  was  unable  to  find  one  white  witness  to  make 
proof  of  the  fact  that  he  was  legally  in  the  United  States  prior  to 
1892.  The  judge  who  tried  the  case  said  that  the  evidence  entirely 
satisfied  him  that  the  Chinaman  was  in  the  United  States  rightfully, 
but  the  mere  fact  that  'he  was  unable  to  produce  a  white  witness 
who  could  testify  to  it  rendered  him  subject  to  deportation. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  was  something  that  the  Government  as  a  sover- 
eign power  had  the  right  to  do — that  is,  it  had  the  right  to  say, 
"  You  can  come  here  and  stay  here,"  or  it  could  say  to  those  that 
wxre  here,  "  You  can  stay  if  you  can  present  a  certificate  and  oral 
evidence  in  proof  of  the  fact  that  you  were  lawfully  here  prior  to  a 
certain  time."  That  is  the  law  of  the  land,  and  if  he  fails  to  present 
that  certificate  or  fails  to  supply  the  defect  of  not  having  one,  he 
can  be  deported. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  has  free  volition,  and  he  has  the  right  of  free  circu- 
lation, or  can  come  and  go  as  he  pleases. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  are  other  cases  where  that  has  been  held.  One 
of  them  was  the  case  of  a  party  who  came  here  and  was  a  pauper 
and  started  a  life  of  prostitution,  and  there  was  one  case  in  St.  Louis 
where  the  party  practiced  prostitution  for  three  years. 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  were  dozens  of  cases  of  Chinese  merchants  who 
were  admitted  in  this  country  to  do  business  as  merchants  with  this 
same  threat  of  arrest  hanging  over  them ;  that  is,  if  they  left  off  deal- 
ing in  merchandise  and  went  into  some  activity  as  a  laborer  of  any 
kind  they  had  that  threat  of  arrest  hanging  over  them  all  the  time. 
Those  cases  have  been  decided  time  and  time  again,  and  it  has 
been  uniformly  held  that  those  provisions  were  entirely  within  the 
power  of  Congress  to  impose. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  887 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  found  any  case  involving  the  obligation  to 
'perform  service  in  this  country? 

Mr.  IiiwiN.  I  have  not  found  any  case  exactly  in  point  with  this. 

Mr.  Box.  Have  you  found  any  case  involving  an  obligation  to 
service  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  With  deportation  as  an  alternative? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No,  sir ;  I  think  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Not  with  deportation  as  an  alternative? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  law  under  which  they  are  admitted  here; 
that  is,  this  sovereign  country  says  to  them,  "  You  can  come  here  only 
as  a  merchant,  and  as  long  as  you  remain  here  you  can  come  and  go  as 
a  merchant.  As  lon^  as  you  do  that  we  have  no  restriction  upon  you 
as  to  the  length  of  time  you  can  stay."  He  can  come  here  and  stay 
30  years  or  40  years,  and  if  he  follows  that  occupation  he  is  not 
molested. 

Mr.  Irwin.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  However,  under  the  authorities,  even  though  he  is 
legally  here,  the  sovereign  Government  can  exclude  him  if  it  wants  to. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  a  pretty  severe  doctrine,  but  I  think  it  is  pretty 
well  sustained. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  power  of  the  sovereign  State.  Now,  if  we 
admit  a  man  into  the  United  States  with  the  distinct  understanding 
that  he  may  remain  here  for  five  years  if  he  follows  a  particular  line 
of  business  or  a  particular  work,  and  that  he  will  go  into  no  other 
kind  of  work,  with  the  condition  that  if  he  does  leave  that  job  he 
will  be  sent  back,  do  you  think  there  would  be  no  difference  between 
that  case  and  the  case  of  a  Chinese  merchant  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Absolutely  none  in  principle.  In  that  case  the  Gov- 
ernment says  to  the  Chinese  merchant,  "  You  can  come  here  and  stay 
as  long  as  you  like  so  long  as  you  confine  yourself  to  the  activities  of 
a  merchant,"  and  this  resolution  says,  "  You  can  come  to  Hawaii  and 
stay  for  five  years,  provided  you  confine  your  activities  to  agricul- 
tural labor." 

Mr.  Raker.  He  must  confine  himself  to  the  particular  class  of 
labor  for  which  he  is  admitted? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  suppose  there  is  only  one  class  of  work  for  which 
there  has  been  an  emergency  determined  by  the  President  and  for 
which  the  Secretary  admits  him  for  labor,  and  that  is  in  the  rice 
fields.  Now,  he  quits  work  in  the  rice  fields  and  says  he  will  not 
work  there  any  more 

Mr.  Iravin  (interposing).  I  do  not  think  this  resolution  will  bear 
that  interpretation. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  what  it  says. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  depends  on  what  it  means  by  "  class  or  classes  of 
labor."  A  class  of  labor  would  be  taken  to  mean  a  general  class  of 
labor,  such  as  agricultural  labor,  and  not  any  one  particular  division 
of  agricultural  labor.  It  means  the  general  class  of  agricultural 
labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  reading  from  the  resolution : 

Provided,  That  such  aliens  shall  be  admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of 
time  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  only  in  the  class  or  classes  of  labor  as  to 
which  the  emergency  has  been  found  to  exist. 


888  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Irwin.  The  interpretation  that  I  put  on  that  language  is  this : 
If  the  President  of  the  United  States  by  proclamation  should  declare 
that  there  was  an  acute  shortage  of  labor  in  the  agricultural  industry 
or  in  domestic  service,  which  are  the  two  services  particularly 
mentioned 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  I  want  to  confine  myself  to  this  resolu- 
tion before  the  committee,  and  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  domestic 
service. 

Mi".  Irwin.  It  refers  to  class  or  classes  of  labor.  In  other  words, 
the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his  original  proclamation 
might  say  there  is  a  shortage  in  agricultural  labor  or  there  is  a 
shortage  in  domestic  service.  He  would  mention  the  classes,  and  if 
they  are  admitted  for  either  one  of  those  classes  of  employment,  they 
must  remain  in  those  classes. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  a  party  comes  here  and  goes  into  domestic  service 
and  quits,  saying  that  he  wants  to  go  into  the  business  of  raising 
peanuts  or  raising  potatoes,  or  that  he  wants  to  go  into  business  in  a 
drug  store  or  merchandise  store,  then  he  is  violating  his  right  of 
admission  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  should  say  so,  from  the  way  it  is  framed. 

Mr.  Raker.  And,  under  that  authority,  he  would  be  subject  to 
apprehension  and  deportation? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  something  that  would  always  be  hanging  over 
them,  if  they  did  not  follow  that  particular  kind  or  character  of 
labor  ? 

Mr., Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  he  refuses  to  work  in  any  business,  what  would 
happen?  Suppose  you  should  bring  them  in  and  that  1,000  of  them 
should  refuse  to  perform  work  of  any  kind — what  would  you  do 
with  them? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Admitting  that  rather  improbable  hypothesis,  I  should 
say  that  if  1,000  of  them  actually  refused  to  work  for  a  sufficient 
length  of  time  to  show  that  they  intended  to  violate  the  conditions 
upon  which  they  were  admitted,  they  would  be  deported. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  would  always  be  hanging  over  them — that  is, 
the  threat  of  deportation  if  they  refused  to  work  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  would  fix  their  wages? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  know.  I  presume  that  the  wages  would  be 
fixed  by  the  ordinary  law  of  supply  and  demand.  I  do  not  know  of 
any  other  answer  to  that  at  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Raker.  Suppose  they  should  strike  in  some  class  of  work,  or 
in  the  class  for  which  they  came  in,  what  would  be  the  result?  If 
they  were  getting  77  cents  per  day  as  the  basis  wage,  with  no  bonus, 
and  they  wanted  $2.50  per  day,  and  struck  on  that  account,  what 
would  you  do  with  them  then? 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  question  is,  perhaps,  difficult  to  answer.  If  their 
demands  were  so  unreasonable 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing) .  Well,  I  will  put  them  so  that  they  would 
not  be  unreasonable.  I  will  say  that  they  demanded  $1  per  day,  and 
the  planters  refused  to  pay  them  that  much. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  think  there  would  be  any  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  authorities  to  deport  them  for  that  reason. 


LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  889 

Mr.  Rakek.  If  they  quit  work  entirely? 

Mr.  Irwin.  They  would  not  be  quitting  work  entirely,  but  they 
would  be  saying,  "  If  we  get  a  satisfactory  wage  we  will  work." 

Mr.  Eakkk.  But  suppose  they  refused  to  give  that  wage,  and  you 
had  1,000  men  idle  about  town? 

Mr.  Wilson.  You  could  not  deport  them  for  that  under  the  reso- 
lution.   They  w^ould  be  here  for  agricultural  work. 

Mr.  Eakek.  I  am  asking  Avhat  would  be  the  rule. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  think  there  would  be  any  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  authorities  to  deport  them  for  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  They  could  still  remain  there  for  the  whole  term? 

Mr.  Irw^n.  If  you  can  imagine  a  situation  like  that ;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  the  sugar  planters  would  not  pay  them  that  much, 
and  they  should  go  into  other  work,  or  if  they  should  go  into  the 
city  and  take  up  other  occupations  of  various  kinds,  then  they  would 
be  deportable? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  If  a  man  struck  for  higher  wages  when  he  was  really 
entitled  to  it,  and,  failing  to  get  higher  wages,  if  he  went  into 
other  occupations  and  did  actually  get  a  wage  higher  than  that  he 
was  receiving  at  the  time  he  struck,  he  would,  nevertheless,  be  sub- 
ject to  deportation? 

Mr,  Iravin.  I  would  not  like  to  answer  that  question.  It  is  too 
close  a  question,  and  I  will  have  to  have  some  time  to  studj^  that.  It 
is  too  close  a  question  to  answer  now.  I  would  not  care  to  give  a 
curbstone  opinion  on  that. 

Mr.  Wilson.  Before  you  leave  that  question,  would  the  fact  that 
the  laborers  who  might  come  in  under  this  resolution  are  employed 
under  contract  by  some  person  in  any  w^ay  distinguish  their  case  from 
the  case  of  the  Chinese  merchant  who  is  not  employed  by  anybody 
but  who  selects  his  own  employer? 

Mr.  Irw^in.  There  would  be  a  difference  in  the  facts  but  not  in 
principle.  When  you  talk  about  arrest  and  deportation  hanging  over 
the  man,  the  principle  is  exactly  the  same  in  one  as  in  the  other,  and 
the  effect  must  be  exactly  the  same.  The  effect  in  one  case  is  to  con- 
fine the  man  to  agricultural  labor  and  the  effect  in  the  other  case  is 
to  confine  him  to  a  particular  activity. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  agricultural  laborer  has  a  superior  or  employer 
over  him,  while  the  other  man  does  not.  Would  that  have  any 
effect  upon  it,  in  your  judgment? 

Mr.  Irwin.  None  whatever,  in  my  judgment. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Do  you  understand  that  under  this  resolution 
an  agriculturist  coming  in  here  is  bound  to  work  for  somebody 
else,  or  can  he  go  into  an  agricultural  business  of  his  own? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Absolutely,  yes.  He  can  engage  in  agricultural  labor 
for  his  own  account  whenever  he  chooses  to  do  so. 

Mr.  Wilson.  One  who  had  his  own  farm  would  be  on  exactly 
the  same  basis  as  the  merchant,  but  my  understanding  was  that  as  a 
general  proposition  these  people  would  come  in  under  an  agreement 
to  work  as  employees. 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  the  proposition  in  general ;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Wilson.  The  point  I  had  in  mind  was  whether  if  they  should 
come  before  a  court  that  particular  difference  would  have  any  effect 
upon  the  legal  construction. 


890  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  think  it  effects  the  legal  principle  in  the 
slightest. 

Mr.  White.  Referring  to  those  laborers  whom  it  is  proposed  to 
secure,  do  they  have  an  opportunity  to  know  what  wages  they  will 
receive  and  what  will  be  the  circumstances  of  their  employment 
before  they  embark  for  the  Hawaiian  Islands? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Absolutely;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  White.  They  would  have  a  full  opportunity  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir ;  a  full  opportunity. 

Mr.  White.  As  a  rule,  do  you  think  they  know  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  know  that  they  know.  We  know  that  from  experi- 
ence. 

Mr.  White.  The  act  is  voluntary  on  their  part? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Absolutely  so. 

Mr.  White,  The  limitations  are  understood  by  them  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Absolutely  so. 

Mr.  White.  Just  the  same  as  the  legal  limitations  are  known  to 
the  Chinese  merchant  before  he  comes  to  the  United  States  and 
before  he  embarks  in  business  as  a  merchant  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir ;  to  a  greater  extent. 

Mr.  White.  The  arrest  and  taldng  into  custody  is  not  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  quit  work,  or  the  agricultural  line  of  work,  or  the  class 
of  work  for  which  they  were  admitted,  but  because  they  engage  in 
other  work  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  To  be  specific  as  to  the  purpose  of  this  resolution, 
while  it  says  they  shall  admit  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible,  you 
intend  to  eliminate  all  of  those  that  are  now  inadmissibe  under  sec- 
tion 3  of  the  immigration  act  of  February  5,  1917,  except  Chinese 
and  contract  labor;  is  that  true? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No,  sir;  in  addition  to  that  we  include  the  elimination 
of  prostitutes,  anarchists,  the  feeble-minded,  or  insane,  or,  at  least, 
we  assume  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor  would  make  rules  and  regula- 
tions that  would  refuse  to  admit  them. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  just  put  it  the  other  way.  I  said  that  you  only 
wanted  to  bring  in  Chinese  and  contract  laborers.  You  do  not  want 
any  of  the  other  inadmissible  classes  provided  for  in  section  3  ? 

M.  Irwin.  No,  sir;  that  is  not  true.  In  the  first  place  we  are 
not  asking  for  contract  laborers. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  trying  to  specify  what  you  ask  by  this  resolution. 
When  the  resolution  refers  to  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible  you  mean 
solely  and  exclusively  Chinese  laborers? 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  the  present  plan ;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  there  any  doubt  about  it  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  If  other  aliens  are  available  and  if  the  committee 
thinks  that  Chinese  are  not  the  kind  of  people  to  bring  in,  there  might 
be  others.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  to  be  absolutely  frank,  it  is  Chinese 
that  we  are  talking  about. 

Mr.  Raker.  No.  That  is  the  way  we  started  out  originally,  and 
it  was  said  by  some  one  here  in  authority  that  it  did  not  relate  to 
the  Chinese,  and  I  was  sort  of  criticized  for  using  that  language. 
Still  the  intention  is  to  bring  in  Chinese  only  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  think  that  is  true.    It  is  an  emergency  measure  only. 


LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  891 

Mr,  Dillingham.  If  I  understood  Judge  Raker  correctly,  he  said 
that  some  one  in  authority  had  said  that  we  did  not  want  Chinese 
in  HaAvaii  to  meet  the  emergency. 

The  Chairman.  No  ;  he  is  trying  to  pin  down  the  fact,  apparently, 
that  the  words  in  the  resolution  are  a  little  broader  than  the  intent 
behind  it.  The  resolution  in  words  does  not  specify  any  people  in 
particular,  and  the  regulations  might  include  other  races. 

Mr.  Box.  In  the  course  of  the  examination.  Judge  Irwin,  and  in 
your  answer  to  a  question  by  Mr.  Cable,  I  believe,  you  discussed 
the  question  of  the  marriage  of  Chinese  and  the  importation  of 
women,  and  I  think  you  said  that  it  might  be  that  some  women  would 
be  brought  in  in  connection  with  domestic  service  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Possibly ;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  You  regarded  that  as  possible? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  From  the  history  of  your  Territory  I  learn  that  mar- 
riages between  natives  and  Chinese  are  quite  common,  but  that  the 
Japanese  have  shown  an  aversion  to  mixed  marriages.  Does  that 
state  the  facts  right,  or  do  the  Chinese  marry  freely  with  the  natives? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir ;  to  the  extent  they  did  in  the  past. 
'    Mr.  Box.  Suppose  some  of  the  Chinese  coming  over  should  marry 
citizens.     When  deportation  time  comes,  what  would  you  do  with 
those  families? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  assume  that  the  wife  would  follow  the  husband. 

Mr.  Box.  Suppose  she  refused  to  do  it? 

Mr.  Irwin.  In  that  event  she  would  remain  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Box.  What  about  the  children? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  presume  the  children  would  stay  with  the  mother. 

Mr.  Box.  You  could  not  force  them  to  go  back  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  Because  they  would  be  American-born  citizens. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Box.  You  would  either  deport  two  or  more  Americans  forcibly 
or  you  would  forcibly  separate  families? 

Mr.  Irwin.  That  is  not  entirely  true. 

Mr.  Box.  Why  not? 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  would  be  a  matter  of  volition  on  the  part  of  the 
wife  to  go  or  stay. 

Mr.  Box.  You  would  either  give  her  the  alternative  of  having  her 
family  torn  from  her 

Mr.  Irwin  (interposing).  She  could  take  her  children  with  her. 

Mr.  Box.  She  and  the  children  would  have  to  go  to  China  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  She  would  become  a  Chinese  citizen  when  she  married 
a  Chinaman. 

Mr.  Box.  You  spoke  about  the  contract  features,  under  which 
these  people  agree  to  do  certain  things.  Do  you  understand  that  an 
American  citizen,  with  the  permission  of  the  law,  may  contract  his 
labor  away  in  that  way? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  understand  anything  of  the  kind. 

Mr.  Box.  Do  you  believe  that  the  fact  that  a  man  enters  into  a 
contract  to  bind  himself  to  any  sort  of  servitude  would  have  the 
slightest  effect  upon  the  legal  situation? 

Mr.  Irwin.  There  is  no  such  thing  contemplated  in  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Box.  You  have  justified  a  number  of  situations  presented  here 


892  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

by  saying  that  they  agree  to  do  that  to  start  with.  AVe  have  heard 
much  of  that  before  this  committee,  not  only  in  these  hearings  but  in 
many  others.  When  something  bordering  on  servitude  is  presented,, 
or  when  some  plan  of  servitude  has  been  presented,  it  is  always  justi- 
fied upon  the  ground  that  the  parties  agree  to  it  beforehand.  Now,, 
do  you  believe  there  is  any  validity  at  all  in  that  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  quite  understand  you. 

Mr.  Box.  In  other  words,  does  the  fact  that  a  man  agrees  in  ad- 
vance in  the  form  of  a  civil  contract  to  the  loss  of  his  labor  or  his 
freedom  in  any  way,  make  such  a  contract  of  servitude  valid  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  do  not  think  so. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  know  that  Judge  Box  is  very 
sincere  in  wanting  to  unravel  the  ethics  as  well  as  the  law  of  this  reso- 
lution. Eeferring  to  the  contract,  as  I  understand  it,  there  is  no  plan 
of  contract.  It  is  true  that  many  men  who  otherwise  would  not  have 
that  advantage,  would  be  given  the  opportunity  to  come  to  Hawaii.. 

Mr.  Cable.  Do  you  think  that  the  Chinese  Government  would  per- 
mit them  to  come  in  without  some  kind  of  contract  covering  their 
coming? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Box.  Did  not  the  gentleman  say  there  would  be  an  agreement  ? 
What  is  the  difference  between  an  agreement  to  perform  service  upon, 
certain  terms  and  a  contract? 

Mr.  Baker.  Since  you  have  answered  Judge  Box  as  you  have,  I 
want  to  ask  you  this  question :  Is  it  the  purpose  of  this  resolution  to 
enable  you  to  go  to  China  and  have  5,000  or  10,000  Chinese  to  come 
to  Hawaii  without  any  agreement  or  arrangement  as  to  where  they 
will  work,  for  whom  they  will  work,  and  the  amount  of  their  wages  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  would  say  that  there  would  be  some  general  under- 
standing with  the  Chinese  Government  as  to  the  general  labor  condi- 
tions and  the  general  price  of  labor. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Where  do  you  get  that  idea  that  there  will  be  an  un- 
derstanding with  the  Chinese  Government?  Please  tell  the  com- 
mittee about  that.    That  is  something  I  would  like  to  know. 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  has  been  generally  understood  by  people  who  are 
presumed  to  know  that  the  Chinese  Government,  before  allowing  its: 
nationals  to  depart  from  China,  requires  some  assurance  as  to  what 
the  conditions  will  be. 

Mr.  White.  It  was  contemplated  in  my  question,  and  I  think  it  was 
clearly  stated  in  your  answer,  that  they  have  the  right  to  inquire., 
that  they  do  know,  and  that  it  is  represented  to  those  persons  in 
advance  of  their  coming  w^hat  the  circumstances  and  conditions  of 
their  employment  will  be. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Eaker.  If  their  Government  does  understand,  and  if  they  un- 
derstand, and  if  there  is  an  understanding  or  agreement,  directly  or 
indirectly,  which  is  acted  upon  by  them  and  under  which  they  do 
come  to  this  country,  and  that  agreement  in  any  way  curtails  the 
personal  liberty  of  those  men  after  they  arrive  here,  in  contravention 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  amendments,  would  it  have  the  slightest  effect  on  earth  as; 
to  the  limitations  imposed  upon  those  men  after  they  got  here  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  If  there  were  any  agreement  that  contravened  the  Con- 
stitution because  it  deprived  him  of  liberty,  undoubtedly  that  wouldi 


LABOR    ri:()l]I.KMS    IN    HAWAIT.  898 

be  an  invalid  arrangement.    Here  is  the  situation :  Let  us  assume  that 
this  resohition  passes  and  becomes  a  law  of  the  United  States 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  I  can  not  assume  that. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Well,  let  me  assume  that. 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  would  be  a  A^ery  violent  assumption,  because  I 
can  not  believe  that  the  American  Congress  or  the  American  people 
would  think  of  it  for  a  minute.  It  is  so  violent  that  it  is  really 
shocking. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  ain  almost  afraid  to  make  any  further  assumption. 

Mr.  Eaker.  I  think  you  ought  to  be. 

Mr.  Irwin.  Let  me  assume  that  this  resolution  is  passed  by  Con- 
gress and  becomes  a  law  of  the  United  States,  and  let  me  assume  that 
under  the  plan  representatives  of  the  board  of  immigration  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii  go  to  China  and  insert  advertisements  in  the 
papers  there  calling  for  a  certain  number  of  laborers,  advertising  the 
general  labor  conditions,  advertising  the  general  prices  of  labor,  and 
advertising  the  places  where  they  will  receive  applications  for  trans- 
portation to  Honolulu.  Let  us  suppose  that  in  answer  to  those  adver- 
tisements there  are  5,000  applicants,  and  that  they  come  to  the  office 
and  say,  "We  have  read  your  advertisements,  we  understand  the 
conditions,  and  we  understand  that  we  can  go  to  Hawaii  and  accept 
employment  with  any  persons  w^e  choose  in  agricultural  lines." 

The  representative  of  the  board  of  immigration  says,  "All  right; 
the  ship  sails  the  day  after  to-morrow,  and  here  is  your  passage." 
He  takes  the  next  ship  and  comes  to  Honolulu,  and  is  received  there 
by  the  general  board  of  immigration.  The  board  of  immigration 
says  to  him,  "Here  is  a  plantation  on  which  you  can  get  employ- 
ment. Do  you  want  to  go  there?  "  We  will  suppose  the  Chinaman 
answers,  "  Yes ;  I  will  go  there."  We  will  suppose  he  goes  to  that 
plantation  and  works  for  three  or  four  days,  and  then,  becoming  dis- 
satisfied with  the  conditions,  goes  on  to  the  next  plantation,  where 
he  finds  the  conditions  more  satisfactory,  and  we  will  suppose  that 
he  works  there  during  the  entire  period  of  five  years,  or  we  will  sup- 
pose that  he  finally  makes  up  his  mind  that  he  does  not  want  to  work 
there  any  longer,  and  goes  back  to  China.  Now.  where  is  the  in- 
voluntary service  or  curtailment  of  liberty  in  that? 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  that  the  purpose  of  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  why  do  you  not  so  state  it  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  have  had  so  much  confidence  in  the  executive 
officers  of  the  United  States  Government 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  It  is  showing  a  great  deal  of  confidence 
to  my  mind,  when  you  give  them  the  power  to  determine  all  those 
things.  Why  do  you  have  to  give  the  Secretary  of  Labor  the  poAver 
to  fix  the  mode  and  method  of  bringing  them  in  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Do  you  want  to  write  all  of  that  in  the  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  asking  you. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  have  given  you  my  reasons.  I  have  tried  to  outline 
a  plan,  and  you  say  that  this  idea  of  leaving  all  of  this  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  Executive  is  not  wise.  IN'ow,  if  it  is  not  wise,  I  am 
asking  you  whether  you  would  advise  writing  all  of  those  provisions 
into  the  bill  or  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  If  I  were  .going  to  enact  any  law  on  the  subject,  I 
would  not  repose  the  power  in  any  man  to  write  any  conditions  in  a 


894  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

contract  whereby  a  man  would  lose  any  part  of  his  rights  or  immuni- 
ties, and  that  is  what  this  bill  or  resolution  undertakes  to  do.  Now, 
it  is  your  purpose  to  simply  advertise  for  these  people  to  come  to 
Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  a  limitation  of  five  years. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Where  does  it  limit  it  to  five  years?  The  Secretary 
can  permit  them  to  come  in  for  50  years,  if  he  wants  to,  can  he  not  ? 

The  Chairman.  It  says  five  years.  I  think  it  would  be  advisable 
to  have  a  provision  in  the  resolution  covering  that. 

Mr.  Eaker.  The  Secretary  can  admit  them  for  50  years,  if  he 
wants  to. 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  think  he  could. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  five-year  limitation  is  simply  as  to  the  time  within 
which  the  President  shall  declare  an  emergency.  There  is  no  limita- 
tion so  long  as  there  is  a  minimum  and  maximum.  Then  you  do  not 
intend  to  fix  his  wage  before  he  comes?  You  intend  to  leave  it  op- 
tional with  him  to  enter  into  a  contract  after  he  gets  there  ? 

Mr.  Cable.  There  would  be  a  minimum  wage,  would  there  not? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  assume  there  would  be.  I  am  not  prepared  to  answer 
that  question,  and  I  assume  there  are  people  here  who  are  more 
familiar  with  that  detail  of  the  plan  than  I  am.  But,  personally,  I 
would  advocate  the  fixing  of  a  minimum  wage. 

Mr.  Raker.  At  about  what? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Well,  the  minimum  wage  at  the  present  time,  I  under- 
stand, is  $1.15. 

Mr.  Raker.  A  day? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Yes ;  with  all  the  other  appurtenances,  a  house,  wood,, 
water,  fuel,  and  so  on. 

Mr.  Raker.  Who  would  you  have  fix  that? 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  suppose  that  would  be  fixed  by  some  sort  of  an  ar- 
rangement between  possibly  the  Board  of  Immigration  of  Hawaii 
and  the  Secretary  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  one  more  quesl^ion  and  then  I  am  through.  If  a 
man  comes  there  without  his  wage  being  fixed  and  they  offer  him  a 
wage  that  he  refuses  and  he  finds  no  wage  satisfactory  to  him  in  the 
agricultural  pursuits  or  in  those  various  other  classes,  he  is  subject 
to  deportation,  is  he  not? 

Mr.  Irwin.  As  I  told  you  before,  I  will  not  answer  that  question 
offhand,  because  it  is  too  close  a  question.  If  he  says,  "  I  am  willing  to 
work  if  you  give  me  a  proper  wage,"  and  there  is  reasonable  ground 
to  believe  his  assertion  that  an  adequate  wage  was  not  given,  I  am 
doubtful,  to  say  the  least,  whether  or  not 

Mr.  Rakek  (interposino;).  How  is  he  going  to  enforce  his  right? 
I  am  assuming  he  has  the  same  right,  although  an  alien,  that  an 
American  citizen  would  have  to  make  a  contract  to  get  the  best  wage 
he  could  get  and  have  the  best  conditions.  Yet  if  he  does  not  accept 
the  wage  offered  and  is  idle  he  has  the  question  of  deportation  staring 
him  in  the  face,  and  how  are  you  going  to  keep  them  from  deporting 
him  if  he  is  idle,  because  he  becomes  a  menace  to  the  country  when 
he  remains  there  idle  and  unemployed?  Is  not  that  the  crux  of  this 
business,  the  fact  that  he  can  be  deported? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  895 

Mr.  Irwin.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  very  important  feature  of  the  bill. 

Mr.  Kaker.  It  would  apply  to  any  man's  case  who  was  not  engaged 
in  the  class  or  classes  of  labor  in  which  an  emergency  exists. 

Mr.  Iravin.  In  other  words,  if  he  is  engaged  in  any  other  labor, 
he  would  be  subject  to  deportation. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  if  he  did  not  engage  in  any  labor,  if  he  refused 
to  work  because  the  price  offered  him  was  not  sufficient  for  him,  as 
he  conceived  it,  to  make  a  living,  and  he  had  no  money,  he  would 
be  a  burden  on  the  community,  a  pauper,  as  you  say,  and  in  such 
a  situation  he  stands  there  and  says :  "  I  am  a  man  who  was  brought 
to  this  country,  with  the  right  to  contract  for  a  reasonable  wage,  but 
not  having  gotten  it  I  am  going  to  let  the  community  support  me; 
I  will  let  the  community  support  me  before  I  will  enter  into  that 
kind  of  a  contract." 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  think  that  if  a  condition  of  affairs  such  as  you  de- 
scribe came  about  he  would  possibly  have  a  right  to  refuse  to  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  he  would  be  deported  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  No  ;  the  resolution  says  not  unless  he  engaged  in  some 
other  line  of  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  Whom  else  do  you  want  to  come  in  besides  the 
<]hinese  ? 

Mr.  Irwin.  We  might  get  Javanese;  it  is  possible,  if  the  distances 
were  not  so  great  and  the  transportation  difficulties  so  great,  that 
we  might  get  some  Europeans  under  this  resolution;  but  it  is  the 
emergency  feature  which  we  are  looking  at  now,  which  will  enable  us 
to  get  people  in  there  quickly  and  relieve  the  present  acute  shortage, 
and  China  is  the  most  available  source. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  that  is  what  you  want  this  resolution  for,  to  get 
Chinese  in? 

Mr.  Irwin.  Primarily,  yes. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  in  the  record  over  and  over  again. 

Mr.  Raker.  Why,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  first  sentence  of  this  hearing 
is  that  it  was  not  exclusively  for  the  Chinese. 

The  Chairman.  Even  if  that  statement  were  made  the  cross- 
examination  during  the  first  week's  hearing  went  over  that  phase 
of  it  over  and  over  again  with  Mr.  Mead  and  others. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  think  that  is  true. 

The  Chairman.  If  there  is  nothing  else,  we  will  stand  adjourned 
to  meet  to-morrow  morning. 


Committee  on  Immigration  and  Naturalization, 

House  of  Representatives, 

Friday^  August  12^  1921. 

The  committee  met  at  10.30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Hon.  Albert  Johnson 
(chairman)  presiding. 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  will  come  to  order.  We  will  en- 
deavor to  close  these  hearings  with  this  session.  I  understand  that 
some  members  of  the  Hawaiian  commission  have  some  brief  addi- 
tional statements  to  submit.  Do  you  desire  to  offer  something  addi- 
tional this  morning,  Mr.  Dillingham  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do.  I  would  like  to  ask  Senator  Chillingworth 
to  make  a  statement  in  regard  to  one  matter  that  was  brought  up 
by  Mr.  Gompers.    He  desires  to  make  just  a  brief  statement. 


896  LABOH   PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

ADDITIONAL  STATEMENT  OF  MR.  CHAELES  E.  CHILLINGWORTH 
MEMBEE  OF  TEE  HAWAII  EMEEGENCY  LABOE  COMMISSION. 


Mr.  Chillingwoeth.  Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  just  one  feature  to 
which  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee.  The  statement 
Avas  made  here,  and  is  a  part  of  your  record,  that  the  Hawaii  Legis- 
lature was  controlled  by  the  sugar  planters  and  other  big  interests. 
I  feel  that  I  would  not  be  doing  my  duty  by  my  colleagues  or  the 
Legislature  of  Hawaii  if  I  allowed  that  statement  to  go  into  the 
record  without  entering  a  protest  and  a  definite  and  explicit  denial 
of  its  truth.  In  the  IT  years  that  I  have  been  elected  to  the  senate 
I  have  always  been  elected  by  the  masses,  the  people,  by  the  labor- 
ing men  and  the  Avorkers,  and  I  challenge  the  statement  that  the 
Legislature  of  Hawaii  has  at  any  time  been  controlled  by  the 
planters'  association  or  any  other  big  interests.  I  am  frank  to  say 
to  you  that  I  came  on  here  in  the  belief  that  my  coming  was  neces- 
sary as  a  representative  of  our  legislative  body.  Otherwise,  I  would 
never  have  come,  owing  to  business  and  other  matters  that  require 
my  attention.  I  felt  that  it  was  my  duty  to  make  the  sacrifice  and 
do  what  I  could  for  our  country.  When  a  charge  of  this  kind  is 
made,  being  the  only  representative  here  of  the  Territorial  legisla- 
ture, I  feel  that  I  would  not  be  doing  my  duty  to  my  country  and  our 
legislature  if  I  did  not  go  on  record  as  protesting  against  that  state- 
ment and  branding  it  as  false. 

Mr.  Raker.  Senator,  without  desiring  to  cast  any  reflection  upon 
anyone  whatever,  it  is  true,  is  it  not,  that  the  great  interests  of 
Hawaii  are  the  sugar  interests  and  pineapple  interests  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Yes,  sir;  and  the  coffee  interests. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  rice  interests.  There  are  three.  Those  are 
what  you  would  call  the  large  interests. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  And  coffee ;  I  want  to  include  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  Well,  we  will  include  coffee.  As  a  natural  conse- 
quence, anyone  representing  those  interests,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  would  be  interested  in  doing  all  that  he  could  to  advance 
them? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Naturally;  just  as  would  be  the  case  in  your 
district.  State,  or  community. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  he  would  also  be  interested  in  securing  as  much 
labor  as  possible  at  a  reasonable  price  or  at  as  low  price  as  he  could. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  presume  it  would  be  fair  to  say  that  that  is 
true  of  any  place  in  the  Union. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  it  must  be  clear,  and  the  record  must  show 
it,  because  the  figures  have  been  submitted  here  over  and  over 
again,  that  the  population  of  the  islands  is  about  255,000,  and  that 
the  white  American  citizens  are  extremel}^  limited  in  number,  being 
about  18,000. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  The  control  of  the  legislature  in  both  houses 
is  in  the  hands  of  Hawaiian  and  Portuguese  Americans.  I  call  my- 
self a  Hawaiian,  because  I  have  Hawaiian  blood,  and,  as  I  have  said, 
the  control  of  both  houses  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Hawaiians  and 
Portuguese. 

Mr.  Raker.  To  be  specific,  the  Hawaiian  Legislature,  in  1918, 
passed  a  resolution  memorializing  Congress  to  admit  20,000  Chinese, 
did  it  not? 


LABOE   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  897 

Mr.   Chilli NGWoRTii.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Eakek.  Did  they  pass  one  the  year  before  that,  also? 

Mr.  CiiiLLiNGwoRTH.  Some  time  prior  to  tluit.  I  can  not  say  ex- 
actly when. 

Mr.  Raker.  Prior  to  the  submission  of  this  resolution,  upon  which 
you  are  appearing  here  as  a  commissioner,  they  did  pass  two  resolu- 
tions, say,  within  six  years  previously,  memorializing  Congress  for 
the  admission  of  Chinese? 
Mr.  Chillingworth.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Was  Mr.  Hindle,  who  came  here  and  appeared  before 
the  Committee  on  Immigration,  urging  legislation  of  that  kind,  the 
resolution  having  been  introduced  by  the  delegate  from  Hawaii,  ap- 
pearing in  any  way  as  a  representative  of  the  Hawaiian  people  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  He  was  not.  The  resolution.  Judge  Raker, 
was  sent  on  to  the  Delegate  in  Congress  for  introduction.  There  was 
no  other  effort  made  on  the  part  of  the  legislature  to  forward  the 
purposes  of  that  resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  us  be  specific  in  this  matter.  The  present  reso- 
lution, passed  by  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  following  the  message 
of  the  governor  of  Hawaii,  and  which  your  commission  has  presented 
here,  and  which  is  printed  in  the  first  volume  of  the  hearings,  is 
general  in  its  terms. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  think  so. 

Mr.  Raker.  Providing  for  otherwise  inadmissible  aliens. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Let  me  ask  3^011  if  you  are  seeking  by  this  legislation 
the  admission  of  any  idiots,  imbeciles,  feeble-minded  persons,  epi- 
leptics, or  insane  persons? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  No,  sir.  In  further  reply  to  that,  I  would 
say  that  we  did  not  contemplate  that  any  such  construction  would  be 
put  upon  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  seeking  by  this  legislation  the  admission  of 
persons  who  have  one  or  more  forms  of  insanity  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  seeking  b}^  this  legislation  the  admission  of 
persons  of  constitutional  psychopathic  inferiority? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  No,  sir ;  absolutely  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  seeking  by  this  legislation  the  admission  of 
persons  affected  with  chronic  alcoholism? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  seeking  by  this  legislation  the  admission  of 
paupers  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  seeking  by  it  the  admission  of  vagrants  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Absolutely  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  you  seeking  by  this  legislation  the  admission  of 
persons  who  are  afflicted  with  tuberculosis  in  any  form  or  with  a 
loathsome  or  dangerou.s  contagious  disease? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Absolutely  not.  Our  community  is  not  look- 
ing for  anything  of  that  kind,  and  the  resolution  provides  that  it 
vsill  be  under  such  regulations  as  the  Secretary  of  Labor  may  impose. 

The  Chairman.  Since  they  are  seeking  labor  for  the  plantations, 
presumably  they  would  not  want  people  of  those  classes. 

56754— 21— SEE  7,  PT  2 23 


898  LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII, 

Mr.  Kaker.  Are  you  seeking  by  this  legislation  the  admission  of 
persons 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary  to  cover  all  of  that. 

Mr.  Eaker.  I  do. 

The  Chairman.  It  takes  up  time,  and  if  the  resolution  has  not 
been  perfected  in  that  respect  it  can  be  perfected.  The  original 
resolution  assumes  that  the  Secretary  of  Labor  would  admit  them 
under  certain  regulations,  and  this  second  resolution  would  assume 
that  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  whose  business  it  is  now  to  keep  those 
classes  out  of  the  country  and  out  of  the  Territory,  would,  of  course, 
keep  out  the  insane,  criminals,  paupers,  vagrants,  idiots,  etc. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  put  the  direct  question  to  him,  then,  if  that  is 
the  only  way  Ave  can  get  at  it :  Is  it  not  true  that  the  sole  purpose  of 
this  resolution  is  the  admission  of  Chinese  coolie  labor  into  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Chillingw^orth.  After  careful  consideration,  and  knowing 
what  the  conditions  are  in  Hawaii,  and  knowing  the  problem  that 
we  have  to  contend  with  out  there,  I  am  sincere  in  stating  that  I 
believe  that  the  only  solution  of  our  problems  in  Hawaii  now,  or  the 
only  way  of  affording  immediate  relief  there,  is  through  the  admis- 
sion of  Chinese. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Let  us  come  back  now  to  the  question  of  the  prime  pur- 
pose of  this  resolution.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  admits,  or 
would  admit,  all  of  those  otherwise  undesirable  persons,  as  provided 
for  in  section  3  of  the  immigration  act  of  February  5,  1917,  the  pur- 
pose is,  or  the  prime  purpose  is,  the  admission  of  Chinese  labor  ? 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  That  is  for  immediate  relief  of  our  labor 
shortage.  If  there  is  other  legislation  which  will  assist  us  in  getting 
into  that  country  laborers  who  could  carry  on  the  work  tiiat  should 
be  carried  on 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).    I  will  have  to  go  back  to  the  question. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  I  say  yes,  for  the  purpose  of  affording  im- 
mediate relief. 

Mr.  Raker.  For  the  purposes  of  immediate  relief,  you  are  not 
seeking  to  admit  any  others  of  the  otherwise  inadmissible  classes 
into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  save  and  except  Chinese. 

Mr.  Chillingworth,  If  the  matter  of  transportation  and  the  mat- 
ter of  getting  quick  relief  could  be  handled  through  some  other  na- 
tionalities preferable  to  any  oriental  people,  we  would  be  glad  to  get 
them.  We  have  come  here  on  a  problem  on  Avhich  we  had  hoped  that 
this  committee  would  help  us.  If  you  gentlemen  can  find  a  solution 
of  our  problem  that  is  what  we  are  hoping  for  and  hope  that  you 
will  offer  some  constructive  suggestion  as  to  the  solution  of  our 
problem. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  talking  about  this  resolution. 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  Absolutely;  and  you  are  correct  in  that  in 
so  far  as  our  need  of  immediate  relief  leaves  us  no  other  choice. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is,  for  the  emergency — ~ 

Mr.  Chillingworth  (interposing).  We  believe  the  Chinese  would 
meet  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  Chinese  are  the  people  that  you  are  seeking  to 
have  admitted  under  this  resolution  ?   . 

Mr.  Chillingworth.  That  is  my  personal  opinion. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAW  AIL  899 

Mr.  Rakek.  And  as  a  member  of  the  commission? 

Mr.  CriiLLTNGWORTH.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Does  any  other  member  of  the  commission  desire 
to  make  a  statement,  Mr.  Dillingham  ?  Have  we  had  Mr.  Horner  as  a 
witness  ? 

Mr.  Weebek.  Yes,  sir ;  he  has  testified. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Mr.  Mead  desires  to  make  a  statement. 

ADBITIONAL  STATEMENT  OF  ME.  EOYAL  B.  MEAD,  MEMBEH  OF 
THE  HAWAII  EMEEGENCY  LAEOE  COMMISSION. 

Mr.  Mead.  Mr.  Chairman,  my  statement  will  relate  to  and  will  be 
in  reply  to  charges  and  statements  made  by  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  regarding  conditions  in  Hawaii,  and  the  charge  of  gross  mis- 
management of  the  sugar  plantations.  Mr.  Wright,  as  you  will 
remember,  testified  or  stated  in  his  telegram  that  the  plantations  were 
overcapitalized.  It  is  in  evidence  before  the  committee  that  the  capi- 
talization of  the  plantations  is  $85,000,000  and  that  the  taxable  value 
or  assessable  value  is  $117,000,000  in  round  numbers.  The  United 
States  Tariff  Commission  collects  data  every  year  from  the  planta- 
tions, and  I  have  made  inquiries  of  Dr.  Wright,  of  the  Tariff  Com- 
mission, regarding  the  invested  capital.  For  the  crop  year  of 
1918-19  he  told  me  that  the  returns  of  only  37  plantations  showed  an 
invested  capital  of  $157,711,579,  which  is  almost  twice  the  amount  of 
the  capital  stock.  It  is  probably  more  than  twice  the  amount  of  the 
capital  stock,  as  I  am  only  taking  into  consideration  the  returns  of 
37  plantations. 

Mr.  Wright  also  stated  that  Mr.  Varona  made  a  tour  of  the  planta- 
tions under  the  auspices  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters.  Mr. 
Varona,  you  will  remember,  was  the  agent  sent  by  the  Philippine  gov- 
ernment to  investigate  labor  conditions  in  TIawaii.  Mr.  Wright 
stated  that  he  went  on  the  plantations  under  our  auspices.  That 
is  absolutely  untrue.  Mr.  Varona  arrived  in  Hawaii  before  I  left 
there,  and  he  visited  several  plantations  on  the  island  of  Oahu  before 
I  left  the  islands,  and  while  we  offered  him  every  courtesy  and 
consideration  that  we  could,  he  refused  absolutely  to  visit  the  planta- 
tions under  any  letters  of  introduction  or  under  our  auspices  in  any 
way.  He  paid  his  own  expenses,  paid  the  expenses  of  his  secretary,, 
and  his  investigation  was  very  independent  indeed.  He  told  me  be- 
fore he  left,  after  having  visited  the  plantations  on  the  island  of 
Oahu,  that  he  considered  the  conditions  good  for  his  people.  Now,. 
we  have  been  requesting  for  many  years  past  that  the  Philippine 
government  should  have  in  Hawaii  a  resident  commissioner  or  agent 
for  the  purpose  of  representing  the  Filipinos  and  acting  as  a  go- 
between  or  mediator  in  any  trouble  that  might  arise.  That  they 
have  never  done,  but  they  did  send  investigators  to  look  into  the 
labor  conditions  on  the  islands,  and  without  exception  every  one  of 
the  reports  that  have  been  made  by  those  investigators  have  been 
favorable,  stating  that  they  reo^arded  the  conditions  in  Hawaii  for 
Filipino  labor  as  very  good  indeed. 

The  Chairman.  The  immigration  of  Filipinos  into  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  has  been  about  how  much? 


900  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  Since  1909,  when  Philippine  immigration  commenced 
to  Hawaii,  there  have  been  approximately  22,000  Filipinos  brought  in. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  transportation  charge  for  a  Filipino 
laborer  from  the  Philippines  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  steamer  fare  is  $68.  Of  course,  that  does  not  cover 
the  expense  of  getting  them  there.  We  have  quite  a  large  establish- 
ment in  the  Philippines,  which  is  expensive.  We  have  to  outfit  them, 
get  them  clothing,  and  give  them  $5  or  $10  spending  money  on  the 
Avay  over.  I  think  the  total  cost  of  landing  a  Filipino  on  a  plantation 
in  Hawaii  during  the  last  few  years  has  been  in  the  vicinity  of  a 
little  over  $100. 

The  Chairman.  Is  any  portion  of  that  money  held  out  against 
the  Filipino  when  he  takes  employment  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  not  held  out  against  him,  and  is  not  deducted  from 
his  wages  in  any  w^ay.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  any  Filipino  wdio  works 
for  three  years  on  a  plantation  in  Hawaii  is  returned  to  the  Philip- 
j)ines  at  the  expense  of  the  planters'  association. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  clone  by  agreement  Avith  them  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  done  by  agreement. 

The  Chairman.  In  writing? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  in  writing. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  advance  him  $5  or  $10  spending  money 
on  the  way  over,  that  is  not  taken  from  his  wages? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir.  The  expense  of  taking  a  man  and  landing  him 
on  the  plantation,  where  he  is  to  be  employed  as  a  plantation  worker, 
is  borne  entirely  by  the  plantation,  and  not  one  cent  of  that  expense 
is  ever  taken  or  deducted  from  the  worker's  wages. 

The  Chairman.  In  other  words,  he  is  brought  in  on  the  ship, 
placed  at  work  on  the  plantation,  and  started  free  of  debt  ? 

Mr.  Me^d.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  being  the  case  it  has  been  quite  an  expense  to 
the  plantation  to  do  that? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  About  how  much  do  you  estimate  has  been  expended 
in  that  wa}^  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  could  not  tell  you,  but  it  has  been  very  heavy. 

Mr.  Raker.  Why  do  you  not  take  that  money  that  is  expended  in 
that  way  and  pay  the  laborers  who  are  working  for  you  now  that 
much  more,  and  in  that  wa}^  induce  those  who  are  there  to  do  the 
w^ork  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  As  I  tried  to  explain  before,  w^e  consider  that  we  are 
paying  plantation  laborers  full  value  for  the  work  they  do.  We 
have  found  that  the  bonus  system,  under  which  earnings  are  largely 
increased,  is  the  best  way  in  which  to  pay  for  plantation  work.  If 
you  increase  the  daily  wage  of  the  common  ordinary  laborers,  not 
only  in  the  sugar  industry  but  in  any  other  industry  in  the  world, 
you  will  find  that  when  their  wage  has  been  increased  beyond  a  cer- 
tain limit,  the  daily  turnout  decreases  and  their  efficiency  is  lowered 
or  decreased.  That  is  not  only  our  experience,  but  it  has  been  the 
experience  of  others. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  harvesting  the  crop  now,  are  you  not? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes ;  that  commenced  some  time  ago. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  what  month  did  you  commence  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  In  December  of  last  year. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS  IN   HAWAII.  901 

Mr.  Eaker.  The  harvesters  were  working-  in  May,  June,  and 
July? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Will  you  give  the  committee  a  statement  showing  what 
was  the  basic  Avage  of  an  ordinary  laborer  in  May  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  basic  wage  is  paid  to  the  minimum  number  of 
laborers.  The  men  who  are  working  on  the  basic  wage  probably  do 
not  number  20  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  laborers  working  on 
the  plantations. 

Mr.  Eaker.  What  is  the  basic  wage  of  such  a  man  ?  Give  us  that 
and  nothing  else. 

Mr.  Mp]AD.  He  gets  $30  a  month  and  a  bonus  on  top  of  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  the  basic  wage  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  He  gets  $30  per  month  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  taking  the  months  of  May,  June,  and  July,  how 
much  did  one  of  those  basic  wage  men  get  during  one  of  those 
months  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Thirty  dollars  per  month,  plus  a  bonus  of  probably  20 
per  cent. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  you  state  what  that  was  during  the  month  of 
May? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  I  do  not  knoAv  what  the  average  price  of  sugar 
was. 

The  Chairman.  Make  a  guess. 

Mr.  Mead.  It  was  in  the  vicinity  of  5  cents,  or  a  20  per  cent  bonus. 

The  Chairman.  Take  some  one  man  in  one  particular  month,  and 
give  his  monthly  wage  and  everything  that  w^ent  to  him. 

Mr.  Mex\d.  The  monthly  wage  of  those  lowest  paid  and  least 
skilled  men  on  the  plantation,  consisting  of  about  20  per  cent  of  the 
plantation  workers,  amounts  to  $30  for  26  days  work.  In  addition 
to  that,  he  got  a  bonus  of,  say,  20  per  cent,  which  would  make  $6 
more,  or  $36.  The  value  of  his  house,  water,  fuel,  and  other  per- 
quisites furnished  him,  including  hospital  and  medical  treatment, 
averaged,  I  should  say,  $10  per  month,  making  $4G  for  26  days  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  say  that  the  basic  wage  men  constitute  20  per  cent 
of  those  employed  on  the  plantations  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  take  the  other  80  per  cent. 

Mr.  Mead.  The  harvesting  labor  would  probably  earn  not  less  than 
$2  or  $2.50  per  day,  according  to  the  work  they  did,  and  on  top  of 
that  they  would  get  a  bonus  of  20  per  cent  and  be  supplied  with 
houses  and  the  other  perquisites. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  you  mean  by  saying  that  it  would  depend 
upon  the  work  they  did  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  emploj^ment  of  the  cutters  and  loaders  is  entirely 
under  a  contract  system.  The  cutters  and  loaders  are  paid  so  much 
per  ton  for  the  cane  they  cut  or  load. 

Mr.  Raio]R.  Do  they  get  as  low  as  $1  per  day  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  if  they  worked  only  a  couple  of  hours  they 
would  earn  $1. 

Mr.  Raker.  Suppose  they  worked  eight  hours  ? 


902  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  earn  about  $2.50  a  day.  They  do  not  work  ei«[^ht 
hours  at  that.  They  go  to  work  in  the  morning  and  quit  shortly  after 
hmch. 

Mr.  Baker.  Coukl  you  give  some  average  for  the  harvesters  and 
cutters  tliat  would  give  some  idea  of  the  basic  wage  that  goes  to 
those  men? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  impossible  to  give  that,  because,  as  I  say,  the  whole 
thing  is  based  upon  so  much  per  ton  for  the  cane  cut  or  loaded.  That 
depends  entirely  upon  how  much  a  man  can  rut  or  load,  and  upon 
how  long  hours  they  work.  You  could  not  get  anything  but  a  very 
general  average. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  have  been  listening  here  for  a  month  or  more, 
and  this  fact  has  not  been  presented  to  the  committee,  although  you 
surelv  must  have  it.  For  instanr  e,  here  is  one  plantation  that  is  em- 
ploying, say,  a  thousand  men,  and  would  not  their  books  show 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing).  Yes,  sir;  and  I  can  find  out  for  you  the 
amount  paid  to  cutters  and  loaders  of  cane,  or  to  any  branch  of  work- 
ers, on  any  one  plantation  in  any  one  year. 

Mr.  Raker.  With  the  number  engaged  in  that  work. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes.  s"r;  but  taking  the  industry  as  a  whole,  that  would 
be  a  rather  laborious  process. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  per  entage  of  harvesters  and  cutters  out 
of  the  total  number  employed? 

Mr.  Mead.  During  the  harvesting  season  the  harvesters  constitute 
a  very  large  percentage  of  the  workers.  I  should  sa}^  that  they  con- 
stitute 50  per  cent,  or  that  50  per  cent  of  them  are  engaged  in  har- 
vesting and  work  connected  therewith. 

Mr.  Raker.  Now,  as  to  the  other  30  per  cent 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing).  They  are  cultivators,  or  semiskilled  men. 
The  cultivators,  as  they  get  through  with  their  cultivation  contracts, 
often  go  into  the  harvesting  game. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  do  the  cultivators  get"^^ 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  that  a  cultivator  now  would  earn  easily  $2  per 
day. 

Mr.  Raker.  Is  that  his  basic  wage,  or  is  that  what  he  earns  under 
a  contract? 

Mr.  Mead.  Under  a  contract.  That  depends  upon  the  amount  or 
tonnage  of  cane  that  he  raises  upon  a  specific  area. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  know  what  that  amounted  to  during  the 
months  of  May,  June,  and  July  of  this  year  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  could  not  get  that  until  the  contracts  are  settled  at 
the  end  of  the  season.  There  is  no  monthly  basis  for  that  proposi- 
tion ;  but,  as  I  have  said,  he  would  average  under  the  contract  at  least 
$2  a  day. 

Mr,  Raker.  What  does  a  semiskilled  laborer  receive? 

Mr,  Mead.  That  runs  anj^where  from  $50  to  $100  per  m.onth. 

Mr.  Raker,  What  do  5^ou  call  a  semiskilled  worker? 

Mr.  Mead.  Men  who  Avork  on  the  railroads,  helpers  in  the  shops 
and  around  the  mills,  men  who  do  all  sorts  of  Avork,  other  than  ordi- 
nary field  w^ork. 

The  Chairman.  La^dng  tracks? 

Mr,  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  paid  to  the  men  Avorking  on  motors  and  ma- 
chinery in  the  mills? 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWATT.  903 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  suppose  any  of  them  get  less  than  $100  per 
month. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  they  Americans?    • 

Mr.  Mead.  Most  of  the  skilled  men  are  Americans. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  A  very  high  percentage  of  the  skilled  employees 
are  citizens. 

Mr.  Mead.  Portuguese  of  the  second  generation,  for  instance,  are 
often  skilled  and  semiskilled  workers  in  the  shops  and  on  locomo- 
tives. 

Mr.  Raker.  Do  you  have  Japanese  and  Chinese  working  in  the 
shops  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  are  some. 

Mr.  Raker.  As  mechanics? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  are  employed  principally  as  helpers. 

Mr.  Raker.  Are  they  engineers? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  I  would  not  say  there  were  any  Japanese  or 
Chinese  engineers.     They  are  practically  all  white  men. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  go  back  to  the  Filipino  proposition.  Is 
there  any  information  as  to  the  number  that  came  in  last  year? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  have  not  that  here,  but  we  can  get  it. 

The  Chairman.  Did  that  immigration  run  low  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  it  ran  last  year  about  2,400.  For  two  or  three 
years  it  has  been  running  at  about  2,400  a  year.  You  must  remember 
that  those  Filipinos  are  going  back.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  1920  a 
great  many  more  went  home  than  came  in. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  keeping  up  your  efforts  to  bring  in  Fili- 
pinos ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  In  regard  to  your  recent  efforts  to  secure  Porto 
Ricans,  have  you  heard  anything  from  that  movement  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  have  just  got  a  shipment  of  about  350. 

The  Chairman.  Three  hundred  and  fif t}^  persons  all  told  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Including  how  many  adults? 

Mr.  Mead.  There  were  160  men,  86  women,  and  99  children,  mak- 
ing 345. 

The  Chairman.  That  effort  to  secure  additional  Porto  Rican  labor 
is  still  proceeding? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  proceeding  right  along  with  not  very  great  success. 

The  Chairman.  The  cost  of  sending  that  labor  in  will  be  consid- 
erable ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  cost  of  transportation  of  that  shipment  will  be  246 
at  $125  each  and  99  at  about  $62  each. 

The  Chairman.  And  on  top  of  that  you  have  your  overhead  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir.  After  the  trouble  we  had  down  there  I  gave  up 
the  idea  of  trying  to  make  special  charters  of  steamers  to  take  those 
people  at  the  present  time.  This  shipment  went  by  a  Shipping  Board 
boat  that  goes  from  Baltimore,  through  the  canal,  to  San  Francisco 
and  Honolulu.  We  expect  another  shipment  in  the  early  part  of  next 
month,  if  the  Shipping  Board  keeps  this  vessel  on  that  route,  but  they 
tell  me  that  they  will  withdraw  that  steamer  in  September. 

The  Chairman.  In  spite  of  the  strike  situation  and  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  some  of  your  people  went  into  the  Army  and  Navy  you  have 


904  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

had,  during  all  of  these  years,  to  be  always  on  the  lookout  for  labor 
to  come  from  the  outside  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir ;  we  have  been  on  the  lookout. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  have  been  energetic  in  your  efforts  to  se- 
cure all  the  people  that  could  come  in  under  the  immigration  laws  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  We  have.  There  are  only  two  places  where  we  can 
get  labor — that  is,  where  a  private  organization  can  get  labor — 
without  conflicting  with  the  immigration  laws,  and  those  places 
are  the  Philippine  Islands  and  Porto  Rico,  American  territory. 

The  Chairman.  The  wages  you  pay  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are 
better  than  those  paid  for  the  same  class  of  labor  in  either  the 
Philippines  or  Porto  Rico  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Far  better. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  think  the  conditions  are  better? 

Mr.  Mead.  Hawaii  is  so  far  better  than  the  Philippines  and 
Porto  Rico  that  in  comparing  them  you  would  say  that  the  Philip- 
pines and  Porto  Rico  are  still  in  the  dark  ages. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  get  this  clearly  in  the  record.  It  has 
been  stated  by  Judge  Raker — I  think  through  a  slip  of  the  tongue — 
that  Hawaii  and  Porto  Rico  are  Territories  and  that  the  Philippines 
are  not.    Porto  Rico  is  not  a  Territory. 

Mr.  Mead.  Porto  Rico  is  not  a  Territory. 

The  Chairman.  Porto  Rico/  is  an  insular  possession  and  the 
Philippine  Islands  are  insular  possessions.  They  have  their  own 
immigration  laws. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  but  while  they  have  their  own  immigration  laws, 
their  laws  are  subject  to  the  approval  or  disapproval  of  Congress 
or  the  President. 

The  Chairman.  To  a  certain  extent? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes.  The  Philippine  Islands  are  now  seeking  Chinese 
labor. 

The  Chairman.  They  have  some  laws  in  regard  to  them? 

Mr.  Mead.  They  can  pass  their  own  immigration  laws,  and  if 
they  desire  to  pass  a  Chinese  immigration  law  they  can  do  it;  it  is 
their  privilege. 

Mr.  Raker.  Mr.  Mead,  will  it  bother  you  right  here  to  have  you, 
once  and  for  all,  say  what  you  are  seeking  here  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  am  not  seeking  anything. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  main  object  and  purpose  of  this  resolution  is  to 
secure  Chinese  labor. 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  my  understanding  of  it;  yes,  sir.  The  con- 
ditions in  the  Territory  are  such  that  they  believe  that  to  be  the  only 
relief  to  offset  the  predominating  element  of  the  population. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  your  view  is  that  the  people  of  Hawaii  want 
to  have  repealed,  temporarily  at  least,  say,  for  five  years,  the  Chinese 
exclusion  law  as  it  relates  to  Hawaii  in  the  enabling  act,  as  well 
as  the  general  Chinese  exclusion  law  passed  by  Congress  excluding 
Chinese  from  the  United  States  as  well  as  from  its  Territories? 

Mr.  Mead.  That  is  my  understanding;  yes.  May  I  go  ahead  with 
my  statement? 

The  Chairman.  Yes. 

Mr.  Mead.  Varona,  after  he  visited  all  of  the  plantations,  came 
back  and  there  were  conferences  with  him.  Mr.  Wright  in  his 
testimony  stated  that.    Mr.  Varona  gave  an  interview  to  one  of  the 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  905 

Honolulu  newspapers,  in  which  he  stated  that  after  his  interviews, 
consultations,  and  conferences  with  the  planters  he  believed  condi- 
tions would  be  improved,  and  the  inference  was,  of  course — and 
Mr.  Wright  so  stated — that  conditions  before  w^ere  not  good  for 
the  Filipinos.  There  were  only  three  or  four  things  that  were 
changed  in  any  way  as  a  result  of  Varona's  visit  and  at  his  request. 
First,  the  return  of  the  Filipinos.  Instead  of  requiring  that  a  Fili- 
pino should  work  upon  a  plantation  for  three  years  to  entitle  him 
to  return  transportation  at  our  expense  it  was  changed  so  that  if 
he  worked  upon  any  plantation  for  three  years  he  would  be  returned 
at  our  expense.  That  gives  him  latitude  of  movement.  The  next 
was  that  Varona  requested  that  more  Filipino  nurses  be  employed 
in  the  plantation  hospitals.  That  w^as  agreed  to.  His  other  request 
Avas  that  in  the  welfare  work,  which  is  being  conducted  on  all  the 
plantations  now,  there  be  closer  touch  between  the  management  of 
the  plantations  and  the  Filipinos.  Xow,  those  were  the  only  things 
that  were  in  any  way  changed  or  altered,  and  so  far  as  a  change  in 
the  working  conditions  is  concerned  other  than  I  have  stated  them 
there  was  absolutely  nothing  done. 

The  Chairman.  It  was  reported  here  that  Mr.  Varona  said  that 
following  the  changes — which  were  as  you  have  stated — some  addi- 
tional Filipinos  would  be  likely  to  come  to  the  islands. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes ;  he  possibly  made  that  statement.  I  think  that 
the  concession,  that  a  Filipino  could  work  upon  any  plantation  rather 
than  upon  a  plantation,  was  quite  a  concession,  and  possibly  he 
felt  that  that  concession  would  induce  more  to  come. 

The  Chairman.  When  he  returns  to  the  Philippine  Islands  does 
he  have  anything  to  do  with  inviting,  encouraging,  or  showing  the 
way  for  Filipinos  to  go  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Mr.  Mead.  That  work  is  done  entirely  by  our  agents,  by  our  em- 
ployees, and  it  is  done  under  the  supervision  of  the  Filipino  Bureau 
of  Labor.  Ever}^  Filipino,  before  he  leaves  the  Philippine  Islands, 
is  interviewed  by  the  bureau  of  labor  and  the  terms  of  his  employ- 
ment and  everything  connected  with  it  are  explained  to  him.  Ee- 
cruiting  has  come  to  the  point  where  so  many  have  gone  back  from 
Hawaii  and  told  the  story  of  their  treatment  in  Hawaii  that  those 
who  w^ant  to  come  know  the  conditions.  Hawaii  is  not  a  new  field 
to  the  Filipinos.  When  we  first  went  out  there  we  had  the  same 
opposition  Ave  haA^e  in  Porto  Rico ;  the  newspapers  published  state- 
ments about  lions,  tigers,  and  elephants  that  Avould  gobble  them  up. 
We  had  to  oA^ercome  that. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  also  charges  that  there  is 
gross  mismanagement  of  the  plantations  in  HaAvaii,  and  I  do  not 
think  those  charges  ought  to  remain  in  the  record  without  some 
statement  showing  that  they  are  not  true.  One  of  the  charges 
was  that  the  plantations  are  mismanaging  in  the  conduct  of 
their  field  operations,  in  that  they  are  not  using  the  best  class  of 
workmen  in  positions  where  they  might  develop  improved  labor- 
saving  machinery.  That  is  rather  vague,  but  I  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  it  is  that  we  have  not  adoptedjmproved  methods,  particularly 
in  the  loading  of  cane ;  that  Ave  have  been  derelict  in  not  inventing  or 
trying  to  have  invented  machines  which  would  load  cane  and  thus 
avoid  hand  loading.  The  proposition  of  cutting  and  loading  by 
machinery  has  been  a  liA^e  one  with  the  Hawaiian  planters  for  a 


906  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAAVAII. 

great  many  years.  Previous  to  my  association  with  the  planters' 
association  they  had  advertised  extensively  all  over  the  world  for 
machines  that  would  cut  and  load  cane,  and  offered  very  large 
prizes.  I  have  forgotten  just  what  the  prizes  were,  but  there  were 
very  large  amounts  offered.  The  proposition  was  that  the  machine, 
after  being  tried  out  and  being  found  feasible  and  satisfactory,  should 
still  remain  the  property  of  the  inventor;  we  simply  offered  him  a 
prize  for  inventing  such  a  machine  and  he  was  still  to  have  the 
royalty  from  it. 

The  planters'  association  hold  annual  meetings  at  which  various 
committees  presented  written  reports,  and  the  labor-saving  device 
committee  has  been  one  of  the  active  and  continuous  committees 
ever  since  I  have  known  anything  about  the  planters'  association's 
work.  Here  is  a  report  which  was  presented  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  1901.  I  will  not  attempt  to  present  the  whole  thing,  but  will  just 
read  what  the  chairman  of  the  committee  says : 

No  cane  planter  can  afford  to  neglect  any  source  of  information  or  ideas  that 
will  throw  new  light  or  will  tend  to  improve  the  methods  of  handling  and 
loading  of  cane.  The  rewards  and  bonuses  offered  by  the  association  have 
induced  many  persons  to  devise,  build,  and  give  much  time  and  attention  to 
various  cane-loading  machines.  Some  of  the  apparatus,  of  which  models  have 
been  made,  do  not  in  any  way  cover  the  requirements.  Many  of  the  machines 
are  repetitions  of  old-established  method^s  and  but  few  new  ideas  have  come 
forward  of  any  value.  Some  two  years*  past  cane-harvesting  machines,  com- 
bined cutting  and  loading  apparatus,  were  talked  of  and  written  of,  but  to-day 
it  is  pr^ictically  conceded  that  no  apparatus  of  this  nature  can  be  devised  to 
fulfill  the  requirements,  and  the  whole  center  of  discussion  and  thought  has 
been  toM^ard  the  devising  of  cane-loading  machines.  Those  machines  that  have 
come  to  the  writer's  notice  have  been  in  the  nature  of  derricks  or  cane-carrier 
apparatus,  and,  in  fact,  all  of  the  machines  that  have  been  devised,  either  on 
paper  or  in  model,  are  of  this  nature.  All  of  the  machines  require  that  the 
cane  be  lifted  by  the  laborer  and  placed  either  on  carriers  or  in  baskets,  tables, 
or  containers  which  are  lowered  and  elevated.  No  machine  has  yet  been 
devised  or  modeled  which  avoids  the  handling  of  cane  by  hand  labor.  In 
nearly  every  instance  the  apparatuses  that  have  been  constructed  up  to  the 
present  time  are  of  too  heavy  and  massive  a  nature. 

Let  me  explain  that  experiments  have  been  made  with  various 
types  of  machines,  some  of  which  have  booms  that  stretch  out  over 
the  fields,  lift  the  cane  up  and  put  it  on  the  cars,  but,  as  stated  in  this 
report,  it  is  necessary  to  have  the  cane  bundled  by  hand  labor. 
There  are  other  machines  which  have  received  most  careful  atten- 
tion, the  Wilson-Webster  machine  particularly,  which  drags  the 
bundles  of  cane  over  the  field  and  lifts  them  into  the  cars.  How- 
ever, the  great  objection  to  that  sort  of  apparatus  is  that  it  breaks 
down  the  furrows.  The  fields  are  all  furrowed  and  the  cane  is 
planted  in  the  furrows,  if  you  break  down  the  furrows  you  must  go 
over  the  fields  again  and'  build  them  up  at  considerable  expense 
before  you  can  irrigate  the  cane.  That  has  been  one  of  the  great 
objections  to  that  style  of  machine. 

That  was  the  1901  report,  and  the  question,  as  I  say,  has  been  a 
very  live  one  ever  since,  and  I  will  read  from  the  1917  report : 

The  loading  machine,  which  will  ultimately  be  successful,  will  undoubtedly 
be  the  combination  of  many  of  the  ideas  in  loaders,  which  to-day  are  represented 
in  practically  all  of  the  machines  which  have  been  invented.  No  efficient 
machine  or  device  in  use  in  our  industry  has  been  perfected  at  its  inception, 
and  w^e  should  not  feel  overconcerned  if  the  perfection  of  a  successful  cane 
loader  will  require  5  or  10  years  of  effort  and  the  expenditure  of  a  million 
dollars.     Doubtless,  a  quarter  of  this  sum  has  already  been  expended  in  one 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  907 

Avay  or  another  in  these  ishmds  in  the  last  20  years  in  the  development  of 
hibor-saving  devices,  but  who  is  tliere  here  but  what  feels  that  the  experience 
gained  has  not  in  full  measure  warranted  the  expense? 

Then  the  (ommittee  goes  on  and  shows  the  number  of  machines 
that  have  been  developeti  and  experimented  with.  There  are  24  ma- 
chines listed  here — the  Wilson- Webster  and  quite  a  number  of 
different  types.  Then  there  are  pictures  of  the  various  machines 
shown  in  the  report.  They  have  not  laid  down  on  the  job  at  all ; 
they  have  been  at  it  and  at  it  continuously  ever  since  the  Hawaiian 
Sugar  Planters'  Association  started. 

The  1920  report  of  the  committee  on  labor-saving  devices,  says : 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Wallace  M.  Alexander,  and  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  trustees  of  the  association,  Mr.  A.  Glinchikoff,  a  Russian  mechan- 
ical engineer  and  draftsman,  was  brought  to  the  Territory  for  this  work.  Since 
that  time  arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  committee  to  bring  Mr.  A.  J. 
-Fomilyant  to  the  Territory  as  an  associate  engineer. 

Previous  to  this  1920  report  the  committee  on  labor-saving  de- 
Tices  had  in  its  employ  a  force  of  engineers,  and  one  man,  named 
Lewis,  who  was  at  the  head  of  it,  is  now  the  manager  of  a  very  large 
i^iigar  plantaticn  in  the  Philippines.  They  worked  for  a  year  or 
more  developing  the  Wilson- Webster  cane  loader,  which  seemed  to 
l^e  the  most  feasible  at  that  time,  and  even  at  that  they  were  unable  to 
liave  that  machine  perfected  to  a  point  where  it  would  do  the  work 
satisfactorily. 

Mr.  Raker.  What  is  the  name  of  this  association  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association.  It  was 
organized  in  the  year  1880  or  1881  as  the  Planters'  Labor  &  Supply 
Co.  Then  somewhere  around  1890  that  was  disincorporated  and  the 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  took  over  the  work. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  it  is  incorporated? 

Mr.  Mead.  No  ;  it  is  a  voluntary  association. 

Mr.  Raker.  About  how  many  members  have  you  ? 

Mr.   Mead.  It  has  about  42  plantation  members  and  about  200 
individual  members. 

Mr.  Raker.  How  is  it  maintained? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  maintained  by  voluntary  contributions,  assess- 
ments. 

So  much  for  the  labor-saving  devices.  Mr.  Wright  said  that  we 
were  mismanaging  in  that  we  were  not  going  in  for  paper  mulch- 
ing. Probably  paper  mulching  does  not  mean  much  to  you  gentle- 
men, not  having  seen  the  system,  but  that  it  is  [indicating  photo- 
graph]. It  is  a  proposition  of  putting  paper  over  a  row  of  cane 
as  it  is  planted  and  the  cane  comes  up  through  it ;  the  cane  shoot  is 
sufficiently  strong  to  puncture  the  paper  but  the  weeds,  not  being  as 
strong  as  the  cane,  are  killed  because  they  have  no  moisture  and  no 
light.  The  first  experiment  in  paper  mulching  was  conducted  on 
the  Olaa  plantation  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii.  That  appears  in  the 
report  of  1916,  and  when  you  recollect  and  recall  that  it  takes  a 
sugar  crop  18  months  to  grow  you  can  see  that  there  has  only  been 
one  crop  harvested  where  any  extensive  area  was  so  treated,  and  you 
can  see  that  it  is  a  little  bit  early  yet  to  say  that  paper  mulching 
•should  be  adopted  by  everybody.  The  Olaa  plantation  has  appar- 
i€ntly  made  a  success  of  it,  but  other  plantations  in  the  same  district 


908  LABOR    PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII, 

have  experimented  and  claim  paper  mulching  is  not  a  success  with 
them. 

Mr.  Raker.  Just  Avhat  is  the  object  of  paper  mulching? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  to  keep  the  weeds  down. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  cover  the  row  with  paper  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  the  cane  grows  under  that  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes ;  and  the  shoot  is  strong  enough  to  go  through  the 
paper. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  that  kills  the  weeds  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  And  the  weeds,  of  course,  can  not  come  up,  the  weeds 
are  not  as  strong  as  the  cane.  The  plantations  along  the  Hilo  coast 
have  experimented  and  it  has  not  been  a  success  on  those  plantations. 
The  Olaa  plantation  has  put  in  a  paper  mill  to  manufacture  the 
paper  from  the  fiber  of  the  cane,  at  very  consideral)le  expense,  and 
so  far  as  I  know  the}^  feel  it  is  all  right,  but  it  is  too  early  yet  to 
say,  especially  in  view  of  the  experiments  on  the  plantations  im- 
mediately adjoining  Olaa,  that  it  will  be  a  success  on  all  plantations. 
Furthermore,  it  is  adapted  only  to  the  plantations  where  there  is  an 
excessive  rainfall  bringing  on  a  very  heavy  growth  of  weeds,  and 
perhaps  90  per  cent  of  the  plantations  have  no  use  at  all  for  paper 
mulching. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  would  have  no  relation  to  cutting  and  loading? 

Mr.  Mead.  Xo^  sir.  If  this  Olaa  experiment  is  eventually  shown 
to  be  a  success,  there  is  no  question  about  other  plantations  adopting 
it,  but  the}^  have  got  to  be  shown  first. 

Mr.  Irw^x.  Would  it  be  feasible  to  adopt  it  on  irrigated  planta- 
tions ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No  ;  not  at  all ;  only  on  plantations  where  there  is  a 
large  rainfall,  and  most  of  our  cane  is  raised  on  irrigated  planta- 
tions. So  it  is  not  right  to  say  that  plantations  are  mismanaging 
because  they  are  not  adopting  the  paper-mulching  system. 

You  will  recall  that  Mr.  Wright  stated  that  he  was  employed  in  a 
sugar  mill  for  three  nionths.  and  that  he  spent  a  da}^  in  visiting  three 
])lantations,  so  that  his  experience  is  confined  to  three  months  and  a 
day.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  an  expert,  while  Mr.  Wright  claims  he 
is.  My  experience  on  plantations,  on  and  off,  for  the  last  20  years 
does  not  qualify  me  to  be  an  expert.  I  would  not  know  the  kind  of 
fertilizer  or  the  amount  of  fertilizer  to  be  put  on  any  particular  acre 
of  sugar  land,  and  if  I  tried  to  boil  sugar  I  w^ould  probably  gum  up 
the  mill  so  that  they  would  have  to  use  dynamite  to  loosen  it  up.  But 
Mr.  Wright  claimed  to  be  an  exjpert  because  of  his  three  months  and 
a  day  experience. 

Mr.  Wright  said  that  the  plantations  were  mismanaging  because 
they  did  not  adopt  the  Palmer  plan  of  compromising  the  Japanese 
strike  of  1920.  The  Palmer  plan  was  a  scheme  proposed  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Palmer,  of  the  Central  Union  Church ;  Dr.  Hobdy,  a  practicing  phy- 
sician; Mr.  Dean,  a  professor  at  the  College  of  Hawaii;  Dr.  Mori,  a 
Japanese  medical  doctor;  and  one  other  Japanese  whose  name  I  do 
not  recall.  These  men  had  absolutely  no  experience  with  plantation 
work.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  of  them  had  ever  been  on  a  planta- 
tion for  any  length  of  time  at  all.  The  plan  which  they  proposed 
Avas  Avhat  is  used  now  in  so  many  of  the  factories  in  the  States,  fac- 
tory committees  of  workmen  to  take  up  matters  of  factory  man- 


LABOR    PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  909 

agement,  and  the  emplo3dng  and  discharging  of  labor.  T  am  not 
particuhirly  familiar  with  it  myself  except  that  I  have  read  about  it. 
It  works  in  some  instances  very  well  within  the  four  walls  of  a 
factory^  but  to  apply  that  scheme  to  plantations  covering  thousands 
of  acres,  and  with  isolated  camps  miles  and  miles  apart,  is  absolutely 
impossible.  Furthermore,  Avhen  that  scheme  was  proposed  the  Jap- 
anese strike  had  reached  that  point  where  it  was  a  question  of 
Americanism  or  Japanism;  and  we  did  not  propose  at  that  time — 
that  is,  the  Sugar  Planters'  Association — to  lay  down  to  any  Japa- 
nese organization  of  any  kind.  This  proposition  was  such  that  we 
were  told  afterwards  by  prominent  Japanese  that  if  we  had  adopted 
it,  this  Palmer  plan  of  having  committees  of  laborers  to  exercise 
control  of  labor  on  the  plantations,  we  would  simply  have  been 
playing  into  the  hands  of  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  and 
perpetuated  them  in  their  office  and  in  their  work. 

Mr.  Wright  stated,  among  other  things,  that  there  is  an  inter- 
change of  plantation  managers  between  Hawaii,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico, 
and  the  Philippines.  To  my  knowledge  there  has  never  been  a 
plantation  manager  come  from  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  or  the  Philippines 
to  Hawaii,  but  there  have  been  men  who  have  come  from  Louisiana. 
We  claim  in  Hawaii  the  most  improved  methods  and  the  most  effi- 
cient management  of  plantations  anywhere,  and  we  have  graduated 
men  from  our  plantations  who  have  taken  large  jobs  in  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico,  and  the  Philippines.  The  fact  is  that  pretty  nearly  all  the 
managers  in  the  Philippines,  in  the  large  factories,  are  former 
Hawaiians  ;"•  a  number  of  our  men  have  gone  to  Cuba  and  a  number 
have  gone  to  Porto  Rico. 

We  have  an  experiment  station  in  Hawaii  that  is  the  best  sugar 
experiment  station  in  the  world.  It  is  conducted  at  very  large  ex- 
pense, but  the  work  which  it  has  done  and  the  results  it  has  accom- 
plished have  more  than  made  up  the  expense  of  maintaining  it  many 
times  over.  We  have  had  men  like  Dr.  Maxwell,  a  very  skilled 
scientist,  go  from  Hawaii  to  New  Zealand;  he  is  in  charge  of  the 
work  there  and  has  a  ver}^  prominent  position.  Mr.  Crawley,  who  is 
now  in  charge  of  the  sugar  experiment  station  in  Cuba  and  also  a 
very  fine  scientist,  graduated  from  Hawaii ;  Dr.  Cobb,  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture,  also  came  from  Hawaii.  Mr. 
Maxwell,  the  manager  of  one  of  the  plantations  in  Porto  Rico,  was 
on  the  plantation  at  Kealia,  Hawaii,  and  the  two  McLanes,  one  now 
in  Cuba,  came  from  Hawaii. 

There  are  a  number  of  others  that  have  gone  out  from  Hawaii  to 
take  very  prominent  positions  in  connection  with  plantations.  The 
Honolulu  Iron  Works  and  Catton,  Neili  &  Co.,  with  the  experience 
gained  in  the  construction  of  Hawaiian  sugar  mills,  have  developed 
a  sugar  mill  which  is  the  very  last  word  in  sugar-mill  construction, 
and  they  build  mills  from  the  Philippines  to  Cuba.  Our  managers 
and  other  skilled  men  do  not  go  around  with  their  hands  behind  their 
backs  and  with  their  eyes  looking  up  to  the  skies,  as  might  be  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Wright's  testimony.  Right  here  in  the  room  we  have 
a  man,  Mr.  Horner,  whose  plows  and  cultivators  are  known  and  ex- 
tensively used  wherever  sugar  cane  is  gro^vn.  The  Messchaert 
grooved  rollers,  which  w^ere  developed  by  one  of  our  engineers,  are 
used  in  every  modern  sugar  mill.  The  Searby  shredders  are  used  in 
many  mills,  and  many  other  ideas  and  inventions  by  our  men  have 


910  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAIL 

been  put  into  use  throughout  the  sugar-producing  countries  of  the 
world. 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  is  all  very  interesting  and  very  instructive. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes;  as  bearing  on  gross  mismanagement  and  what 
we  do. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  still  it  does  not  relieve  the  situation  of  the  fact 
that  you  want  to  bring  in  Chinese  coolie  labor  to  do  the  work,  which 
is  against  the  policy  of  the  American  people. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  am  not  talking  to  the  point  of  whether  it  is  wise  or 
unwise  to  bring  in  Chinese  coolie  labor,  but  I  am  talking  to  the  point 
of  the  charges  that  have  been  made  as  to  the  gross  mismanagement 
of  the  sugar  plantations  of  Hawaii,  charges  made  by  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor. 

I  have  given  you  the  testimony  of  our  own  people  and  will  now 
give  you  the  testimony  and  statements  from  Government  depart- 
ment sources.  The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of 
the  Department  of  Commerce  in  1915  and  1916  investigated  the* 
sugar  plantations  in  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  Louisiana,  and  Cuba.  The 
investigation  was  carried  on  by  Mr.  Frank  J.  Sheridan  with  a  corps 
of  assistants.  He  was  a  man  peculiarly  adapted  to  that  work  and 
he  got  right  into  it.  I  would  like  to  read  a  few  extracts  from  the 
report  for  the  purpose  of  showing  a  comparison  of  conditions : 

In  the  iRlaiid  of  Hawaii  tlie  most  sc  entitle  and  intens^ive  system  of  cultiva- 
tion is  practiced  n  contrad  stinction  to  tlie  extensive  system  generally  pursued' 
in  Cuba. 

This  is  in  reply  to  Mr.  Wright,  and  particular!}^  in  reply  to  Mr. 
Gompers,  as  to  our  antiquated  methods  of  loading  cane  and  how 
much  better  their  facilities  are  in  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico. 

The  cane  cutting,  loading,  and  transportation  methods  of  Hawaii  are  in 
striking  contrast  to  those  of  Cuba;  the  rushing  of  the  csuie  by  fluming  from 
the  harvest  field  to  the  factory  and  tli,e  bring  ng  of  the  ra'lway  track  and  car- 
upon  the  heels  of  the  cane  cutters  in  all  parts  of  tlie  fields  in  Hawaii  compare 
interest  ngly  w^th  the  laborious  and  jn-ecise  adjustment  of  each  stalk  in  the 
oxcart  and  the  slow  hauling  of  the  cane  by  ox  teams  to  tlie  i-a  Iroad,  to  be 
reloaded  and  hauled  to  the  mill  in  Cuba. 

In  thu'  extracfon  of  the  juce  from  the  cane  in  Hawaiian  factories  and  in 
other  milling  and  scientific  processes  the  results  atta'ned  are  the  best  of  all 
cane-sugar  countries.  So,  as  Hawaii  represents  the  best  efforts  of  the  United" 
States  and  its  insular  possessions  in  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar  cane  and  :'n 
the  manufacture  of  sugar,  compar'sons  in  this  report  are  made  for  the  most 
part  between  Hawaiian  results  and  conditions  and  those  of  its  principal  fore'gn 
competitor  and  the  main  source  of  our  foreign  sugar  supply,  the  island  of  Cuba.- 

Then  he  says : 

Natural  cond'tions  are  most  favorable  in  Cuba.  There  is  no  scarcity  of  fer- 
tile land  suited  to  sugar  cane;  there  is  al)undant  rainfall;  there  is  sufficient 
population  to  supply  the  labor  needed,  without  the  pressure  of  population  upon 
land  that  leads  to  liigh  land  values  and  tends  toward  relatively  small  holdings. 
In  Hawaii  conditions  are  very  different.  Land  suited  for  sugar  cane  is  limited 
in  area  and  h'gh  in  price;  deficient  rainfall  requires  on  most  of  the  plantations 
expensive  systems  of  irrigation;  the  use  of  fertilizers  is  necessary;  and  laborers 
from  other  countries  must  be  induced  to  settle  in  the  islands.  Yet  by  science 
and  cooperation  these  difficulties  have  been  largely  overcome;  nowdiere  "s  the- 
cultivation  of  sugar  cane  more  intensively  and  successively  conducted ;  nowhere 
is  more  efficient  machinery  employed;  nowhere  are  accounts  more  carefully 
kept;  and  nowhere  is  the  industry,  as  a  whole,  more  skillfully  directed. 

There  is  the  testimony  of  an  independent  investigator  who  has 
gone  through  all  of  the  sugar-producing  countries  of  the  world. 


I 


LA1U)H    PKOBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  911 

Before  closino-,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  state  tfiat  under 
date  of  August  10  a  telegram  has  been  received  from  Gov.  Farring- 
ton,  as  follows : 

Territorial  grand  jury  August  1  returned  indictment  21  Japanese  charging 
ci-iminal  conspiracy  relating  to  dynamiting  and  sabotage  incidents,  Japanese 
strike.  1920.  Specilic  charge,  dynamiting  house  of  Sakamaki  Olaa  by  so-called 
"  assassin  corps,"  under  direction  certain  officers  and  directors  Japanese  strike 
uKnement.  Action  supported  by  s\A'orn  confession  members  alleged  assassin 
corps -who  frdled  receive  payments  alleged  to  have  been  promised  for  their 
work.  Men  indicted  are  leaders  Japanese  Federation  Labor  active  in  strike 
management  and  propaganda. 

The  men  who  signed  the  pamphlet,  or  some  of  the  men  who 
signed  the  pamphlet,  put  in  the  record,  showing  the  Japanese  Fed- 
eration of  Labor's  viewpoint  in  the  strike  of  1920,  are  among  those 
who  were  indicted,  including  Miyazawa,  Gotto,  and  Tsutsumi.  They 
were  directors  and  secretaries  of  the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor. 

The  Chairman.  Were  those  members  indicted? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  They  were  among  the  persons  indicted  and  who 
called  themselves  the  "  assassin's  band  "  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir.  Hoshino  and  Koyama  were  also  directors  of 
the  Japanese  Federation  of  Labor,  and  they  signed  this  report. 
During  the  strike  we  had  information  which  was  perfectly  clear,  but 
we  did  not  have  it  in  sufficient  detail,  and  we  could  not  .get  our  hands 
on  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  indict  the  people.  However,  we  knew 
about  it.  We  knew  that  they  had  in  their  organization  of  the  Japa- 
nese Federation  of  Labor  an  assassins'  corps,  as  they  called  it. 
This  assassins'  corps  was  composed  of  men  of  different  districts  or 
prefects  in  Japan,  as,  for  instance,  from  the  Hiroshima  and  Fukuoka 
districts  of  Japan.  Those  districts  had  representatives  on  this 
assassins'  corps,  and  it  was  their  business  to  beat  up  people,  burn 
their  houses,  kill  them,  or  do  anything  they  could  to  cliscourage  any- 
body who  attempted  to  go  back  to  work,  or  to  discourage  anybody 
who  attempted  to  get  anybody  to  go  back  to  work. 

They  would  hold  up  automobiles  at  any  time  of  the  night  and  flash 
lights  in  the  cars  to  find  out  who  was  going  to  the  plantations.  They 
had  the  most  efficient  system  of  picketing  I  ever  saw\  They  had  their 
organization  trained  as  perfectly  as  an  army  organization.  It  w^as 
organized  on  the  lines  of  an  army  organization.  That  is  to  say,  they 
had  sergeants, 'captains,  and  all  the  grades.  They  had  their  majors 
and  battalion  commanders  and  their  major  generals  in  Honolulu. 
The  whole  thing  was  worked  up  most  efficiently.  We  knew  about  this, 
but  we  did  not  have  the  evidence  in  such  shape  that  we  could  take  it 
to  the  grand  jury. 

The  Chairman.  They  were  some  of  the  men  who  were  to  have  been 
paid  for  this  kind  of  work? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir ;  they  were  to  have  been  paid  by  the  Japanese 
Federation  of  Labor,  and  they  did  not  pay  them.  They  then  gave 
the  information  which  led  to  the  indictment  of  the  whole  crowd. 

Mr.  Raio:r.  They  were  Japanese  who  were  to  be  paid  by  the 
Japanese  Federation  of  Labor  and  they  made  a  confession? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir ;  and  they  have  indicted  the  Japanese  in  that  or- 
ganization. The  original  directorate  of  the  Japanese  Federation  of 
Labor  contained  no  laborers,  but  it  contained  men  who  were  not 
eligible  to  citizenship,  and  that  was  the  organization  that  had  this 


912  LABOR   PROBLEMS    IX    HAWAIL 

assassins'  corps  and  that  sought  the  privilege  of  afliliating  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Does  not  that  sound  in  the  same  way  as  if  a  body  of 
Avhite  men  had  entered  into  some  kind  of  combination  to  do  some 
mischief  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor 

Mr.  Raker.  I  did  not  intimate  that  and  I  repudiate  any  such  sug- 
gestion. That  is  unfortunate,  Mr.  Mead,  because  nothing  coukl  be 
further  from  my  mind. 

The  Chairman.  Weil,  strike  it  out. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  have  any  sort  of  organiza- 
tion or  not 

Mr.  Raker  (interposing).  It  shall  remain  in  the  record,  so  far  as 
I  am  concerned.  That  is  not  a  proper  deduction  to  draw  from  my 
question.  What  I  meant  to  say  was  that  any  man  or  class  of  men 
who  violate  the  law,  or  organize  to  violate  the  law,  would  be  in  that 
same  class,  and  these  same  men  would  be  just  like  white  men  who 
would  undertake  to  do  the  same  sort  of  thing. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  presume  some  white  men  would  do  that  sort  of  thing. 

The   Chairman.  We  have   a    double-headed   problem   here.     Mr. 

(lompers  charged  in  lais  interview,  and  I  think  he  stated  on  the  stand, 

-that  myself  and  others  were  tr^ang  to  make  a  Japanese  question  out  of 

this ;  but,  for  the  life  of  me,  I  can  not  separate  the  Japanese  question 

from  this  labor  question. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  are  so  bound  together  that  3^ou  can  not  separate 
them. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  only  one  question  involved  in  this  whole  hear- 
ing. I  have  stated,  and  will  repeat  here,  and  I  will  also  repeat  it  on 
the  floor  of  the  House,  possibly  on  a  question  of  personal  privilege, 
that  the  only  question  here  is  the  question  of  the  admission  of  Chinese. 
They  have  practically  admitted  that.  They  do  not  ask  to  have  others 
Avho  are  otherAvise  inadmissible  admitted,  and  I  think  the  record  will 
show  that.  It  is  Chinese  that  are  to  come  in  under  a  system  of 
peonage,  involuntary  servitude,  or  serfdom.  Now,  in  view  of  the 
statement  that  I  have  made  here  from  the  very  first  day  of  this  hear- 
ing, and  notwithstanding  an}^  other  statements  made  to  the  contrary, 
why  should  the  statement  be  made  that  I  am  in  favor  of  this  legisla- 
tion? Anybody  ought  to  know  from  my  first  statement  that  I  am 
against  it.  Anybody  knowing  the  facts  who  circulates  a  statement 
of  that  kind  is  giving  circulation  to  something  that  is  false.  The 
proposition  is  clearly  unconstitutional,  and  consequently.  Congress 
could  not  enact  such  a  thing,  even  if  it  wanted  to  sanction  such  a 
system. 

The  Chairman.  I  take  it  that  this  committee,  having  this  resolu- 
tion before  it,  has  a  perfect  right  to  go  into  every  phase  of  it,  to  hear 
every  witness  and  to  cross-examine  them  in  detail.  We  also  have  the 
right  to  substitute  for  the  resolution,  and  to  devise,  if  we  can,  still 
another  resolution,  and  I  think  it  is  a  matter  of  record  that  Mr. 
Mead  himself  offered  something  that  might  be  considered  to  be  a 
constructive  plan  of  relief  for  Hawaii,  which  was  a  plan  to  lift 
certain  restrictions  from  the  present  immigration  laws  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Territories. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  913 

Mr.  Mead.  May  I  add  there  that  it  was  our  idea  to  build  up  the 
white  popuhition  '^ 

The  Chairman.  I  will  take  that  up  with  you  a  little  later.  Now, 
if  this  temporary  plan  were  put  into  effect,  how  many  Chinese  do 
you  think  would  be  brought  in  ^    Cive  us  your  estimate  of  that. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  jou  think  the  shortage  of  labor  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  is  this  year  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  The  shortage  of  labor  there,  I  should  say,  would  be 
eight  or  ten  thousand  people  right  now. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  let  us  say  10,000. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  should  say  eight  or  ten  thousand. 

The  Chairman.  In  the  sugar  industry  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir.  The  last  figures  I  had  from  Honolulu  showed 
that  the}^  were  6,000  short,  but  that  was  some  months  ago.  I  do  not 
know  what  the  conditions  are  now.  I  know  that  they  have  been 
growing  worse.  I  should  say  that  we  have  a  shortage  of  8,000  with 
the  sugar  industry,  although  that  may  be  too  high. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  idea  of  the  shortage,  Mr.  Dilling- 
ham ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  My  idea,  from  the  data  we  have  been  able  to 
secure,  is  that  the  shortage  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  15,000  men 
to-day. 

The  Chairman.  For  all  common  labor  in  Hawaii  ? 

^Ir.  Dillingham.  For  all  agricultural  labor. 

The  Chairman.  I  will  ask  Mr.  Mead  if  that  number  of  Chinese 
were  added  to  the  mixed  population  of  Hawaii,  which  is  already 
heavily  Japanese  with  a  considerable  sprinkling  of  Chinese,  would 
it  be  possible  to  proceed  with  any  plan  that  would  let  any  kind  of 
European  labor  come  into  the  islands? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  that  if  the  literacy  test  were  lifted 
and  the  head  tax  suspended,  you  could  still  bring  European  labor 
in  there? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  And  displace  an}'  Chinese  or  Japanese  labor 
there  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  that  the  European  labor  could  go  along  as  the 
requirements  deA^eloped,  but  I  can  not  sa;^  that  the  European  labor 
would  in  any  way  compete  with  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  labor. 
There  would  not  be  any  displacement  of  the  ordinary  Chinese  labor 
or  even  of  Japanese  labor  if  we  should  get  started  with  European 
immigration. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  have  an}^  idea  that  the  wages  of  common 
labor  will  fall  in  the  islands  within  the  next  few  years? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  believe  they  will  fall  very  much.  There  may 
be  a  little  decrease  in  the  bonus,  but  so  far  as  paying  them  a  good 
living  wage  is  concerned,  it  makes  no  difference  whether  the  price 
of  sugar  is  2  cents  or  5  cents,  they  have  got  to  be  paid  a  living  wage. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  a  pretty  general  experience  that  once  wages 
are  advanced 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing) .  Once  you  get  wages  up,  it  is  not  easy  to 
get  them  down.     The  tendency  in  Hawaii,  or  the  tendency  ever  since 

.56754— 21— SEE  7,  pt  2 24 


914  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

I  have  been  in  HaAvaii,  has  been  to  increase  wages,  just  the  same  as 
everywhere  else  in  the  world. 

The  Chaikman.  This  original  resolution  provides  that  these 
people  may  be  brought  in  for  agricultural  labor  or  domestic  labor 
purposes  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Why  do  you  include  domestic  labor? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  know  what  the  reason  for  that  was.  How- 
ever, if  you  have  been  out  there  and  have  had  to  depend  upon 
Japanese  domestic  servants,  you  would  know  what  a  tremendous 
problem  we  are  up  against  in  that  respect.  You  will  realize  how 
they  persecute  the  housewives  out  there.  The  domestic-service  prob- 
lem in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  is  a  serious  one.  Of  course,  it  is  serious 
everywhere,  but  the  Japanese  have  control  of  domestic  service  in 
Hawaii,  and  the  conditions  are  absolutely  impossible. 

The  Chairman.  Yet  Japanese  servants  are  used  there? 

Mr.  Mead.  It  is  all  we  have.  We  can  o;et  no  other  servants,  and 
therefore  must  stand  their  impudence  and  stand  their  persecution, 
because  in  a  hot,  tropical  climate  white  women  must  have  some  assist- 
ance in  their  housework. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  would  expect  Chinese  to  perform  that  service  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir ;  and  they  are  the  best  domestic  servants  in  the 
world. 

The  Chairman.  American  people  employ  them  in  continental 
United  States. 

Mr.  Mead.  They  would  be  up  in  the  seventh  heaven  if  they  could 
have  them  in  America. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  would  have  a  very  steadying  effect  upon  the 
labor,  both  domestic  and  field  labor,  to  have  a  division  of  the  na- 
tionalities, or  a  more  equitable  division  or  a  more  balanced  division. 

Mr.  Eaker.  That  would  be  reverting  or  changing  back  to  where 
they  were  40  years  ago  on  the  Japanese  proposition,  would  it  not? 
My  friend,  Mr.  Dillingham,  has  just  stated  that  he  would  like  to 
have  a  division  of  the  various  nationalities  so  that  they  could  use 
them  for  the  various  kinds  of  labor. 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Everybody  who  knows  anj^thing  at  all  about  the  Japa- 
nese is  against  them,  or  he  ought  to  be  against  them,  and  if  the  Ameri- 
can people  would  only  seek  the  truth  as  it  exists,  they  w^ill  exclude 
the  Japanese. 

Mr.  Mead.  I  agree  with  you. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  two  races  can  not  exist  together,  because  of  the 
racial  differences  as  well  as  the  economic  differences.  Now,  the 
American  people  have  tried  it,  and  they  have  demonstrated  through 
years  of  trouble,  worry,  and  annoyance  that  they  must  exclude  the 
Chinese.  They  found  that  they  must  exclude  the  Chinese,  and  they 
have  done  so.  Now,  certainly  we  can  not  revert  back  to  the  condi- 
tions that  existed  30  years  ago  and  admit  Chinese  into  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  and  eventually  admit  them  into  continental  United  States. 

Mr.  Mead.  While  that  is  perfectly  true,  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
we  have  a  peculiar  condition  in  Hawaii.  You  have  there,  in  the  first 
place,  this  very  largely  preponderating  Japanese  population,  which 
is  a  menace  from  the  industrial  standpoint.  You  have  that  condi- 
tion in  Hawaii. 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  .  915 

Mr.  Eaker.  Let  us  be  frank  about  it 

Mr.  Mead  (interposing).  You  have  that  condition  before  you.  The 
problem  is  to  get  some  one  else  in  there.  You  will  never  in  a  thou- 
sand years  get  anywhere  by  brhiging  in  white  European  laboi*, 
because  they  do  not  compete.  The  white  man  will  not  edge  the 
Japanese  out,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Japanese  will  edge  the 
white  man  out  every  time.  That  has  been  the  experien  e  there  for 
years. 

Now,  you  will  have  your  Chinese  under  control.  Under  this  bill 
you  would  have  them  under  control,  and  you  could  stop  them  when- 
ever you  wanted  to,  or  you  could  limit  the  numbers  coming  in  You 
will  have  the  opportunity  of  bringing  in  wdiite  people  from  Europe^ 
thus  affording  the  means  of  building  up  the  vsdiite  population,  but 
we  can  not  build  up  the  white  population  so  long  as  we  have  that 
predominating  Japanese  population  out  there.  That  is  my  theory 
and  understanding  of  it. 

Mr.  Baker.  If  we  concede,  and  I  think  that  concession  is  correct, 
that  the  Chinese  will  drive  out  the  Japanese — and  even  the  Japanese 
Government  recognizes  that  fact,  because  they  prohibit  Chinese 
labor  from  going  to  Japan — what  is  the  result?  The  western  part 
of  the  United  States  has  had  an  experience  w^ith  Chinese  troubles, 
and  Avould  we  not  be  going  right  back  to  a  condition  of  serf  labor 
or  to  a  condition  of  labor  under  control  if  we  should  permit  these 
Chinese  to  come  into  Hawaii?  Notwithstanding  the  very  serious 
condition  that  you  people  have  out  there,  and  it  must  be  a  serious 
one  on  account  of  your  heavy  Japanese  population,  will  this  relieve 
the  situation?  Would  we  be  in  any  way  clarifying  the  situation  or 
assisting  you  by  permitting  another  alien  race  to  come  to  Hawaii 
wdien  Congress  has  solmenly  promised  in  its  compact  with  your 
people  or  with  the  Hawaiian  Government  that  it  would  not  permit 
the  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the  Territory  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  think  that  the  provision  in  the  organic  act  of  HaAvaii 
was  simply  a  provision  to  carry  out  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  which 
existed  in  the  United  States  at  the  time  the  organic  act  was  adopted. 
I  do  not  tliink  it  had  anything  else  in  view.  I  do  not  think  that  it 
meant  that  you  should  never  have  any  Chinese  in  Hawaii. 

The  Chairman.  After  the  United  States  had  adopted  the  (xeary 
Act.  or  tlie  Chinese  ex'  lusion  act,  Hawaii  then  folloAved  suit.  Now, 
when  annexation  came,  both  countries  had 

Mr.  Mead.  They  both  had  the  same  laws. 

The  Chairman.  They  excluded  the  Chinese,  but  had  not  then 
learned  so  much  about  the  Japanese  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir ;  that  is  true. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  not  any  too  familiar  Avith  the  goA^erning 
laAvs  passed  by  Congress  for  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines,  but 
if  it  could  be  done,  Avould  not  the  passage  of  an  act  authorizing  the 
United  States  itself  to  send  labor  commissioners  from  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  to  those  insular  possessions  to  assist  in  securing  labor 
for  the  islands  be  a  better  plan  of  meeting  the  situation? 

Mr.  Mead.  I  do  not  knoAv.  The  Department  of  Labor  now  has  no 
lepresentative  at  all  in  Porto  Rico.  Going  back  a  little  bit,  before  we 
Avent  into  the  Avar,  Mr.  Clayt(m,  I  think  was  his  name,  of  the  Bureau 
of  Labor,  suggested  that  if  we  wanted  Porto  Rican  laborers  the 


916  •  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IIST    HAWAII. 

Department  of  Labor  would  be  willing  to  help  us.  Upon  that  invi- 
tation I  went  down  to  Porto  Rico,  but  the  war  broke  out  soon  after 
and  that  was  the  end  of  it.  However,  at  that  time  they  did  offer  to 
help  us  get  Porto  Ricans.  I  did  endeavor  to  get  some  sort  of  assist- 
ance along  that  line  when  I  came  on  this  time,  but  the  bureau  was 
not  in  a  position  to  grant  it. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  you  say  was  the  population  of  Porto 
Rico? 

Mr.  Mead.  One  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 

The  Chairman.  How  does  the  actual  area  of  that  island  compare 
with  the  area  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Porto  Rico  has  a  little  less  than  4,000  square  miles, 
while  the  island  of  Hawaii,  which  is  the  largest  island  in  the  group, 
contains  over  4,000  square  miles. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  more  cultivated  area  in  Porto  Rico  than 
in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  No,  sir;  there  is  not.  We  raise  more  sugar  and  raise 
more  pineapples,  and,  in  fact,  raise  more  agricultural  products  than 
Porto  Rico  produces. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  more  area  in  cultivation  ? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes,  sir;  we  have  more  area  actually  under  cultivation. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  addition  to  the  act  referred  to,  there  was  a  joint 
resolution  of  July  7,  1898,  Thirtieth  Statutes  at  Large,  page  571, 
which  is  a  part  of  the  resolution  admitting  Hawaii  as  a  Territory. 
Then,  again,  on  April  30,  1900,  we  made  it  applicable  to  Hawaii, 
excluding  the  Chinese.  Then,  again,  on  April  29,  1902,  we  reenacted 
the  Chinese  immigration  laws,  and  made  them  apply  specifically  to 
the  Territories,  including  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Mead.  There  was  an  additional  law  which  prevented  them  from 
coming  from  Hawaii  to  the  mainland. 

Mr.  Raker.  That  is  in  this  act.  Now,  I  want  to  ask  you  your  view 
on  this  matter.  There  has  been  called  to  my  attention  an  article 
published  yesterday  (Aug.  11,  1921)  in  the  Washington  Times,  on 
the  editorial  page,  containing  the  following  statement : 

The  House  Committee  on  Immigration  has  reported  a  most  extraordinary 
resolution  in  favor  of  permitting  the  planters  of  Hawaii  to  import  50,000 
Chinese  coolies  to  work  as  bonded  slaves  on  the  sugar  plantations  for  five  years, 
and  then,  if  desirable,  to  be  deported  in  favor  of  another  batch  of  coolies. 

Of  course,  you  would  not  be  in  favor  of  anything  of  that  kind? 

Mr.  Mead.  Of  course,  that  is  a  misstatement  about  anything  that 
has  happened. 

Mr.  Raker.  In  the  first  place,  this  resolution  has  not  been  re- 
ported. It  has  been  ordered  reported  by  not  more  than  five,  and 
possibly  four,  members  of  the  committee. 

The  Chairman.  T  do  not  think  that  is  correct;  the  action  was 
taken  by  a  quorum  of  the  full  committee. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes,  Mr.  Chairman;  I  think  it  is.  I  do  not  propose 
to  stand  under  the  imputation — after  the  committee  has  acted  and 
we  have  been  holding  hearings  for  10  days — of  having  voted  for 
this  resolution. 

The  Chairman.  I  never  knew  you  to  falter  on  any  investigation, 
and  it  is  largely  at  your  insistence  that  this  and  other  hearings  have 
run   almost  to   the  exhausting  point.     This   committee  is  charged 


LABOK  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  917 

Avith  losing-  time,  but  we  have  a  problem  before  iis  and  will  go  to 
the  bottom  of  it. 

Mr.  Kaiver.  And  I  will  go  to  the  bottom  of  it. 

The  Chaieman.  We  have  no  right  as  Members  of  Congress, 
A\hether  on  this  committee  or  any  other  committee,  having  taken 
these  and  other  islands  under  our  wings  as  a  Territory  or  as  insular 
possessions,  to  be  dilatory  about  anything  that  will  help  them  one 
way  or  another.  That  is  the  fault  of  the  United  States  Government 
and,  in  my  opinion,  it  shows  the  mistake  and  futility  of  taking  out- 
side possessions,  filled  with  nonassimilable  people,  under  the  flag  of 
the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  willing  to  give  relief  and  do  what  I  can,  but  I 
am  unalterably  opposed  to  any  legislation  that  violates  the  thir- 
teenth or  fourteenth  amendments  to  the  Constitution.  So  that  there 
(an  be  no  question  about  it,  I  have  been  opposed  to  elaj^anese  immi- 
gration into  this  country  and  have  done  everything  I  could  to  have 
them  excluded,  and  I  am  likewise  unalterably  opposed  to  breaking 
down,  in  any  conceivable  way,  the  Chinese  exclusion  law.  It  ought 
to  be  fortified  instead  of  weakened.  The  way  this  editorial  reads  it 
would  appear  as  though  I  am  in  favor  of  bringing  Chinese  to  Ha- 
waii for  the  purpose  of  putting  them  in  bondag'e  and  making  them 
slaves. 

The  Chairman.  Your  reputation  is  such  that  no  such  imputa- 
tion could  hurt  you.  Besides,  members  of  the  committee  have  got  to 
handle  this,  distasteful  or  not.  In  Congress  it  is  not  all  peaches  and 
cream. 

Mr.  Mead.  Let  me  say  that  I  have  never  had  the  slightest  doubt 
about  your  attitude  in  the  matter,  and  that  you  have  been  opposed 
to  bringing  in  Chinese. 

Mr.  Raker.  And  I  have  opposed  it  because  it  is  fundamentally^ 
against  our  Government.  I  have  had  experience;  I  have  gone 
through  it;  I  have  seen  this  both  as  to  the  Japanese  and  Chinese; 
and  if  we  had  not  ahvays  put  the  soft  pedal  on  public  men  in  regard. 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  Japanese,  we  would  have  liad  settled  that 
question  10  jesiTS  ago.  That  is  the  trouble  of  it.  There  is  always 
some  question  raised  as  to  some  delicate  international  matter  being- 
involved,  when  it  is  the  sovereign  right  of  this  Government  to  say 
who  shall  come  here  and  who  shall  stay  here. 

The  Chairman.  There  will  be  all  kinds  of  delicate  international 
matters  here  in  November. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  only  thing  I  want  to  say  about  that  is  that  if 
there  are  open  sessions  instead  of  secret  sessions,  we  will  get  results ; 
but  if  there  are  secret  sessions,  we  will  be  lost. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  concluded,  Mr.  Mead? 

Mr.  Mead.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Then  we  will  hear  Mr.  Dillingham. 

ADDITIONAL  STATEMENT  OF  MR.  WALTER  F.  DILLINGHAM, 
CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  HAWAIIAN  EMERGENCY  LABOR  COMMIS- 
SION. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  want  to  put  in  a  statement  by  the  commission. 
We  have  gone  wide  of  the  mark  in  our  discussions,  and  implications 
have  been  made  that  this  commission  is  favoring  the  violation  of  the 


918  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Constitution  of  tlie  United  States  in  the  plan  proposed,  and  so  on. 
So  that  there  may  be  no  mistake  as  to  what  this  commission's  attitude 
is  in  relieving  the  situation,  which  I  think  the  committee  as  a  whole 
has  recognized  to  be  a  serious  condition  in  Hawaii  to-day,  this  state- 
ment is  offered  as  disclosing  the  position  of  the  emergency  labor 
commission  of  the  Territory : 

Statement  of  the  Hawaii  Emergency  Laboe  Commission  Before  the  Com- 
?,riTTEE  ON  Immigration  and  Naturalization  on  House  Joint  Resolution 
17L 

A    PLAN    OF    OPERATIONS    UNDER    THE    PROPOSED    RESOLUTION. 

While  this  resolution  puts  all  the  regulations  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of 
Labor,  the  following,  based  upon  the  previous  experience  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii  w^ith  assisted  immigration,  is  submitted  by  the  Hawaii  Emergency 
Labor  Commiss.on  as  a  proposed  plan  of  operation : 

The  Territory  of  Hawaii,  through  its  territorial  board  of  immigration, 
assisted  immigration  as  long  as  such  assistance  was  legal  and  practicable.  The 
law  authorizing  the  territorial  board  of  immigration,  which  consisted  of  five 
members  appointed  by  the  governor,  is  still  in  force.  (Revised  Laws  of  Hawaii, 
1915,  ch.  45.) 

Money  to  pay  the  passage  of  the  immigrants  and  the  expenses  of  the  board 
was  raised  by  public  taxation  consisting  of  an  income  surtax  of  1  per  cent  on  all 
incomes  in  excess  of  $4,000, 

Recently  the  Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters'  Association  has  been  and  is  now  as- 
sisting in  the  introduction  of  laborers  from  the  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico. 
This  introduct'on  of  laborers  being  from  American  possessions,  is  not  strictly 
"  immigration." 

Neither  under  the  many  and  varied  experiments  conducted  by  the  territorial 
board  of  immigration  nor  in  the  case  of  the  activities  of  the  Hawaiian  Sugar 
Planters'  Association  has  any  money  advanced  for  the  passage  of  laborers  to 
Hawaii  been  deducted  from  their  wages  or  charged  against  them  in  any  way. 
Since  Hawaii  has  been  an  American  Territory  no  form  of  bond  has  ever  been 
required  and  no  laborer  has  ever  been  required  to  contract  for  his  services  to 
any  particular  employer.  Once  in  Hawaii,  he  has  been  free  to  engage  in  any 
kind  of  labor  he  sees  fit,  and  his  freedom  of  movement  has  never  been  restricted 
by  any  pecuniary  or  contract  obligation  or  any  other  device.  In  the  light  of 
this  experience  any  assumption  that  the  proposed  emergency  labor  relief  in- 
volves any  bonded  labor  or  peonage  conditions  is  wholly  gratuitous  and  un- 
warranted. 

In  carrying  out  the  terras  of  the  proposed  resolution,  the  commission  pro- 
poses specifically  that  the  territorial  board  of  immigration  shall  be  reestablished 
and  that  an  income  surtax  designed  to  fall  only  on  the  large  corporations  shall 
be  reimposed.  This  will  create  a  fund  both  for  the  introduction  and  the  re- 
patriation of  temporary  labor.  It  is  not  proposed  to  charge  any  part  of  the 
expense  of  passage  either  way  against  the  wages  of  the  laborers.  It  is  not 
proposed  to  require  any  bonds  of  any  person  or  persons,  nor  to  require  nor 
permit  the  laborer  to  enter  into  any  definite  contract  of  service  with  any 
particular  employer.  His  freedom  of  movement  throughout  the'  Territory 
within  the  classes  of  labor  specified  in  the  resolution  will  be  unrestricted. 

Under  this  system,  the  original  recruiting  and  assistance  of  the  laborers  by 
payment  of  their  passage  will  be  under  the  control  of  an  official  Government 
board.  This  board  w^ill  also  decide  upon  and  superintend  the  distribution  of 
laborers  upon  their  arrival.  In  practice  it  has  been  found  that  the  laborer 
who  has  volunteered  to  come  thousands  of  miles  to  do  a  certain  kind  of  work, 
when  shown  his  new  home  and  his  job,  will  go  to  work  cheerfully,  and  finding 
conditions  vastly  superior  to  those  which  he  has  left  will  remain  at  his  .job  a 
reasonable  length  of  time.  Such  is  the  experience,  for  example,  with  the 
Filipino,  although  there  is  no  reason,  either  legal  or  extra  legal,  although 
his  passage  was  paid  by  the  sugar  industry,  w-hy  he  can  not  the  next  day  en- 
gage in  pineapple  cultivation  or  any  other  form  of  work. 

The  only  new  feature  in  the  proposed  plan  is  the  problem  of  limiting  the 
laborer  to  the  performance  of  agricultural  labor  and  domestic  service  and 
securing  his  return  to  his  country  upon  the  expiration  of  the  limited  time.  As 
to  this,  it  is  tentatively  suggested  that  each  laborer  be  furnished  with  a  certifl- 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  919 

(.-ate  A\ith  space  thereon  for  tlie  indorsement  by  a  responsible  employer  or  by 
the  territorial  board  of  immigration,  say  every  six  months,  that  the  alien  laborer 
is  regularly  employed  in  agricultural  labor  or  domestic  service.  In  default, of 
this  certilicate  and  indorsement,  or  upon  proof  that  the  indorsement  was  untrue, 
the  laborer  would  be  subject  to  deportation  after  summary  hearing  before  an 
agent  of  the  Department  of  Labor.  The  fact  that  the  area  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  is  limited  and  the  population  i-elatively  small  renders  it  possible  to 
rely  upon  this  procedure  without  further  limitation  or  supervision  of  the  move- 
ments of  laborers  in  a  manner  which  would  be  impracticable  on  the  continent  of 
the  United  States.  The  geographical  position  of  the  Territory  and  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  bureau  of  immigration  now  in  force  would  make  it  im- 
possible for  any  such  alien  illegally  to  leave  Haw^aii. 

This  system  would  bring  the  case  squarely  within  the  leading  case  of  Fong 
Yue  Ting  t;.  United  States  (149  U.  iS.,  698),  which  was  the  case  of  the  deporta- 
tion of  Chinese  laborers  who  had  been  lawfully  in  the  country  for  many  years 
but  who  had  not  secured  the  certificate  required  by  the  act  of  May  5,  1892. 
This  case  has  been  cited  and  applied  many  times  until,  as  stated  by  Justice 
Pitney  in  a  recent  case  before  the  Supreme  Court :  "  It  is  entirely  settled  that 
the  authority  of  Congress  to  prohibit  aliens  from  coming  within  the  Un  ted 
States,  and  to  regulate  their  coming,  includes  authority  to  impose  conditions 
upon  the  performance  of  which  the  continued  liberty  of  the  alien  to  reside 
within  the  bounds  of  this  country  may  be  made  to  depend ;  that  a  proceeding 
to  enforce  such  regulations  is  not  a  criminal  prosecution  within  the  meaning  of 
the  fifth  and  sixth 'amendments ;  that  such  an  inquiry  may  be  properly  devolved 
upon  an  executive  department  or  subordinate  officials  thereof,  and  that  the  find- 
ings of  fact  reached  by  such  officials  after  a  fair  though  summary  hearing  may 
constitutionally  be  made  conclusive."     (Zakonaite  v.  Wolf,  226  U,  S.,  262.) 

Under  these  decisions  the  commission  is  advised  that  there  can  be  no  doubt 
of  the  entire  legality  and  constitutionality  of  the  plan  above  proposed  and  of 
the  joint  resolution. 

The  Hawaii  Emergency  Labor  Commission. 

W.  F.  Dillingham,  Chairman. 

Chas.  F.  Chillingworth,  Member. 

A.  Horner,  Meml)er. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  Wolf  case-  has  reference  to  the  prostitute  from 
St.  Louis,  has  it  not? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Yes. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  to  ask  the  chairman  of  the  commission  one 
question.  Stripping  this  resolution  of  its  verbiage  and  of  its  con- 
cealed purpose,  the  sole  and  only  purpose  of  it  is  the  admission  of 
Chinese  laborers ;  is  not  that  correct  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir.  The  purpose  of  this  resolution  is  to 
give  the  Executives  of  this  country,  the  President,  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  Labor  as  much  latitude  within  the  law  and  the  Constitution 
as  is  necessary  for  them  to  meet  the  emergency  which  exists  in 
Hawaii  to-day.  We  believe  that  the  Chinese,  under  an  arrangement 
such  as  outlined,  will  afford  the  best  guaranty  of  relief.  We  would 
gladly  accept  any  other  form  of  relief  which  will  accomplish  the  end. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  the  primal  purpose  and  the  primal  thing  in  view 
is  the  bringing  in  of  Chinese  to  meet  the  alleged  labor  shortage;  is 
not  that  your  purpose  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir;  it  is  not.  I  have  listened  to  and  read 
the  public  statements  that  we  hoped  to  get  50,000  Chinese  and  estab-  ^ 
lish  peonage,  slavery,  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  but  there  is  nothing  in' 
the  record  as  submitted  by  any  commissioner  which  gives  evidence 
of  any  such  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  All 
of  those  words  have  been  put  in  the  mouths  of  the  members  of  this 
commission;  that  intent  has  been  read  into  the  record,  and  so  on, 
and  for  that  reason  the  statement  which  I  have  just  put  in,  signed  by 


920  LABOR  PEOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

the  members  of  the  commission,  is  to  establish  definitely  that  we  do 
not  wish  any  form  of  peonage,  contract  labor,  serfdom,  bonded 
tabor,  or  anything  of  the  sort.  All  we  want  is  relief  from  our  situa- 
tion. You  stated  a  few  minutes  ago,  Judge  Raker,  that  the  trouble 
was  that  this  matter  was  not  handled  in  a  definite  way  10  years  ago. 
I  agree  with  you  absolutel}^  However,  it  was  not  handled  10  years 
ago,  and  we  have  the  situation  to-day  which  is  a  serious  situation  and 
which  is  different  from  the  situation  in  any  other  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  it  is  to  meet  that  serious  situation  that  we  are  here,  and 
under  he  advice  which  we  have  received  since  we  have  been  here 
this  resolution  has  been  prepared  and  submitted. 

The  Chairman.  Following  the  hearings  and  to  meet  the  more 
serious  objections  which  have  been  offered  in  the  committee,  and 
particularly  at  my  suggestion,  the  attorney  with  the  commission  has 
redrafted  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Wlio  is  that? 

Mr.  Weeber.  Mr.  Irwin. 

Mr.  Irwin.  I  am  the  attorney  with  the  commission. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  w^anted  that,  so  there  could  be  no  misunderstanding. 

The  Chairman.  I  have  had  it  printed  as  a  tentative  draft  for 
the  information  of  the  members  of  this  committee  and  others,  and 
I  will  read  it  in  full : 

[Tentative  draft.] 

Joint  resolution   providing  for  immigration   to  naeet  tbe  emergency   caused   by   an   acute 
labor  shortage  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

Resolved  h]i  the  ^euate.  and  Hovse  of  Re  preventatives  of  the  United  ^^tales 
of  America  in  Conf/vess  assemhJed,  That,  for  a  period  of  five  years  from  the 
passage  of  this  -joint  resolution,  ^yhenever  tlie  President  shall  find  and  by  proc- 
lamation declare  that  an  emergency  exists  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  by  rea- 
son of  a  serions  shortage  of  labor,  the  Secretary  of  Labor  shall  be,  and  lie  is 
iiereby,  empowered,  under  such  conditions  and  regulations  as  he  shall  prescril)e, 
to  admit  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  sucli  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible  as  lie 
may  deem  necessary  to  meet  the  existing  emergency. 

The  Secretary  of  Labor  may,  in  his  discretion,  require  assurances  fi-om 
prospective  employers  of  continuous  employment  of  such  aliens  at  a  satisfactory 
minimum  wage,  but  no  regulation  shall  restrict  full  freedom  of  movement 
throughout  the  Territory  within  the  class  or  classes  of  labor  as  to  which  the 
emergency  has  been  found  to  exist,  nor  shall  any  regulation  require  or  permit 
any  form  of  bonded  or  peonage  labor  or  any  obligation  binding  any  such  alien 
by  contract  or  otherwise  to  work  for  any  particular  employer,  nor  shall  any 
money  paid  for  the  passage  or  otherwise  advanced  prior  to  the  entry  of  any 
such  alien  be  vsithheld  from  any  wages  afterwards  earned  by  or  money  accru- 
ing to  such  alien,  nor  be  otherwise  recovered  from  such  alien:  Provided,  That 
such  aliens  shall  be  admitted  only  for  limited  periods  of  time,  for  the  purpose 
of  engaging  only  in  agricultural  labor  or  domestic  service;  that  such  admission 
of  aliens  shall  not  operate  to  increase  the  number  of  persons  of  any  one  alien 
nationality  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  so  that  their  total  numbers  at  any  one 
time  shrdi  shall  exceed  20  per  centum  of  the  total  population  of  the  Territory 
as  determined  by  the  last  census;  and  that  the  regulations  shall  provide  for 
and  secure  the  return  of  such  alien  lal)orers  to  their  respective  countries  upon 
the  expiration  of  the  time  limited  without  cost  to  such  laborers  or  to  the  United 
States :  Provided  further.  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
allow  any  alien  admitted  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  under  the  terms  hereof 
to  remove  to  any  other  place  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 

This  is  presented  as  being  an  effort  to  state  what  the  members  of 
this  Hawaiian  commission  have  stated  to  be  their  position  and  the 
position  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  it  has  practically  all  of  the  objectionable  features 
still  remaining. 


LABOH    riU)liJ.KMS    IN    HAWAII.  921 

The  Chairman.  We  Avill  study  that  still  further,  and  I  am  placing 
it  before  the  committee.  I  will  endeavor,  before  this  matter  is  linally 
closed,  to  see  whether  I  can  prepare  a  resolution,  if  such  a  thing  be 
lawful,  under  which  the  Secretary  of  Labor  might  send  commission- 
ers to  our  insular  possessions  with  authority  to  assist  in  transferring 
labor  from  one  to  the  other. 

Mr.  Raker.  Before  we  leave  that,  let  me  ask  Mr.  Dillingham  a 
question.  This  tentative  draft  still  has  the  provision  for  the  admis- 
sion of  otherwise  inadmissible  aliens. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  understand  that  to  apply  to  the  admission  of 
Chinese,  and  that  it  would  permit  the  admission  of  Chinese? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  It  would. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  claim  to  have  a  shortage  of  labor  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  claim  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor,  but 
all  of  the  evidence  we  have  put  before  this  committee  seems  to  me  to 
conclusively  prove  that  there  is  a  shortage. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  for  the  committee  to  determine  vfhether  it  is  con- 
clusive, presumptive,  or  otherwise.  But,  I  say,  your  position  is  that 
you  claim  and  contend  that  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor  in  Hawaii  in 
agricultural  pursuits ;  is  that  right  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  To  meet  that  shortage  5^011  want  to  bring  in  Chinese 
laborers  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  answered  that  question  a  dozen  times. 

Mr.  Raker.  No  ;  3^011  have  not.  You  be  frank  with  me  and  I  will 
be  with  you. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  be  frank.  We  believe 
that  the  Chinese  offer  the  best  solution  of  this  problem ;  we  are  per- 
fectly willing  to  have  the  Chinese  brought  in  and  would  be  glad  to 
have  them  brought  in. 

Mr.  Raker.  Whether  you  are  willing  or  not,  I  am  asking  you  as 
to  the  purpose  of  this  resolution.  Is  it  a  part  of  the  resolution  that 
you  desire  to  bring  in  Chinese  laborers  to  meet  the  shortage  that  you 
claim  exists  there  now  and  has  existed  for  the  last  year  or  so  ? 

Mr.  DfiLLiNGHAM.  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  make  it  an}^  clearer. 

Mr.  Raker.  Can  3^011  not  answer  a  direct  question  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Ask  me  a  direct  question. 

Mr.  Raker.  All  right.  Is  it  the  purpose  of  the  commission  now 
here  representing  the  Hawaiian  Government  that  under  this  resolu- 
tion Chinese  laborers  should  be  admitted  to  help  relieve  the  alleged 
shortage  of  labor? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  The  purpose  of  this  resolution  is  to  put  the  de- 
cision of  that  matter  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  President  and 
the  Secretary  of  Labor.  We  are  Avilling  to  abide  by  their  decision 
and  judgment. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  decision  would  be  left  to  the  Secretary  of  Labor 
as  to  the  kind  and  class  of  labor  to  be  brought  in,  but  Chinese  labor 
would  be  the  only  kind  or  class  of  labor  that  you  would  hope  or  ex- 
pect to  have  brought  in  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Yes,  sir ;  for  the  present. 

Mr.  Raker.  The  kind  and  character  of  labor  to  be  brought  to 
Hawaii  to  help  to  relieve  the  alleged  labor  shortage  would  be 
Chinese  ? 


922  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  would  welcome  them  there  to  do  that  thing. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  you  make,  an}^  effort  to  get  them  there  if  this 
resolution  should  be  passed? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  would  go  the  limit  to  meet  our  situation 
there  in  any  direction  that  is  legal  or  that  was  authorized  by  the 
Secretary  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Would  you  secure  Chinese  laborers? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  could  not  go  to  the  limit  to  meet  it  legally 
and  not  go  after  Chinese  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  Please  answer  the  question,  Mr.  Dillingham.  I  want 
specifically  from  your  lips  and  from  your  answer  to  know  whether 
or  not  you  w^ant  to  secure,  if  you  can,  and  if  you  can  not  get  them 
elsewhere,  Chinese  laborers  to  do  this  work  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  do. 

Mr.  Raker.  Then  would  you  be  in  favor  of  an  amendment  to  this 
resolution  providing  that  no  Chinese  labor  should  be  brought  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  under  its  provisions? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  would  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  against  such  an  amendment? 

The  Chairman.  That  amendment  w^ould  not  amount  to  anything, 
because  you  would  then  eliminate  Chinese,  but  would  admit  Japanese 
and  Hindus. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  trying  to  get  at  the  commission's  attitude.  I 
think  it  has  been  fairly  demonstrated,  but  I  want  to  have  it  stated 
positively.  It  has  been  testified  by  m.embers  of  the  commission  that 
the  only  place  they  could  go  for  this  labor  would  be  to  China. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  believe  that  that  is  the  quickest  way  to  meet 
che  situation. 

Mr.  Raker.  Therefore,  you  are  in  favor  of  repealing  the  law,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  from  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  in  the  act  admitting  the  Hawaiian  Islands  as  a  Territory  of 
the  United  States. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  We  are  not  only  in  favor  of  it,  but  we  believe 
that  if  such  relief  is  not  given  to  us,  American  control  of  the  islands 
will  not  continue. 

Mr.  Raker.  You,  as  an  individual  and  member  of  the  commission, 
are  in  favor  of  repealing  that  organic  act  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the 
exclusion  of  Chinese  from  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  am. 

Mr.  Raioiir.  And  you  are  also  in  favor  of  repealing,  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  the  general  Chinese  exclusion  law 
of  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Under  the  limitations  of  this  resolution;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  have  read  this  resolution,  purporting  to  be  a  con- 
fidential print? 

The  Chairman.  It  is  not  confidential. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  beg  your  pardon,  the  tentative  draft. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  heard  it  read ;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Raker.  Have  3^ou  studied  it  any? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  have  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  provide  in  it  that  you  shall  not  hold  those  aliens 
who  come  here  to  work  for  money  advanced  prior  to  their  entry, 
thereby  providing  that  you  can  hold  them  for  work,  or  compel  them 


LABOR   PROBLEMS    IN    HAWAII.  923 

to  work  for  any  money  advanced  to  them  after  their  entry.     Is  that 
the  purpose  of  the  resolution? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  know.  I  did  not  draw  the  resolution. 
I  imaoine  that  it  would  be  conclusive  that  there  would  be  no  charge 
against  them. 

Mr.  Eaker.  In  other  words,  for  money  advanced  before  his  entry, 
jou  could  not  hold  him,  but  for  money  advanced  after  his  entry  you 
could  hold  him  and  compel  him  to  work  out  his  debt? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  could  not  do  that.  • 

Mr.  Raker.  Then,  what  does  the  resolution  mean?  I  just  want  to 
call  it  to  the  attention  of  the  commission.  It  appears  that  in  their 
desperate  effort  to  try  to  use  words  which  will  cover. up  what  the 
original  resolution  provided  for — House  joint  resolution  158  and 
then  House  joint  resolution  171,  which  authorized  and  permitted 
peonage  to  exist,  and  involuntary  servitude  and  serfdom — they  now 
have  amended  it  by  placing  in  this  resolution  new  words,  simply 
as  a  blind.  It  provides  that  money  advanced  him  prior  to  his  entry 
can  not  be  charged  against  him  and  collected  or  that  he  can  not  be 
held  to  work  in  order  to  pay  advances  made  to  him  prior  to  his  entry, 
hut,  inferentially,  you  provide  that  he  can  be  held  to  work  for  ad- 
cances  made  after  his  entry. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Apparently,  from  your  statement,  you  place 
the  full  responsibility  of  makino^  the  arrangements  with  the  laborers 
entirely  upon  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  but  the  resolution  provides  at 
the  very  start  that  all  the  regulations  and  conditions  will  be  pre- 
iscribed  by  the  Secretary  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  will  never  vote,  nor  permit  myself  to  vote,  to  give 
the  Secretar}^  of  Labor  or  any  other  official  the  power  to  make 
regulations  whereby  if  he  wants  to  impose  peonage  or  serfdom  or 
involuntary  servitude  upon  anybody  he  may  do  so. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  understood  5^011  to  say  that  that  was  uncon- 
stitutional. 

Mr.  Raker.  It  is  unconstitutional. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  How  could  the  Secretary  of  Labor  Adolate  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States? 

Mr.  Raker.  They  do  that  sometimes. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  This  resolution  places  the  matter  entirely  within 
the  power  and  discretion  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  and 
the  Secretary  of  Labor,  and  I  have  enough  confidence  in  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  and  in  his  appointees  to  handle  the  business 
in  a  legal  manner. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  have  just  as  strong  confidence  in  them  as  you 
have,  but  we  see  a  law  being  violated  to-day  that  was  passed  just 
within  the  last  two  months. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary  to  make  the  state- 
ment again,  but  we  are  on  record  definitely  as  saying  that  we  are 
not  asking  the  United  States  to  break  the  Constitution  in  order  to 
relieve  the  situation  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  If  it  can  not  be 
done  without  breaking  the  Constitution,  there  should  be  no  relief. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  want  it  at  that  cost  ? 

Mr.  Dillingham.  No,  sir;  we  do  not  want  it. 

Mr.  Raker.  But  if  it  tears  down  all  of  our  system  of  law,  so  far 
ms  the  admission  of  Chinese  laborers  is  concerned,  you  want  it  ? 


924  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII, 

The  Chairman.  This  resohition  was  printed,  and  it  speaks  for 
itself.  This  resolution  is  subject  to  the  further  consideration  of  the 
committee  if  it  is  desired. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  This  resolution  you  have  read  has  not  been  in- 
troduced by  the  commission. 

The  Chairman.  No.  I  am  endeavoring  to  get  something  here  that 
the  committee  can  further  consider,  and  that  Avill  meet  the  objec- 
tions that  have  been  raised  during  these  hearings. 

Xow,  the  matter  of  the  period  of  five  3^ears  is  yet  to  be  discussed 
in  the  light  of  the  {evidence  this  morning,  which  was  that  the  Filipinos 
are  guaranteed  a  return  in  three  j^ears.  I  am  not  sure  but  what  the 
committee  upon  further  consideration  of  this  plan  would  permit 
the  emergency  to  be  declared  to  exist  for  three  years.  I  assumed 
from  statements  made  to  the  committee  in  the  early  part  of  the  hear-, 
ings  that  the  /commission  wanted  something — ^this  or  something 
else — that  would  meet  the  emergency,  and  then  that  they  wanted 
Congress  to  provide  some  permanent  plan.  If  the  permanent  plan 
deals  with  the  subject  of  immigration  in  any  form,  it  would  come 
before  this  committee.  I  will  be  ghid  to  do  all  I  can  to  provide 
some  permanent  plan  that  will  permit  a  tropical  country  to  do  busi- 
ness under  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  I  realize  the  situation  in 
the  Territor}^  of  Hawaii,  with  the  limited  number  of  white  people 
you  have  there,  and  with  your  excessive  Japanese  population  and 
the  mixed  population  of  other  kinds,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  you 
must  provide  for  doing  work  on  plantations  in  that  tropical  country. 

Mr.  Eaker.  Still,  there  has  never  been  presented,  so  far  as  I  know, 
any  evidence  that  would  justify  or  even  intimate  a  justification  for 
the  re]:)eal  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  as  it  relates  to  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  or  to  any  part  of  the  United  States.  That  is  something  that 
still  exists  as  a  fundamental  principle  with  the  American  pej3ple, 
and  there,  has  not  been  a  worcl  or  syllable  of  testimony  that  would 
justif}^  in  the  eyes  of  any  American  the  repeal  of  the  Chinese  exclu- 
sion law.  Now,  that  is  what  these  gentlemen  want,  and  they  admit 
that  it  is  what  they  want. 

The  Chairman.  It  must  be  apparent  to  Judge  Baker  and  to  every- 
one else  that  the  United  States  only  took  one  bite  at  the  cherry  when  it 
passed  the  Chinese  exclusion  law\ 

Mr.  Raker.  But  it  bit  pretty  hard. 

The  Chairman.  It  has  not  been  long  since  Judge  Raker  and  myself 
and  other  members  of  this  committee  succeeded  in  writing  and 
placing  on  the  statute  books  the  Burnett  Immigration  Act  of  1917, 
which  excluded  all  other  oriental  people,  by  geographical  boundaries 
named  in  the  bill,,  with  the  single  exception  of  Japanese.  That 
referred  to  all  other  oriental  people.  Noav,  if  this  resolution  or 
plan  had  stated  in  words  that  it  Avas  the  purpose  to  admit  10,000 
Chinese,  then  it  would  have  been  subject  to  all  the  objections  that 
have  been  discussed. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  am  not  saying  this  in  the  way  of  criticism  of  any- 
body, but  this  resolution  contains  the  general  words  "  aliens  otherwise 
inadmissible."  Now,  it  has  been  conceded  here  in  all  the  testimony — 
and  I  think  I  can  draAV  that  deduction — that  they  do  not  hope  to 
bring  in  any  of  those  people  wdio  are  excluded  by  the  immigration 
law  or  under  section  3  of  the  act  of  February  5,  1917.  I  want  to  be 
perfectly  frank  about  this,  and  I  believe  that  to  be  true. 


LABOR    rHOBr.K/MS    IX     HAWAII.  925' 

The  Chaiioian.  You  have  harbored  that  idea  for  a  \on<r  time.    Let 
Tiie  show  you  what  it  does : 

The  Secretary  of  Labor  shall  bo,  and  he  is  hereby,  empowered,  under  such 
conditions  and  regulations  as  he  shall  prescribe,  to  admit  to  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii  such  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible  as  he  may  deem  necessary  to  meet 
the  existing  emergency. 

Now,  who  would  presume  that  he  would  bring  in  some  insane  per- 
:Sons  to  meet  the  existing  emergency  ? 

Mr.  Rakee.  It  is  not  a  question  of  presumption,  but  he  is  given  the 
power. 

The  Chairman.  If  you  want  to 'go  further,  we  could  attach  a  pro- 
Tiso  covering  that  objection. 

Mr.  Eaker.  He  would  have  the  power  to  admit  all  those  classes 
enumerated  here.  For  instance,  he  would  have  the  power  to  admit 
persons  who  advocate  the  unlawful  destruction  of  property,  or  who 
advocate  the  assassination  of  public  officials.  He  would  have  the 
power  to  admit  prostitutes,  persons  who  practice  prostitution,  or 
persons  who  live  by  prostitution.  He  would  have  the  power  to  admit 
contract  laborers  under  this  resolution.  Now,  I  say  to  this  commis- 
:sion  and  I  say  to  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  so  that  it  may  go 
into  the  record,  why  do  not  these  gentlemen  draw  this  resolution  in  a 
form  plainly  stating  that  it  is  the  desire  and  purpose  to  admit  Chi- 
nese laborers,  instead  of  having  us  to  draw  the  facts  out  here  after  a 
month  of  work?  Why  do  you  attempt  that,  when  you  do  not  believe 
that  the  American  people  would  for  one  instant  stand  for  the  break- 
ing down  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  law?  While  we  have  full  sym- 
pathy for  them,  and  while  we  realize  their  condition,  and  while  their 
condition  with  reference  to  the  Japanese  has  been  shown  to  be  de- 
plorable, lamentable,  and  unfortunate — and  this  country  ought  to 
take  a  stand  on  that  matter  so  as  to  relieve  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
and  the  United  States — notwithstanding  all  that,  I  do  not  believe 
that  this  committee  or  any  committee  of  the  House  could  afford  to 
break  down  a  wise  fundamental  law  for  the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese. 
These  people  should  not  ask  that  of  this  committee,  even  if  there  is 
a  shortage  of  labor  in  Hawaii.  They  should  meet  that  situation  in 
some  other  way.  I  do  not  think  that  an}^  member  of  the  American 
Congress  would  for  one  moment  permit  that  law  to  be  broken  down. 
We  had  as  well  be  frank  with  each  other,  and  that  is  the  sole  purpose 
of  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  May  I  sa}^  a  word?  Judge  Raker,  we  have  sat 
here  for  six  weeks  with  an  open  resolution  which  would  give  the 
Secretary  of  Labor  the  pov^^er  to  bring  in  any  alien  otherwise  inad- 
missible to  meet  the  situation  in  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Raker.  Absolutely. 

Mr.  Dillingham.  Has  any  constructive  plan  or  suggestion  been 
developed  in  the  six  weeks  by  this  body  or  any  one  else  by  which  we 
could  meet  the  situation,  which  you  3^ourself  describe  as  being  de-' 
plorable  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  I  have  not  had  the  time  nor  the  assistance  to  work  out 
an}^  constructive  legislation,  but  it  has  taken  all  of  my  time,  including 
Sundays,  holidays,  and  nights,  to  prepare  for  the  situation  and  to 
make  opposition  to  this  resolution,  which  opposition  I  make  as  rep- 
resenting my  constituency  and  the  people  of  this  Nation,  as  against 


926  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

this  effort  to  break  down  the  Chinese  exchision  hiw.  That  has  been, 
my  attitude.  I  have  tried  to  be  fair  in  the  matter,  but  after  all  of 
the  testimony  has  been  given,  you  can  come  to  only  one  conclusion, 
and  that  is  that  they  want  Chinese  coolie  labor.  That  is  all  there  is 
to  it  and  there  is  no  use  disguising  the  fact.  I  have  used  every  bit 
of  energy  that  I  could  use  on  this  matter.  I  have  studied  books, 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  peonage  and  serfdom  in  other  countries^, 
and  have  considered  what  this  country  went  through  with.  Then  to 
think  that  we  should  have  a  resolution  trying  to  fix  it  again  upon  one: 
of  our  Territories  leaves  you  in  a  position  where  you  can  not  express 
yourself  in  a  cool,  calculating  manner,  because  there  has  been  art 
effort  to  cover  it  up  in  words.    That  is  the  trouble  with  it. 

I  want  to  say  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  commission  that  they  have 
been  industrious  and  splendid  in  their  labors;  there  is  no  criticism 
about  that,  but  they  overlook  the  fact,  in  their  zealousness  to  get 
cheap  labor,  that  they  can  not  break  down  the  fundamental  laws  of 
this  land,  for  which  the  people  of  this  country  have  struggled  and 
which  has  caused  many  heartaches  among  the  people  of  the  West,  and 
they  overlook  what  it  would  have  meant  to  the  Nation  if  we  should 
have  allowed  the  Chinese  to  have  once  taken  up  the  Pacific  coast  and 
then  moved  on  east  with  their  400,000,000,  and  now  to  go  back  again 
and  start  in  on  it  is  inconceivable.  That  is  all  there  is  to  it,  and  I 
want  iny  position  fully  understood. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  think  we  have  been  very  frank  before  this 
committee,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Mr.  Raker  seems  to  doubt 
that. 

Mr.  Raker.  There  is  no  doubt  about  it. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  I  am  just  stating  my  conclusions  from  Mr.. 
Raker's  remarks.  He  seems  to  insinuate  that  in  all  the  hearings  be- 
fore this  committee  w^e  have  hidden  our  real  purpose  and  our  real 
belief  in  the  solution  of  our  labor  problem.  I  want  the  record  to 
show  that  so  far  as  our  personal  views  are  concerned  we  have  always- 
stated  frankly  that  we  believe  the  Chinese  are  the  only  solution  of 
the  problem. 

Mr.  Raker.  Right  there,  will  you  let  me  ask  you  a  question? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  Let  me  get  through.  You  have  stated  your 
views,  and  you  are  talking  solely  for  the  record,  while  I  am  not. 

Mr.  Raker.  I  want  you  to  talk  for  the  record. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  have  stated  time  and  time  again  that  that 
is  our  view  of  it.  If  this  resolution  should  pass,  and  the  whole 
matter  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  President  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  then  it  would  be  up  to  those  officers 
to  determine  whether  or  not  Chinese  shall  be  admitted  to  Hawaii, 
If  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  the  Secretary  of  Labor 
believe  that,  for  any  reason,  it  would  be  unwise  to  admit  Chinese 
they  would  then  undoubtedly,  under  the  terms  of  this  resolution, 
arrange  for  some  other  form  of  relief. 

Mr.  Raker.  We  are  not  going  to  give  him  that  power. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  That  is  your  opinion,  but  there  are  some 
Members  of  Congress  who  believe  in  this  method  of  solving  the 
problem  and  everybody  is  entitled  to  his  honest  opinion.  We  need, 
a  quick  solution  of  this  problem,  and  while  you  have  admitted 
the  seriousness  of  the  situation  you  have  made  no  constructive  sug- 
pfestion  for  relief.    Your  attitude  has  been  one  of  hostile  destructive 


LABOK   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  927 

critici.sm  without  any  attempt  on  your  part  to  suggest  a  remedy. 
If  our  plan  of  solving  the  problem,  having  before  us  all  all  the  time 
the  danger  of  alien  control,  is  not  the  proper  one,  for  God's  sake 
give  us  some  otlier  remedy  and  do  not  condemn  us  for  making  a 
desperate  attempt  to  keep  your  island  Territory  under  American 
control  industrially  and  politically. 

Mr.  Eakeh.  Let  me  read  something  to  you.  At  the  first  hearing,  on 
Tuesday,  June  21,  1921,  you  appeared  before  this  committee,  and  the 
chairman  made  a  statement  as  f  ollov\^s : 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  will  be  in  order.  The  meeting  was  called  this 
morning,  gentlemen,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  the  Delegate  from  Hawaii,  Mr. 
Kalanianaole,  and  a  delegation  from  Hawaii,  sent,  I  believe,  at  the  request  of 
the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  with  petitions,  etc.,  for  the  admis- 
sion of  certain  oriental  labor  into  the  Territory. 

That  was  the  first  statement  made  before  this  committee  when  we 
met.    Do  you  say  you  were  not  here  for  that  purpose  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  You  read  all  through  the  hearings  of  the  com- 
mission and  myself  and  you  will  readily  see,  if  you  want  to  see  it, 
that  we  were  only  advising  the  committee,  and  that  we  at  all  times 
stated  that  one  way  of  solving  the  labor  and  social  question  in  Hawaii 
would  be  by  admitting  Chinese. 

Mr.  Eaker.  You  admit  now  that  that  is  the  main  purpose  of  the 
resolution  and  that  that  is  the  kind  of  labor  ybu  hope  to  get  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  do  not  admit  anything.  We  want  any- 
thing that  is  lawful.  If  it  is  lawful  that  Chinese  should  be  admitted 
according  to  the  terms  of  this  resolution,  I  say  we  should  have  them. 
If  it  is  not  lawful,  Congress  will  undoubtedly  refuse  to  pass  such  a 
resolution. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  know  it  is  not  lawful  now,  do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianole.  I  do  not  know,  and  you  do  not  either. 

Mr.  Raker.  Yes;  I  do. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  No;  you  do  not. 

Mr.  Rai^^er.  You  know  you  can  not  import  Chinese  into  Hawaii,  do 
you  not? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  know  this,  Mr.  Raker,  that  you  are  allow- 
ing Chinese  to  come  into  the  United  States  to-day  under  certain  regu- 
lations and  restrictions;  we  know  that;  if  Chinese  can  be  constitu- 
tionally brought  into  continental  United  States  under  rules  and  regu- 
lations which  restrict  their  freedom  of  movement,  why  would,  a  simi- 
lar procedure  be  unlawful  in  Hawaii  ? 

Mr.  Raker.  You  know  you  can  not  import  Chinese  into  Hawaii  at 
the  present  time  ?  ' 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  all  know  that. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  asking  to  repeal  that  law  by  this  resolution  ? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  W^e  are  not  asking  to  repeal  it  at  all. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  asking  to  lay  it  aside  or  suspend  it  for  five 
years,  so  that  you  can  bring  in  Chinese  labor. 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  are  not  asking  for  Chinese  labor. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  do  not  want  any? 

Mr.  Kalanianaole.  We  do  want  it,  but  we  are  not  asking  for  it 
under  this  resolution.  We  do  say  this:  That  if  the  President  of  the 
United  States  and  the  Secretary  of  Labor  decide  that  the  importa- 
tion of  Chinese  would  be  the  best  way  to  solve  our  problem,  then  we 
want  them ;  but  if  those  officers  decide  otherwise,  then  we  are  confi- 


928  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

dent  the^;^  will  give  us  some  other  form  of  relief.  We  are  not  making 
this  law  and  we  are  not  enforcing  the  law.  If  we  had  the  making  of 
this  law  in  Hawaii  we  would  have  passed  a  law  long  ago  admitting 
Chinese.  But  what  you  apparently  want  is  to  let  that  critical  situa- 
tion in  Hawaii  stand  as  it  is  to-day  without  any  attempt  at  relief. 

Mr.  Raker.  You  are  mistaken  on  that  in  every  point  of  view  and 
every  thought  and  every  intimation  connected  with  it. 

The  Chairman.  This  has  gone  far  enough,  and  I  v\dll  conclude 
the  hearings  by  stating  that  I  have  received  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Wright,  who  testified  before  this  committee,  in  Avhich  he  says  he  tried 
to  the  best  of  his  ability  to  give  the  facts  as  they  appeared  to  him 
and  the  organized  workers  whom  he  represented.  He  states  that  he 
vv^as  subjected  to  a  cross-examination  as  rigid  and  as  drastic  as  any 
criminal  at  the  bar,  and  he  states  that  every  effort  was  made  to  dis- 
credit him  and  the  statements  he  made.  I  think  that  when  it  be- 
came apparent  that  he  had  received  contributions  from  an  alien 
race  of  people — namely,  the  Japanese — that  his  general  statements 
had  a  right  to  be  discredited,  and  further  discredited  from  the  fact 
that  he  had  been  writing  and  publishing  letters  attempting  to  thor- 
oughly discredit  the  members  of  this  legislative  commission.  He 
goes  on  to  defend  himself  a  little  bit  for  receiving  money  from  the 
Japanese,  saying : 

If  I  have  been  reluctant 'to  tell  yon  certain  things  you  wislied  to  know,  it 
has  been  because  the  tell'ng  of  them  would  have  been  a  betrayal  of  confidences. 
You  have  nevertheless  secured  the  information  you  are  so  eager  to  obtain,  and 
you  have  chosen  to  regard  the  circumstances  as  discreditable  and  compromising. 

He  says : 

Our  testimony  before  this  committee  is  evidence  that  there  were  no  strings 
to  the  money  we  received. 

And  so  on.  The  reason  I  am  reading  that  is  this :  Mr.  Wright  was 
given  full  opportunity  to  explain  all  he  could  explain  about  the  Ha- 
waiian situation,  and  was  not  cross-examined  in  more  detail  than 
others  who  appeared  before  the  committee,  and  all  were  asl^^d  to  give 
everything  to  the  com.mittee  they  wanted" to  give  and  elaborate  their 
remarks.  I  think  the  committee  was  wise  in  carrying  the  Japanese 
})hase  of  the  Hawiian  situation  into  this  matter,  and  with  these  re- 
marks the  hearing  will  be  closed  and  the  committee  will  meet  on  the 
call  of  the  chairman. 

Appendix  I. 

In  the  hearings  of  July  24  (page  — ),  the  clerk' of  this  committee  was  in- 
structed to  request  from  the  Department  of  State,  if  not  incompatible  with 
the  public  interest,  certain  correspondence  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Imperial  Government  of  Japan  relative  to  the  so-called  gentlemen's  agreement. 

Since  the  hearings  were  closed,  the  following  letter  has  been  received  from 
the  Secretary  of  State: 

Depaetment  of  State, 
Washington,  August  16,  1921. 
Hon.  Albeet  Johnson, 

House  of  Representatives. 

My  Dear  Me.  Johnson  :  I  have  carefully  considered  the  letter  of  July  6,  1921, 
in  which  you  ask,  by  direction  of  the  Committee  on  Immigration  and  Natural- 
ization of  the  House  of  Representatives,  if  not  incompatible  with  the  public 
interest,  for  its  information  in  discussing  a  matter  now  before  it  in  connection 
with  House  joint  resolution  171,  for  all   the  correspondence  upon   which   is 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  929 

based  tlio  so-called  gentlemen's  agreement  between  the  Imperial   Govenunent 
of  Japan  and  the  United  States. 

This  eoiTspondence  covers  a  considerable  period,  is  qnite  voluminous,  and 
has  never  been  made  public.  It  is  not  in  accordance  with  diploniatic  usage  to 
publish  correspondence  with  a  foreign  Government  Mathout  that  Government's 
assent;  and  no  understanding  has  yet  been  had  with  the  Japanese  foreign 
ofRce  with  respect  to  this  correspondence. 

In  regard  to  the  connection  between  the  so-called  gentlemen's  agreement  and 
the  understanding  in  regard  to  Hawaii,  I  may  state  that,  at  the  time  this 
arrangment  was  made,  there  was  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  conditions  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  were  different  from  those  on  the  mainland,  and  a  cor- 
responding disposition  on  both  sides  to  regard  the  Hawaiian  Islands  as  being 
outside  the  scope  of  the  discussion,  but  the  Japanese  Government  undertook 
to  permit  no  labor  emigration  to  the  islands  except  returning  emigrants  and 
the  parents,  wives,  and  children  of  tliose  already  resident  there,  and  not  to 
depart  from  this  policy  without  ascertaining  from  an  American  official  source 
the  labor  conditions  in  the  islands.  During  the  course  of  these  negotiations 
the  American  ambassador  in  Tokyo  had  occasion  to  address  the  Japanese 
minister  for  foreign  affairs  as  follows: 

"  It  is  quite  true  that  the  conditions  attaching  to  tlie»Hawaiian  Islands  and 
to  the  United  States  proper  are  somewhat  different,  and  yet  this  d^'fference  is 
not  fundamental.  The  islands  are  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
and  the  reasons  for  regulating  labor  conditions  therein  are  quite  as  stti'ong 
and  cogent  as  in  respect  to  the  mainland. 

"  If  I  correctly  understand  your  excellency,  it  is  proposed,  in  substance, 
that  the  Imperial  Japanese  Government  shall  have  the  right  to  judge  as  to 
the  extent  of  emigration  to  those  islands.  It  may  be  true  that  a  separate  con- 
sideration will  be  found  necessary  in  respect  to  labor  emigration  to  Haw^aii, 
for  the  reasons  which  you  state,  yet  the  understanding  should  be  unequivocal 
that  the  United  States  Government  must  be  the  final  judge. 

"  It  is  noted  with  pleasure  that  the  present  intention  of  your  excellency's 
Government  is  to  prohibit  altogether  emigration  to  Hawaii.  As  to  the  future, 
if  it  should  be  at  any  time  represented  that  additional  Japanese  laborers  can 
find  profitable  employment  there,  it  is  suggested  that  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment will  cooperate  with  the  Government  of  the  LTnited  States  in  ascertaining 
the  true  conditions  and  that  the  emigration  to  follow^  be  limited  to  the  require- 
ments as  may  be  thus  ascertained,  similar  inquiry  and  action  to  be  taken 
from  time  to  time  thereafter  at  the  instance  of  either  Government." 

The  Japanese  minister  for  foi-eign  affairs  replied  that  he  w^as  "  gratified  to 
find  in  the  ambassador's  statement,  with  reference  to  the  course  to  be  adopted 
in  the  event  of  future  renewal  of  Japanese  emigration  to  Hawaii,  substantial 
accord  with  the  opinion  entertained  by  the  Imperial  Government,  which  is 
that  if  at  any  time  hereafter  it  should  appear  desirable  to  depart  from  the 
present  policy  of  prohibition,  that  step  should  only  be  taken  after  ascertain- 
ing through  an  American  official  source  the  labor  conditions  prevailing  in  the 
islands  and  the  need  thereof." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  did  not  feel  warranted  in  pressing 
the  Hawaiian  question  any  further,  particularly  in  view  of  the  attitude  of  the 
government  of  Hawaii  as  set  forth  in  a  letter  from  the  governor  of  Hawaii  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  of  January  24,  1908,  reading  in  part  as  follows: 

"  *  *  *  The  recent  action  of  the  Japanese  Government  in  regard  to 
Japanese  immigration  emphasizes  the  need  of  leaving  no  stone  unturned  to 
secure  the  passage  of  the  immigration  bill  making  possible  the  introduction 
of  Europeans.  That  action  is  creating  some  uneasiness  here.  It  may  mate- 
rially limit  Japanese  immigration ;  in  which  case,  if  the  immigration  bill  does 
not  pass,  w^e  shall  be  cut  off  at  both  ends,  a  result  that  may  prove  very  disas- 
trous. Obtaining  Europeans,  when  made  possible,  will  be  slow  at  best  and 
we  can  not  begin  too  early.     *     *     *^ 

"  We  do  not  wish  to  lose  the  Japanese  until  we  can  get  Europeans  or  Ameri- 
cans." 

In  any  case,  however,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  so-called  gentle- 
men's agreement  is  not  enforceable  at  law  in  the  United  States,  and  that  conse- 
quently the  phrase  "  aliens  otherwise  inadmissible  "  as  used  in  House  joint  reso- 
lution 171  can  refer,  in  the  case  of  Japanese,  only  to  those  who  are  not  admis- 
sible under  our  general  immigration  laws. 

I  am,  my  dear  Mr.  Johnson,  sincerely,  yours, 

Charles  E.  Hughes. 
56754— 21— SER  7  pt  2 25 


930  LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

Appendix  II. 

In  the  hearings  of  June  24,  page  339,  the  clerk  of  the  committee  was  instructed 
to  secure  from  the  Library  of  Congress  copies  of  any  laws  of  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment regulating  the  emigration  of  contract  laborers.  This  information  was 
not  available  for  some  time,  but  since  these  hearings  were  closed  Mr.  Raker,  of 
the  committee,  has  received  the  following  data  from  the  Library  of  Congress : 

1.  Emigrant  labor  laws  of  the  Republic  of  China,  promulgated  April  21,  1918. 

2.  Rules  governing  labor  contractors  or  agents,  promulgated  April  21,  1918. 

3.  Outline  of  contract  of  emigrant  labor,  promulgated  May  3,  1918. 

4.  Convention  of  Peking  respecting  Chinese  emigration  to  Cuba,  1877. 
Letter  from  the  chief  bibliographer,  Library  of  Congress,  with  inclosures,  is 

appended : 

LiBPtARY  OF  Congress, 
Washington,  August  12,  1921. 
Dear  Mr.  Raker  : 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

I  am  sending  also  translations  of  the  present  law  and  regulations  of  China 
governing  contract  labor.     For  these  we  are  largely  indebted  to  the  Chinese 
legation,  and  necessarily  had  to  wait,  to  a  certain  extent,  on  their  convenience. 
Very  respectfully, 

H.  H.  B.  Meyer, 
Chief  Bibliographer,  in  charge  of  Legislative  Reference  Service. 

Hon.  John  E.  Rawer, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C. 


emigrant   labor   laws REPUBLIC   OF    CHINA. 

[Promulgated  Apr.  21,  1918.] 

1.  Citizens  of  the  Republic  of  China  employed  abroad  shall  be  called  emi- 
grant laborers. 

2.  Emigrant  laborers  shall  be  subject  to  the  following  restrictions: 

(a)  To  be  selected  by  the  Government. 
(&)   To  be  directly  employed. 

(c)  To  be  employed  by  agents  (or  contractor  of  labor). 

3.  Emigrant  laborers,  thus  employed,  should  have  the  following  qualifica- 
tions : 

(a)   From  20  to  40  years  of  age. 

(&)   With  good  health. 

(o).  Exempt  from  infectious  diseases. 

( d )  Exempt  from  vice  and  sensuality. 

(e)  With  good  character  and  having  not  committed  a  crime. 

4.  Emigrant  laborers  under  class  (&)  should  petition  to  the  bureau  of  emi- 
gration and  get  the  ratification  therefrom. 

5.  Emigrant  laborers,  in  petitioning  to  the  bureau  of  emigration,  should 
state  fuliy  the  following: 

(a)  Name  of  the  locality  and  name  of  the  country  where  the  emigrant 

laborers  are  to  be  employed. 
(&)   Name  of  the  organization  through  which  the  emigrant  laborers  are 

to  be  employed, 
(c)   Kind  of  work. 

6.  Agents  of  contract  labor  shall  not  be  permitted  to  do  so,  unless  their  pe- 
titions are  granted  by  the  bureau  of  emigration 'and  special  certificates  given. 

7.  Agents  in  carrying  out  their  program  shall  conform  to  the  rules  that  are 
specially  provided. 

8.  Contracts  of  emigrant  labor,  except  those  entered  by  the  Government, 
shall  be  subject  to  the  ratification  of  the  bureau  of  emigration,  and  the  pro- 
visions shall  be  subject  to  those  in  the  "  Outline  of  the  contract  of  emigrant 
labor."  ' 


LABOR   PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  93  L 

9.  All  laborers  going  abroad  shall  obtain  the  passport  issued  by  bureau  of 
emigration. 

10.  At  least  20  per  cent  of  the  M-ages  of  the  emigrant  laborers  shall  be  used 
to  support  their  own  families.  Tlie  sum  shall  be  remitted  to  the  chief  of  the 
bureau  of  emigration  to  be  sent  to  the  I'espective  families  through  Government 
banks.  In  the  case  of  the  unmarried,  the  sum  shall  be  deposited  in  the  bank  to 
be  refunded  to  the  emigrant  laborers  upon  their  return.  This  portion  of  wages 
shall  be  deducted  monthly  by  the  employer  and  sent  to  the  legation  or  the  con- 
sulate to  be  remitted. 

11.  The  interpreters  for  the  emigrant  laborers  prior  to  their  appointment 
shall  get  the  ratifications  and  certificates  from  the  bureau  of  emigration. 

12.  The  provisions  for  the  contract  of  labor  shall  be  subject  to  the  special 
provisions,  if  there  is  any,  of  the  treaties  that  have  been  entered  by  the  Chinese 
Government. 

13.  Prior  to  the  emigrant  laborers  going  abroad  the  fees  that  are  duly 
credited  to  the  Chinese  Government  shall  be  levied  by  the  bureau  of  emigration 
or  its  branches. 

14.  In  case  of  necessity,  commissioners  may  be  appointed  at  the  locality  or 
the  country  in  which  the  emigrant  laborers  are  employed. 

15.  If  the  assistance  of  the  local  officers  is  required  in  contracting  labor, 
the  said  officers  shall  submit  the  detailed  information  to  the  highest  adminis- 
trative officer  in  his  province  to  be  dispatched  to  the  bureau  of  emigration. 

16.  The  above  laws  shall  be  effective  when  promulgated. 

RULES  GOVEENING  LABOR  CONTRACTOR    (OR  AGENTS) REPUBLIC  OF  CHINA. 

[Promulgated  Apr.  21,  1918.] 

1.  Individuals  or  companies  engaged  in  the  contract  of  labor  shall  be  called 
labor  contractor. 

2.  Individuals  or  companies  desiring  to  contract  for  labor  should  send  in  a 
petition  to  the  branch  office  of  the  bureau  of  emigration  or  the  commissioner  of 
emigration,  to  be  submitted  to  the  bureau  of  emigration  for  ratification  and 
issuing  of  certificates.     In  the  petition  the  following  should  be  stated : 

(a)   Name,  age,  birth,  address,  and  profession  of  the  petitioner. 
(&)   Locality  of  the  business  office  or  its  branch. 

(c)  Total  sum  of  capitalization. 

(d)  Organization  of  the  company,  kind  of  company,  and  items  provided 

in  articles  10,  82,  98,  or  232  of  the  rules  governing  corporations. 

3.  Individuals  with  any  one  of  the  following  defects  shall  not  be  permitted  to 
be  a  labor  contractor : 

(a)   Deprived  of  civil  rights,  not  yet  restored. 
(&)   Declared  bankrupt,  not  yet  relieved. 

(c)  Declared  to  be  disqualified  to  property-holding  privileges,  not   yet 

restored. 

(d)  Within  three  years  after  having  been  punished  for  violation  of  these 

rules. 

(e)  Within  one  year  after  having  been  denied  the  privilege  of  contract  of 

labor  in  accordance  with  these  rules. 

4.  Should  the  labor  contractor  fail  to  carry  out  his  program  within  one  year 
after  the  petition  has  been  ratified,  the  ratification  shall  be  withdrawn. 

5.  Before  contracting  the  laborers  the  labor  contractor  should  state  the  follow- 
ing items  and  petition  to  the  branch  office  of  the  bureau  of  emigration  or  the 
commiss'oner  of  emigration,  to  be  submitted  to  and  ratified  by  the  bureau  of 
emigration : 

(a)  Name  of  labor  contractor  or  name  of  the  company. 

(b)  Place  for  contracting  the  laborers. 

(c)  Name  of  the  country  and  name  of  the  locality  where  the  emigrant 

laborers  shall  be  employed. 

(d)  Kind  of  employment. 

(e)  Total  number  of  laborers  to  be  employed. 

if)  Duplicate  copy  of  the  contract  between  labor  contractor  and  the 
employer  for  whom  the  labor  contractor  is  the  agent. 

(g)  Duplicate  copy  of  the  contract  between  the  employer  and  the 
laborers. 


932  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

The  provisions  in  said  contract  (/)  shall  not  violate  article  8  of  emigrant 
labor  laws.  In  case  of  a  contract  in  foreign  languages,  both  the  original  and 
the  translation  should  be  submitted. 

6.  Labor  contractor  shall  not  be  permitted  to  contract  laborers  outside  of  the 
locality  where  he  has  been  assigned. 

7.  At  the  time  wdien  the  laborers  are  contracted  and  at  the  time  when'  they 
sail,  the  labor  contractor  shall  report  to  the  branch  office  of  the  bureau  of 
emigration  or  the  commissioner  of  emigration  for  supervision. 

8.  After  having  been  ratified  in  accordance  with  Article  II,  the  labor  con- 
tractor shall  be  required  to  pay  the  "  special  security  fee."  After  having  been 
ratified  in  accordance  with  Article  V,  the  labor  contractor  shall  be  required  to 
pay  the  "  business  security  fee."  In  case  of  insufficiency  or  failure  to  pay,  the 
ratification  shall  be  withdrawn.  The  special  security  fee  shall  be  $10,000. 
The  business  security  fee  shall  be  $5,000  at  minimum  each  time ;  but  if  the 
number  of  the  laborers  should  be  over  25,000  the  bureau  of  emigration  reserves 
the  right  to  increase  the  amount  accordingly. 

9.  The  security  fee  may  be  paid  in  internal  revenue  bonds  or  national  treas- 
ury certificates,  but  the  amount  shall  not  exceed  30  per  cent. 

10.  The  special  security  fee  shall  be  refunded  when  the  labor  contractor 
petitions  to  withdraw  his  status  as  a  labor  contractor.  The  business  security 
fee  shall  be  refunded  upon  the  ratification  of  such  petition  by  the  bureau  of 
emigration  and  over  one  year  after  the  expiration  of  the  contract  between  the 
employer  and  the  emigrant  laborers. 

11.  Labor  contractors  shall  not  be  permitted  to  demand  money  from  the 
emigrant  laborers. 

12.  Liibor  contractor  shall  make  public  the  date  of  sailing  at  the  time  when' 
the  laborers  are  contracted.  If  the  labor  contractor  fails  to  sail  on  the  ap- 
pointed date,  except  in  the  case  of  natural  calamity,  they  shall  have  the  right 
to  demand  compensation  for  damages. 

13.  Should  the  labor  contractor  fail  to  observe  the  stipulations  provided  in 
the  contract,  the  laborers  shall  have  the  right  to  petition  to  the  branch  office 
of  the  bureau  of  emigration  or  the  commissioner  of  emigration  for  assistance. 
The  expenses  incurred  for  such  assistance  may  be  paid  out  of  the  "  business 
security  fee  "  of  the  labor  contractor  with  the  approval  of  the  chief  of  the 
bureau  of  emigration. 

14.  Should  the  labor  contractor  be  guilty  of  any  one  of  the  following,  his 
ratification  shall  be  withdrawn  and  his  certificate  shall  be  recalled, 

(a)  Having  committed  unlawful  acts.  ^ 

(&)    Having  committed  acts  against  public  safety. 
(c)  Having  badly  treated  the  laborers. 
When  the  ratification  of  the  labor  contractor  thus  withdrawn,  the  damages 
done  to  the  laborers  shall  be  paid  by  the  labor  contractor. 

Such  expenses  for  compensation  may  be  paid  out  of  the  business  security 
fee  of  the  labor  contractor  with  the  approval  of  the  chief  of  the  bureau  of 
emigration. 

15.  Should  the  labor  contractor  contract  laborers  by  cheating  or  other  false 
inducements,  his  ratification  shall  be  withdrawn  and  shall  be  punished  by  im- 
prisonment for  life  or  imprisonment  for  a  period  above  the  second  degree  and 
his  security  fee  shall  be  confiscated. 

16.  Labor  contractor  desiring  to  engage  simultaneously  in  businss  that  has 
direct  bearing  with  the  laborers  shall  state  the  following  in  the  petition  to  the 
bureau  of  emigration,  and  obtain  the  ratification  therefrom : 

(a)  Kind  of  business  and  the  locality. 
(h)  Capitalization. 
(c)   Management. 

17.  Should  the  labor  contractor  engage  in  contracting  labor  without  having 
obtained  the  ratification  in  accordance  with  the  above  rules,  such  labor  con- 
tractor shall  be  punished  with  imprisonment  for  a  period  in  the  fifth  degree  or 
with  from  $200  to  $1,000  fine. 

18.  A  labor  contractor  who  started  business  prior  to  the  promulgation  of  the 
above  rules,  and  had  been  ratified  by  the  officer  in  charge,  may  continue  with 
his  business;  but  he  should  petition  to  the  bureau  of  emigration  and  obtain 
the  ratification  and  certificate  therefrom  in  accordance  with  the  above  rules. 

19.  A  labor  contractor  who  started  business  prior  to  the  .promulgation  of  the 
above  rules  but  who  has  not  been  ratified  by  the  officer  in  charge,  should 
petition  within  8  months  after  the  promulgation  of  these  rules,  to  the  bureau  of 
emigration  and  obtain  the  ratification  and  certificate  therefrom. 

20.  The  above  rule  shall  be  effective  when  promulgated. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  933 

OUTLINE  OF  CONTKACT  OF  EMIGKANT  LAlJOIl — REPUBLIC  OF  CHINA. 

[Promulgated  May  3,  1918.] 

1  It  should  be  stipulated  in  the  contract  that  the  hibor  contractor  havin;^  been 

anthorized,  and  havintr  deposited  a  security  fee  of  $ ,  and  having  obtained 

the  certificate,  is  permitted  to  contract  for  labor. 

2.  It  should  be  stipulated  in  the  contract  that  the  employer  has  obtained  the 
approval  of  h;s  Government,  permitting  the  commissioner  of  emigi-ation  of  the 
Chinese  Government  t'»  protect,  supervise,  and  delegate  sul)ordinates  to  go  into 
the  fields  for  investigation  as  to  treatment,  condition  of  work,  etc. 

3.  Name  of  the  country,  locality  of  work,  and  nature  of  employment  should  be 
definitely  stated. 

4.  Name,  age,  birth  of  the  agent  appointed  by  the  employer,  and  the  name 
and  place  of  the  organization  for  the  contract  of  labor  should  be  stated. 

5.  Total  number  of  laborers  to  be  contracted  for  should  be  fixed  beforehand. 

6.  Number  of  years  for  employment  should  be  definitely  stated  and  should  be 
counted  from  the  first  day  when  the  laborers  assume  duties.  With  the  exception 
of  sickness,  absence  from  duty  on  account  of  private  alfairs  or  other  excuses 
shall  be  made  up  after  the  expiration  of  the  contracting  period. 

7.  Working  hours  shall  not  exceed  10  hours  a  day  at  the  maximum.  Should 
it  not  be  permitted  to  work  for  10  hours  owing  to  the  local  laws  or  customs  the 
em'grant  laborers  should  be  given  the  same  privilege. 

8.  The  wages  of  the  laborers  shall  be  the  same  as  those  received  by  natives 
doing  the  same  work  in  that  country  where  the  emigrant  laborers  are  hired  out. 
Laborers  who  have  a  specialty  should  be  given  better  wages  in  accordance  with 
their  skill.  Should  the  laborers  show  improvement  in  their  skill,  the  employer 
should  increase  their  wages  accordingly. 

9.  Before  the  expiration  of  tlie  contract  the  employer  desiring  to  transfer  the 
work  to  a  third  party  or  desiring  to  change  to  other  form  of  work  not  provided 
for  in  the  contract,  should  obtain  the  approval  of  the  commissioner  of  emigra- 
tion. In  case  the  workshop  is  suspended,  resulting  in  the  unemployment  of  the 
laborers,  the  employer  should  compensate  the  damages  thus  done  to  the  laborers 
in  addition  to  the  passage  expenses  for  their  return. 

10.  Employer  should  regard  the  emigrant  laborers  as  the  equals  of  the  laborers 
of  the  countries  where  the  emigrant  laborers  are  contracted  for.  If  there  is 
extra  compensation  for  encouragement,  bonus,  etc.,  granted  to  the  laborers,  the 
emigrant  laborers  should  be  paid  accordingly. 

11.  Sundays,  Chinese  national  holidays,  holidays  of  the  countries  where  the 
emigrant  laborers  are  contracted  and  the  period  in  which  the  laborers  are  taken 
ill  should  be  free  from  work  and  the  employer  shall  not  be  permitted  to  exact 
work  from  the  laborers.  With  the  exception  of  Chinese  national  holidays,  this 
rule  is  not  binding,  provided  that  the  laborers  are  willing  to  work,  but  they 
should  be  given  extra  wages. 

12.  If  the  workshop,  with  the  approval  of  the  laborers,  extends  the  working 
hours  in  addition  to  the  regular  hours  the  laborers  should  be  paid  extra  wages 
per  day  or  per  hour. 

13.  During  holidays,  sick  leave,  or  traveling,  if  without  wages,  the  laborers 
should  be  paid  their  living  expenses.  If  it  is  the  custom  of  the  country  that 
workmen  be  paid  for  holidays,  sick  leave,  or  during  traveling,  Chinese  emigrant 
laborers  should  be  given  the  same  privilege. 

14.  Employer  should  give  to  each  emigrant  laborer  a  copy  of  the  contract 
in  Chinese  with  the  foreign  translation  to  be  signed  by  both  parties,  stating  the 
privileges  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  laborers. 

15.  The  laborers  should  submit  to  the  employer  an  application  form  and  state 
therein  the  name,  age,  birth,  the  rules  to  be  observed,  and  the  duties  to  be 
performed. 

16.  The  expenses  incurred  for  physical  examination,  photos,  passports,  cloth- 
ing, and  passage  of  the  laborers  should  be  paid  by  the  employer  and  the  em- 
ployer shall  not  be  permitted  to  deduct  them  from  the  wages. 

Before  sailing  the  employer  should  ask  the  cooperation  and  supervision  of  the 
officers  appointed  by  the  bureau  of  emigration  in  the  physical  examination  and 
photo  taking.  In  case  of  illness  or  inability  to  work  on  the  part  of  the  laborers, 
the  employer  shall  have  the  right  to  discard.  After  sailing  such  persons  shall 
be  regarded  as  qualified  workmen  and  shall  not  be  discarded. 

17.  The  name  of  the  seaport  in  China  from  which  the  laborers  shall  sail 
should  be  stated  beforehand. 


934  LABOR  PKOBLEMS   IN    HAWAII. 

* 

18.  After  having  sent  the  laborers  to  the  country  to  which  they  are  con- 
tracted the  employer  shall  report  to  the  Commissioner  of  Emigration  the  names 
of  the  laborers,  date  of  their  assmning  dnties,  and  the  different  localities  to 
which  they  have  been  assigned.  At  the  time  of  the  expiration  of  the  contract 
and  of  transporting  the  laborers  home  the  employer  shall  also  report  to  the 
Commissioner  of  Emigration, 

19.  The  sum  of  household  fee  (funds  left  behind  for  the  use  of  the  family) 
of  each  laborer  should  be  fixed  beforehand,  stated  in  the  contract,  and  shall  not 
be  deducted  from  the  wages.  Such  sum  should  be  handed  by  the  employer  to 
the  labor  contractor  to  be  paid  to  the  families  of  the  laborers  before  sailing, 
and  to  be  supervised  by  the  officers  of  the  bureau  of  emigration. 

20.  It  should  be  stipulated  in  the  contract  that  20  per  cent  of  the  wages 
should  be  used  as  family-supporting  fee.  The  procedure  for  remitting  should 
be  followed  in  accordance  with  Article  X  of  the  emigrant  labor  laws. 

21.  Board,  room,  and  clothing  of  the  laborers  should  be  paid  by  the  employer 
and  deducted  from  the  wages  with  the  following  provisions : 

(a)  Clothing:  At  the  time  of  sailing,  the  laborers  should  be  given  hats, 
socks,  coats,  pants,  sweater,  shoes,  overcoats,  raincoats,  and 
umbrellas,  bedding,  etc.  If  it  is  in  the  frigid  zone,  the  laborers 
should  be  given  additional  clothes  made  of  cotton,  flannel,  and 
wool.  The  whole  set  of  clothing  should  be  given  once  every  six 
months,  and  the  number  of  articles,  material,  and  form  should  be 
fixed  beforehand. 

(&)  Board:  Coffee  and  tea  shall  be  used  for  drinking.  Food  shall  be 
properly  compounded  and  shall  contain  starch,  albumin,  fats,  etc» 
The  percentage  of  such  ingredients  should  be  fixed  beforehand. 
The  eating  utensils  should  be  sufficient. 

(c)  Room:  The  living  quarters  should  be  near  to  the  workshops  and 
should  be  sanitary.  It  should  be  stated  how  much  space  should 
be  occupied  by  each  laborer.  All  the  furniture,  such  as  beds^ 
mats,  tables,  chairs,  lamps,  stoves,  etc.,  should  be  completely  fur- 
nished. 

22.  The  laborer's  life  insurance  fee  shall  be  deducted  from  the  wages.  If  the 
work  is  of  a  dangerous  nature,  the  employer  should  insure  for  the  laborer. 
Such  insurance  fee  shall  be  paid  by  the  employer  and  shall  not  be  deducted 
from  the  wages.  All  the  insurance  certificates  shall  be  kept  by  the  commis- 
sioner of  emigration. 

23.  The  total  sum  to  be  deducted  from  the  wages  in  accordance  with  the 
above  two  rules  shall  not  exceed  one-third  of  the  total  sum  of  the  wages. 

24.  At  the  expiration  of  the  contract,  the  laborers  shall  enjoy  the  privilege 
of  free  passage  and  should  be  sent  back  to  the  original  place  where  the  laborers 
have  been  contracted  for  by  the  employer  and  at  his  expense.  Those  who  are 
not  returning  shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges  whenever  they  return.  Should 
it  be  extended  in  accordance  with  the  contract  and  with  the  approval  of  the 
laborers  the  matter  should  be  referred  to  the  commissioner  of  emigration. 

25.  In  case  of  laborer's  illness,  the  medical  fee  should  be  paid  by  the  em- 
ployer and  shall  not  be  deducted  from  the  wages.  In  the  case  of  continued 
illness,  which  necessitates  the  laborer  to  be  sent  back,  the  patient  should  be 
examined  by  the  physician  and  certificates  given,  and  with  the  approval  of 
the  commissioner  of  emigration,  should  be  sent  back,  at  the  employer's  ex- 
pense, to  the  original  place  where  he  has  been  contracted. 

26.  Should  the  laborer's  death  be  caused  by  illness,  by  work  or  by  injury 
received  while  discharging  his  duties,  such  laborer  shall  he  given  special  com- 
pensation, the  sum  of  which  shall  be  in  accordance  with  that  provided  by  law 
in  that  country  or  fixed  by  custom.  Except  the  compensation  for  injury  which 
shall  be  given  directly  to  the  injured  laborer,  all  other  form  of  compensation 
fees,  together  with  insurance  fee  and  indemnity  fee,  shall  be  handed  to  the 
commissioner  of  emigration,  to  be  remitted  to  China,  and  to  be  sent  to  the 
families  in  accordance  with  the  procedure  provided  in  Article  X  of  the  emigrant 
labor  laws. 

The  laborer's  householding  fee,  family-supporting  fee,  compensation-insur- 
ance fee,  and  indemnity  fee  shall  be  given  to  the  representative  of  the  laborer. 
Such  representative  may  be  changed  upon  petition  to  the  commissioner  of  emi- 
gration by  the  laborer. 

27.  Upon  the  death  of  the  laborer  the  burial  fee  shall  be  paid  by  the  em- 
ployer, and  the  burial  shall  be  performed  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of 
the  country  to  which  the  laborer  is  contracted.     The  employer  should  report 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    PTAWATL  935 

to  the  commissionor  of  emigration  as  to  the  cause  of  the  death,  date  of  death, 
and  place  of  burial.  The  commissioner  of  emigration  shall  inform  the  labor 
contractor  who  in  turn  shall  notify  the  laborer's  family. 

28.  Laborer's  taxes,  such  as  head  tax  and  other  forms  of  taxes,  for  the 
present  as  well  as  for  the  future  during  sojourn  abroad,  shall  be  paid  by  the 
employer  and  shall  not  be  deducted  from  the  wages. 

29.  Laborers  shall  enjoy  the  freedom  guaranteed  by  law  to  citizens  of  the 
country  to  which  the  laborers  are  contracted.  The  laborer  shall  enjoy  religious 
freedom.     The  employer  shall  guarantee  that  no  binding  terms  shall  be  provided.' 

30.  At  the  locality  where  the  laborers  are  employed  interpreters  should  be 
engaged.  The  expenses  for  such  interpreters  should  be  paid  by  the  employer. 
The  qualification  of  the  interpreter  should  be  the  same  as  provided  in  Article 
XI  of  the  emigration  labor  laws. 

31.  Should  the  labor  of  the  country  to  which  the  emigrant  laborers  are  con- 
tracted reject  foreign  labor,  the  employer  shall  be  held  responsible  for  settle- 
ment. Should  it  develop  into  a  lawsuft,  all  the  expenses  thus  incurred  shall 
be  paid  by  the  employer.  In  case  the  damage  has  been  done  to  the  laborers 
the  employer  shall  demand  indemnity  for  them. 

32.  Should  the  laborer  have  a  bad  character  and  v'olate  the  rules  success- 
fully, the  employer  shall  report  to  the  commissioner  of  emigration  and  shall 
consult  him  as  to  the  kind  of  punishment  to  be  inflicted.  Should  the  laboirer 
pay  no  heed  to  the  instructions,  and  should  the  case  be  of  a  serious  nature 
\Adiich  necessitates  his  dismissal,  the  employer,  with  the  approval  of  the  com- 
missioner of  emigration,  shall  send  him  back,  at  the  expense  of  the  employer, 
to  the  seaport  from  where  the  laborer  had  sailed. 

33.  All  the  stipulafons  in  the  contract  shall  be  indorsed  and  guaranteed  by 
the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  contracting  country  resident  at  Peking. 

34.  Since  each  country  has  its  own  weights  and  measures,  its  own  method  of 
counting  the  distance,  and  its  own  scale  of  wages,  all  these  adjustments  shall 
be  made  when  the  contract  is  agreed  upon. 

35.  It  shall  be  stated  in  the  contract  that  the  contract  must  be  ratified  by  the 
Bureau  of  Emigration  before  it  is  effective. 

1.  Supplementary  rules. — Emigrant  laborers  shall  not  be  employed  in  any 
kind  of  work  in  connection  with  war. 

2.  Should  the  working  place  be  near  the  firing  line,  the  commissioner  of  emi- 
gration shall  consult  the  employer  for  prompt  removal.  Shoull  there  be  no 
work  incident  to  such  removal,  or  in  the  ophiion  of  the  commissioner  of  emi- 
gration that  the  place  is  not  a  suitable  locality  for  work,  the  employer  shall 
pay  the  laborers  their  wages  for  three  months  and  also  the  passage  expenses 
for  their  return  to  the  original  seaport. 

3.  Should  the  working  place  be  not  very  far  from  the  firing  line,  the  commis- 
sioner of  emigration,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  danger,  shall  consult  the 
employer  to  devise  means  for  the  protection  of  the  laborers. 

CONVENTION    OF    PEKING    RESPECTING    CHINESE    EMIGRATION    TO    CUBA,     1877. 

[From  treaties  between  China  and  foreign  States,  vol.  2,  second  edition,  pp.  389-398. 
Signed  in  the  French,,  Spanish,  and  Chinese  langriages  at  Peking,  Nov.  17,  1877 ; 
ratified  by  the  Emperor  of  China  Dec.  6,  1878.  The  English  translation  has  been 
taken  from  a  directory  published  in  Hongkong.] 

His  Majesty  the  King  of  Spain  and  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China,  being 
very  desirious  to  establish  on  a  new  basis  the  emigration  of  Chinese  subjects 
to  the  island  of  Cuba,  and  in  order  to  avoid  any  further  complication  which 
might  hereafter  arise,  have  nominated  for  their  plenipotentiaries,  as  follows: 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China,  their  excellencies  Shen,  Mao,  Tung, 
Ch'eng,  and  Hsia,  members  of  the  Tsungli  Yamen ; 

His  Majesty  the  King  of  Spain,  Don  Carlos  Antonio  de  Espaila,  his  minister 
plenipotentiary  to  China,  Annam,  and  Siam,  Grand  Cross  of  the  Royal  Order 
of  Isabella  the  Catholic,  etc.,  etc. ; 

Who  have  agreed  to  all  the  articles  which  follow : 

Article  T. — The  high  contracting  parties  hereby  agree  that  the  emigration  of 
Chinese  subjects  as  contained  in  Article  X  of  the  treaty  concluded  in  Tientsin 
on  October  10,  1864,  becomes,  and  is  hereby,  abrogated.  Only  the  stipulation  in 
the  said  article  concerning  the  delivery  by  the  authorities  of  those  who  are 
claimed  as  deserters,  criminals,  and  accused  ones  remains  in  force. 


936  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Article  IT. — The  difficulties  to  which  the  application  of  the  dispositions  of 
the  treaty  of  Tientsin  regarding  the  emigration  gave  rise  having  been  dispersed, 
the  two  Governments  renounce  each  foi   itself  every  pecuniary  indemnity. 

Article  III. — It  is  agreed  between  the  two  high  contracting  parties  that  the 
emigration  of  their  respective  subjects,  whether  accompanied  by  their  families 
or  not,  shall  be  in  future  free  and  voluntary ;  they  disapprove  of  every  act  of 
violence  or  trickery  which  might  be  connnitted  in  the  ports  of  China  or 
anywhere  else  for  tlie  purpose  of  expatriating  Chinese  subjects  against  their 
will.  The  two  Governments  engage  themselves  to  pursue  with  all  the  rigor 
of  the  laws  any  contravention  of  the  preceding  stipulation,  and  to  impose 
penalties  established  by  their  respective  legislatures  upon  the  persons  and 
ships  who  may  violate  this  stipulation.  The  Government  of  His  Majesty  the 
King  of  Spain  engages  itself  to  that  of  China  to  treat  the  Chinese  subjects 
staying  now  in  Cuba,  or  who  may  come  there  hereafter,  on  the  same  footing 
as  the  foreigners  there  of  the  same  category  and  subjects  of  the  most  favored 
pov/er. 

Article  IV- — The  Government  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China  will 
authorize  the  departure  of  the  emigrants  of  both  sexes  at  their  own  expense  for 
the  island  of  Cuba  from  all  parts  of  the  empire  open  to  foreign  trade ;  they 
engage  themselves  not  to  place  any  impediment  to  the  free  emigration  of 
Chinese  subjects,  and  to  forbid  the  authorities  of  the  said  ports,  and  principally 
the  customs  taot'ais,  to  raise  difficulties,  be  it  either  toward  the  freight  or 
placement  of  the  ships,  under  nny  flag  whatever,  destined  to  the  transport  of 
Chinese  passengers,  or  tov/ard  the  operations  of  the  shipowners,  consignees,  or 
agents,  provided  always  that  they  conform  themselves  to  the  stipulations  of 
the  present  convention. 

Article  V. — It  is  well  understood  that  the  customs  taot'ais  and  the  Chinese 
authorities  of  the  open  ijorts  will  have  the  right  to  inform  themselves  whether 
the  emigration  is  effected  according  to  the  spirit  and  the  terms  of  the  present 
convention.  The  customs  taot'ais  will  prepare  printed  passports,  with  which 
they  will  provide  every  emigrant  who  has  decided  to  ship  himself.  These 
passports  have  to  be  vised  by  the  consul  of  Spain  in  the  port  of  departure,  and 
will  be  handed  over  to  the  Chinese  consuls  by  the  competent  authorities  of 
the  island  of  Cuba  on  the  arrival  of  the  ship  carrying  emigrants.  The  customs 
taot'jii  of  the  port  of  departure  of  the  slr'p  carrying  emigrants  will  moreover 
have  the  right  to  nominate  Chinese  delegates,  who,  together  with  those  chosen 
by  the  consul  of  Spain,  will  go  on  board  of  the  ships  ready  for  departure,  in 
order  to  ascertain  that  the  passengers  embarked  leave  by  their  own  free  will 
and  accord.  Those  passengers  who  in  the  moment  of  departure  are  found  not 
carrying  the  necessary  documents  are  to  be  landed  at  once.  In  any  case,  on 
the  arrival  of  a  ship  at  her  destination,  when  passengers  are  found  having  no 
document,  the  Spanish  authorities  can,  in  accord  with  the  consuls  of  China, 
adopt  such  measures  as  they  see  fit  for  the  occasion.  In  order  that  the  visit 
of  the  delegates  above-mentioned  can  take  place  and  have  an  effective  result, 
the  captain  or  shipowner  will  be  bound  to  declare  in  advance  the  hour  of  the 
departure  of  the  ship.  If  the  captain  of  a  ship  which  carries  emigrants  does 
not  submit  to  this  condition,  and  if  he  declares  his  intention  of  leaving 
previously  to  the  visit  of  the  delegates,  the  consul  of  Spain,  after  an  official 
communication  having  been  made  to  him  to  this  effect,  must  refuse  to  him  the 
delivery  of  the  ship's  papers,  and  the  ship  will  be  detained  and  treated  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  her  country,  until  all  the  formalities  prescribed  by  the 
present  convention  have  been  duly  complied  with. 

Article  VI. — The  Government  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China  will 
nominate  a  consul  general  in  Havana,  and  will  have  also  the  right  to  nominate 
consular  agents  in  all  the  towns  where  the  Spanish  Government  admits  those 
of  other  nations.  It  is  well  understood  that  these  nominations  will  be  made 
according  to  the  conditions  agreed  upon  by  common  accord  between  the  high 
contracting  parties.  The  Spanish  Government  will  grant  to  the  Chinese 
consuls  the  same  prerogatives  as  tliose  which  the  consuls  of  other  nations 
residing  in  Cuba  enjoy.  The  local  authorities  in  Cuba  will  accord  to  the 
consul  general,  as  well  as  to  the  consuls  and  vice  consuls  of  China,  all  the 
facilities  connected  with  the  exercise  of  their  functions  for  placing  them  in 
communication  with  their  nationals  and  for  giving  them  the  means  of  afford- 
ing protect' on  to  those  who  are  entitled  to  it. 

Article  F//.— Chinese  subjects  can  leave  the  island  of  Cuba  whenever  they 
wish,  provided  that  they  are  not  under  judicial  pursuance.  Moreover,  in 
order  to  facilitate  the  free  circulation  and  settlement  of  the  Chinese  subjects 


LABOR  PR0BLP:MS   IN    HAWAII.  937 

in  Cuba,  and  in  order  that,  they  may  enjoy  the  riglits  which  are  given  to  them 
by  Article  III  of  the  present  convention,  tlie  Spanish  Government,  together 
with  the  Chinese  representative  in  Madrid,  or  the  authorities  in  Havana,  to- 
gether witli  tlio  consul  general  of  Cliina,  will  establish  regulations  which,  with- 
out deviating  from  the  existing  laws  of  the  public  good  order  and  peace,  or 
from  those  which  might  be  established  in  future,  will  grant  to  the  Chinese 
subjects  treatment  equal  to  foreigners  of  the  same  category  and  subjects  of 
the  most  favored  power.  The  Spanish  authorities  have  besides  to  deliver  to 
the  Chinese  subjects  a  pass  of  circulation  similar  to  those  with  which  other 
foreigners  are  furnished. 

Article  VIII. — Chinese  subjects  will  have  the  faculty  to  appeal  to  the 
Spanish  tribunals  in  order  to  defend  or  pursue  their  rights;  they  will  in  this 
respect  enjoy  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  the  subjects  of  the  most 
favored  nation.  Chinese  subjects  will  have  the  faculty  to  be  accompanied  to 
the  tribunals  by  lawyers  and  interpreters,  be  they  Spaniards  or  foreigners, 
who,  according  to  the  Spanish  law,  are  qualified  to  be  present  at  the  sitting 
of  the  tribunals,  and  who  could  be  designated  by  the  Chinese  consuls  residing 
on  the  island  of  Cuba.  The  complaints  which  Chinese  subjects  actually 
residing  on  the  island  of  Cuba  have  to  forward  in  regard  to  illtreatment 
which  they  pretend  to  have  suffered  previously  to  the  exchange  of  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  present  convention  will  be  examined  by  the  Spanish  tribunals  and 
judged  equitably,  in  the  same  manner  as  it  is  the  practice  to  do  in  regard  to 
the  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation. 

Article  IX. — The  consul  general  of  China  in  Habana  and  the  competent 
authorities  on  the  island  of  Cuba  will  establish,  as  speedily  as  possible  and  in 
common  accord,  the  regulations  which  the  Chinese  emigrants  actually  residing 
in  Cuba,  and  those  who  may  hereafter  arrive,  ought  to  observe  in  order  to  ob- 
tain a  certificate  stating  their  entry  in  the  register  kept  by  the  Chinese  consuls. 
The  Chinese  consuls  will  deliver  to  them  a  certificate  of  registration,  which  will 
be  vis§d  by  the  superintendent  of  police  or  any  other  competent  authority  in  the 
district,  town,  or  plantation  of  the  prefecture  where  the  emigrant  will  estab- 
lish his  residence.  The  authorities  of  Cuba  will  communicate  to  the  Chinese 
consuls  all  the  information  concerning  the  number  and  names  of  the  Chinese 
subjects  in  the  different  localities  of  the  island,  and  will  enable  them  to  obtain 
the  means  to  personally  ascertain  the  state  of  the  Chinese  engaged  as  laborers 
on  the  plantations. 

Article  X. — Ships  of  whatever  nation  wishing  to  carry  Chinese  emigrants 
must,  besides  conforming  themselves  to  the  stipulations  of  the  present  con- 
vention, also  submit  themselves  to  the  regulations  of  their  country  regarding 
the  carrying  of  passengers,  of  provisions,  and  health.  If  they  do  not  obey 
these  two  conditions,  they  shall  then  not  be  allowed  to  carry  emigrants. 

Article  XI. — The  Government  of  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Spain,  desiring  to 
give  to  the  Government  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China  a  proof  of  friend- 
ship and  good  will,  engages  itself  to  send  home  at  its  own  expense,  as  soon  as 
the  present  convention  shall  be  ratified,  those  Chinese  who  actually  can  be 
found  on  the  island  of  Cuba,  who  formerly  made  in  China  literary  studies 
their  vocation,  also  those  who  had  an  official  rank,  and  individuals  who  belong 
to  families  of  these  categories.  Their  repatriation  will  be  effected  according  to 
the  information  given  by  the  Chinese  consular  agents,  and  duly  verified  by  the 
Spanish  authorities.  Likewise  will  be  repatriated  old  persons  prevented  by 
age  from  working  and  who  may  ask  to  go  back  to  China,  also  all  Chinese  female 
orphans  not  married  and  who  may  wish  to  return  to  their  country. 

Article  XII. — The  Spanish  Government  will  order  the  masters  of  those 
Chinese  emigrants  whose  contracts  have  expired,  and  who,  according  to  the 
terms  of  these  contracts,  have  the  right  of  returning  home,  to  fulfill  the  obliga- 
tions which  they  have  contracted  with  these  emigrants.  Concerning  those  who 
have  fulfilled  their  engagements,  but  who  have  no  right  to  be  sent  home  at  the 
expense  of  their  masters,  and  who  are  without  means  to  maintain  themselves, 
the  local  authorities  will,  together  with  the  Chinese  consuls  in  Cuba,  adopt 
the  measures  which  they  think  necessary  for  repatriating  them.  The  emigrants 
at  present  residing  on  the  island  of  Cuba  and  whose  contracts  are  expiring, 
will  receive,  as  soon  as  the  present  convention  comes  into  force,  a  certificate, 
in  which  it  will  be  stated  that  they  have  fulfilled  their  engagements ;  by  this 
they  will  obtain  the  right  of  enjoying  all  the  advantages  secured  to  other 
Chinese,  according  to  regulations  mentioned  in  Article  VII  of  the  present  con- 
vention, and  will  be  free  either  to  remain  on  or  to  leave  the  island  of  Cuba. 


938  LABOR  PllOBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Article  XIII. — The  authorities  of  the  island  of  Cuba  can,  if  the  circumstances 
demand  it,  and  regardless  of  the  regulations  already  mentioned,  oppose  them- 
selves to  the  movements  and  the  residence  of  Chinese  subjects  in  all  the 
localities  where  they  think  convenient,  if  for  special  reasons  they  find  that  the 
accumulation  of  the  individuals  in  the  respective  localities  might  be  detrimental 
to  the  preservation  of  public  order.  In  such  cases  the  local  authorities  will 
observe  toward  Chinese  subjects  the  same  rules  as  toward  other  foreigners, 
and  Avill  communicate  to  the  consul  of  China  the  decision  they  have  taken. 

Article  XIV. — The  laborers  who  have  still  obligations  to  perform,  according 
to  the  terms  of  their  contracts,  must,  under  any  condition,  fulfill  the  obligations, 
but  they  will  enjoy,  regarding  certificates,  etc.,  the  benefits  which  will  be 
accorded  to  their  countrymen  recently  landed,  or  to  those  whose  engagements 
have  expired.  Likewise,  all  the  Chinese  subjects  who  might  have  been  detained 
in  the  Government  depots  on  the  island  of  Cuba  will  be  set  at  liberty  as  soon 
as  the  present  convention  comes  into  force;  they  will  be  furnished  with  such 
documents  as  the  regulations  provide  for,  and  treated  in  the  same  way  as  other 
Chinese.  From  the  preceding  clause  are  excepted  all  those  who  are  found  in 
the  Government  prisons  either  in  consequence  of  a  judgment  or  of  an  accusation. 

Article  XV. — The  Government  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China  and  the 
Governmeht  of  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Spain  agree  that  if  hereafter  one  of 
them  thinks  it  convenient  to  make  modifications  of  some  of  the  articles  of  the 
present  convention,  or  to  cancel  them,  negotiations  to  this  effect  can  only  be 
opened  at  the  expiration  of  at  least  one  year  after  the  notification  of  such  wish 
shall  have  been  made  by  one  of  the  high  contracting  parties  to  the  other.  It  is 
also  understood,  if  hereafter  the  Chinese  Government  shall  grant  to  any  other 
power  advantages  not  mentioned  in  the  present  convention  regarding  the 
emigration  of  Chinese  subjects,  such  advantages  will  also  be  acquired  by  the 
Spanish  Government. 

Article  XVI. — The  present  convention  will  be  ratified  and  the  ratifications- 
exchanged  in  Peking  within  a  period  of  eight  months,  or  sooner  if  possible. 

The  present  convention  is  made  in  Spanish,  French,  and  Chinese,  in  two 
copies,  which  have  been  compared  and  found  correct. 

S^gned  and  sealed  on  the  13th  day  of  the  10th  moon  of  3d  year  of  Kuang  Hsti 
(17th  November,  1877). 

Appendix  III. 

The  following  communications  from  labor  organizations  have  been  received : 

Railway  Ejmployees'  Department, 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 

July  20,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Cofiiniittee  on  Immigration, 

United  States  House  of  Representatives, 

House  Office  Building,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  I  am  in  receipt  of  copy  of  House  joint  resolution  171,  making  pro- 
visions for  the  President  to  issue  a  proclamation  declaring  an  emergency  in  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii  by  reason  of  serious  shortage  of  labor. 

After  carefully  reading  and  analyzing  this  proposed  bill,  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  it  would  be  opening  up  the  territory  of  the  United  States  to  Chinese  immi- 
gration by  permitting  the  bringing  in  of  50,000  Chinese  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
each  five  years,  and  that  should  this  bill  become  a  law  it  would  establish 
peonage  or  bondage,  which  is,  in  fact,  only  a  form  of  slavery.  In  my  opinion 
there  is  no  real  excuse  offered  for  this,  but  it  is  merely  being  urged  by  a  com- 
mittee of  planters  and  bankers  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  is  the  first  move 
in  a  drive  to  open  up  our  shores  to  the  importation  of  coolie  labor.  If  they 
are  allowed  to  bring  these  Chinese  into  Hawaii  under  bond  for  five-year  service, 
what  argument  would  there  be  against  granting  the  same  rights  to  the  sugar- 
beet  planters  and  fruit  growers  of  our  mainland  within  the  next  year  or  so? 

As  representative  of  an  organization  of  laboring  men,  I  want  to  enter  a 
protest  against  the  passage  of  such  a  law,  aimed  at  the  laboring  people  of  our 
country.  You  may,  therefore,  consider  this  an  official  protest  of  the  members  of 
the  organization  that  I  have  the  honor  to  represent. 

Very  truly,  yours,  B.  M.  Jewell, 

President  Rdihvay  Em,ployecs'  Department. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII.  939 

Speingfield,  III.,  July  IJ/,  1921. 
Hon.  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Immigration, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C: 
The  Springfield  Federation  of  Labor,  representing  the  organized  labor  move- 
ment of  Springfield,  in  regular  meeting  respectfully  protest  against  the  passage 
of  the  resolution  now  pending  in  the  House  of  Representatives  providing  for 
the  importation  of  50,000  Chinese  coolies  into  Hawaii,  We  respectfully  urge 
that  the  resolution  be  defeated  and  that  the  law  excluding  Chinese  be  rigidly 
enforced. 

Speingfield  Fedeeation  of  Laboe. 
Dan  McGill,  Secretary. 


Seattle,  Wash.,  July  19,  1921. 
Hon,  Albert  Johnson, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Immigration, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C: 

On  behalf  of  the  organized  timber  workers  of  the  United  States,  we  protest 
against  the  passage  of  joint  resolution  171.  Unemployment  is  now  a  serious 
menace  to  the  United  States  and  its  possessions.  The  importation  of  hordes  of 
Orientals  will  not  solve  the  problems  of  either  the  employers  or  the  workers. 
If  our  country  is  to  maintain  its  present  high  standing  among  the  nations  of 
the  world,  an  American  standard  of  living  must  prevail.  It  would  be  just  as 
reasonable  to  pass  a  resolution  permitting  the  importation  of  droves  of  Orientals 
for  work  in  the  timber  industry  as  for  the  sugar  industry  of  Hawaiian  Islands. 
The  importation  of  Orientals  is  unwarranted  and  uncalled  for,  and  will  not: 
work  for  the  welfare  of  the  greatest  number  of  our  people. 

International  Union  of  Timber  Woekees. 
By  Ray  R.  Canteebuey,  President. 

Harry  W.  Call,  Secretary. 

Similar  communications  have  been  received  from  the  following : 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  Clerks,  Creston,  Iowa. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Mount  Carmel,  111, 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Astoria  Central  Labor  Council,  Astoria,  Oreg. 

United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners,  A^allejo,  Calif. 

Technical  Engineers',  Architects'  and  Draftsmen's  Uuion,  San  Francisco,  Calif- 

Taft  Central  Labor  Council,  Taft,  Calif. 

Cigarmakers'  Union  of  America,  Seattle,  Wash, 

International  Longshoremen's  Association,  Buffalo,  N,  Y. 

Railway  Employees'  Department,  Riv.era  Building,  Chicago,  111. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Boilermakers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders,  Vallejo^ 
Calif.     . 

National  Window  Glass  Workers,  419  Electric  Building,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical  Workers,  Vallejo,  Calif. 

United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Robert  Langan,  1312  B  Ninth  Avenue,  Seattle,  Wash. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Blacksmiths,  Drop  Forgers  and  Helpers,  Chi- 
cago, 111. 

Paving  Cutters'  Union,  Rockport,  Mass. 

Order  of  Railroad  Telegraphers,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Brotherhood  of  Painters,  Decorators,  and  Paperhangers  of  America,  Visalia,. 
Calif. 

International  Typographical  Union,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

M.  Martin,  117  Avenue  Thirty-eighth  East,  Los  Angeles,  Calif. 

Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers,  Chicago,  111. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Boilermakers  and  Iron  Shipbuilders,  Vancouver^ 
Wash. 

Internatitonal  Brotherhood  of  Electrical  Workers,  Washington,  D.  C. 

National  Marine  Engineers'  Beneficial  Association,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Sacramento  Federated  Trades  Council,  Sacramento,  Calif. 

United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners,  Olympia,  Wash. 


940  LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN   HAWAII. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Freight  Handlers,  Express, 
and  Station  Employees,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Chicago,  111. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Boilermakers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders,  Hillyard, 
Wash. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Elmira,  N.  Y. 

United  Leather  Workers,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  Clerks,  Brainerd,  Minn. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Wilmington,  N.  C. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Monroe,  La. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Omaha,  Nebr. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  Clerks,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  Clerks,  Mattoon,  111. 

Theatrical  Stage  Employees  and  Moving  Picture  Machine  Operators,  Cen- 
tralia,  Wash. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Freight  Handlers,  Express 
and  Station  Employees,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Louisville,  Ky. 

San  Francisco  Labor  Council,  San  Francisco,  Calif. 

City  Fire  Fighters  No.  31,  Tacoma,  Wash. 

Woman's  Trade  Un'on  League,  Chicago,  111. 

Pueblo  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly,  Pueblo,  Colo. 

Teamsters'  Union.  Tacoma,  Wash. 

Butchers  Local  Union  No.  656,  Portland,  Oreg. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical  Workers,  Portland,  Oreg. 

Portland  Mailers  Union  No.  13.  Portland.  Oreg. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical  Workers,  Portland,  Oreg. 

Moving  Picture  Machine  Operators,  Duluth,  Minn. 

Plumbers  and  Steamfitters,  No.  820,  Loveland,  Colo. 

Alabama  State  Federation  of  Labor,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

Arizona  State  Federation  of  Labor,  Phoenix,  Ariz. 

Theatrical  Stage  Employees  and  Moving  Picture  Machine  Operators,  New 
York,  N.  Y. 

California  State  Federation  of  Labor,  San  Francisco,  Calif. 

Los  Angeles  Central  Labor  Council,  Los  Angeles,  Calif. 

Denver  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly,  Denver,  Colo. 

Central  Labor  Council,   Stockton,  Calif. 

Central  Labor  Union,  The  Dalles,  Oreg. 

Central  Labor  Council,  Valleio,  Calif. 

Central  Labor  Council,  San  Jose,  Calif. 

Central  Labor  Union,   Clifton,  Ariz. 

Federated  Trades  and  Labor  Council,  San  Diego,  Calif. 

Central  Labor   Union,   Boulder,   Colo. 

Central  Labor  Council,   San  Bernadino,  Calif. 

Tucson  Central  Trades  Council,  Tucson,  Ariz. 

Metal  Trades  Council,  Vallejo,  Calif. 

Petaluma  Central  Labor  Council,  Petaluma,  Calif. 

Building  Trades  Council,  San  Francisco,  Calif. 

Painters  and  Decorators  of  Riverside,  Riverside,  Calif. 

United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  Seattle,  Wash. 

Calumet  Joint  Labor  Council,  Chicago,  111. 

Oregon  Federation  of  Labor,  Portland,  Oreg. 

International  As^<ociation  Oilfield  Gas  Well  Workers,  Coalinga,  Calif. 

Shop  Crafts,   Needles,  Calif. 

American  Legion,  Department  of  Nevada,  Reno,  Nev. 

Nevada  State  Federation  of  Labor,  Sparks,  Nev. 

Organized  labor  of  Richmond  and  Contra  Costa  County,  Richmond,  Calif. 

Vallejo  Pyramid,  No.  7,  Ancient  Egyptian  Order  of  Sciots,  Vallejo,  Calif. 

Machinists'  Local  252,  Vallejo,  Calif. 

La  Junta  Local  Shop  Federation,  La  Junta,  Colo. 

Central  Labor  Union,  Visalia,  Calif. 

Chicago  Federation  of  Labor,  Chicago,  111. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Boilermakers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders,  Vallejo, 
^Calif. 

United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  Birmingham,  Ala. 


LABOR  PROBLEMS   IN    HAWAII.  941 

United  INfiiie  Workers,  Clieyeniie,  Wyo. 
Federation  of  Labor,  ('lieyenne,  Wyo. 
State  Federation  of  Labor,  Denver,  Colo. 
Boilermakers'  »&  Sliipbuilders'  Helpers,  Seattle,  Wash. 
International  Longshoremen's  Union,  Tacoma,  Wash. 
Orange  Connty  Central  Labor  Council,  Fullerton,  Calif. 
Anacortes  Central  Labor  Council,  Anacortes,  Wash. 
Everett  Central  Labor  Council,  Everett,  Wash. 
Tacoma  Central  Labor  Council,  Tacoma.  Wash. 
Seattle  Central  Labor  Council,  Seattle,  Wash. 
Central  Labor  Council,  Spokane,  Wash. 
Local  Union  No.  606,  I.  V.  S.  and  O.  E.,  Tacoma,  Wash. 
Cigar  Makers'  Union,  Tacoma,  Wash. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  Conductors  of  America,  Pasco,  Wash. 
Machinists'  Lodge  No.  297,  Tacoma,  Wash. 
Labor  Council  of  Santa  Rosa,  Santa  Rosa,  Calif. 
Fresno  Labor  Council,  Fresno,  Calif. 
Central  Labor  Council  of  San  Pedro,  San  Pedro,  Calif. 
Central  Labor  Council,  Portland,  Oreg. 
Milw^aukee  Federated  Trades  Council,  Milv^-aukee,  Wis. 
Trades  and  Labor  Assembly,  Jacksonville,  111. 
Marion  Trades  Council,  Marion,  111. 
Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Chicago,  111. 
Benj.  J.  Schooley,  631  North  Third  Street.  Lawrence,  Kans. 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Jackson,  Mich. 
Gate  City  Lodge,  No.  129,  Winona,  Minn. 
Terminals  Division  Lodge,  No.  708,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  San  Antonio,  Tex. 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Saginaw,  Mich. 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Omaha,  Nebr. 
International  Association  of  Machinists,  Moberly,  Mo. 
C.  V.  Maute,  care  of  Benjamin  Franklin  Lodge,  No.  189,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 
Maryland  State  and  District  of  Columbia  Federation  of  Labor,  Cumberland, 
Md. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  and  Steamship  Clerks,  Evansville,  Ind. 
Olympia  Typographical  Union,  Olympia,  Wash. 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  Clerks,  Ogden,  Utah. 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  Clerks,  El  Paso,  Tex. 


X 


University  of  California  Library 
Los  Angeles 

i  i  O  rfyfiCite^DUE^ori  "tli  laYt  date  stamped  below. 


the  library 
University  of  califoimia 

LOS  ANGELEB 


3   1158  00199  6940 


V^' 


M 


\i=M 


